Money Management Executive Latest News

With chatter about deflation and a jobless recovery abating, the investment outlook for the rest of the year will be dominated by inflationary concerns and the quality of corporate earnings, according to several executives at US Bancorp Asset Management.

Putnam Investments last week announced it is improving the fee disclosure in Putnam CollegeAdvantage, the 529 plan it runs in Ohio, and also reducing the plan's annual maintenance fee.

The director of research at Morningstar has advised investors to sell four mutual funds in the research firm's weekly "Fund Spy" column.

Fidelity Investments has announced a new program that will give the financial advisers who sell its 401(k) products better ways to inform those who invest in the plans.

Auerbach Joins ICI to Lead Financial Services Policy

Assets in investment products, including mutual funds, commingled funds, institutional separate accounts, as well as annuity sub-accounts in defined contribution plans, are expected to exceed the $1 trillion level by 2010, according to new estimates by Financial Research Corp. of Boston. At year-end 2003, these assets, which FRC refers to as the "investment-only defined contribution market," totaled $400 billion.

When fund firms tell investors they should not use past performance as an indicator for future results, they should believe it, said Andrew Clark, a senior analyst at Lipper.

Have you wondered what will become of the rapscallions who are guilty of ripping off mutual fund investors?

Traditionally, bulge-bracket firms have given away research in exchange for trading volume and high trading commissions. The commissions paid for part of the research, while investment-banking fees paid for the rest. Over time, Wall Street firms built up expensive operations, flush with highly paid salespeople and large travel and entertainment budgets.

When it comes to information management, companies can be like the sailor who, in a 19th century poem, exclaims, "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink." For financial services firms, potentially useful data springs from a multitude of sources, including call centers, transfer agents, brokerages, Internet contacts and portfolio managers, and in a variety of forms. The challenge is to channel that flow of information so that it becomes a useful resource.