Money Management Executive Latest News

CheckFree Corp. has announced fourth quarter pro forma net income of $20 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003, a 56% increase from $12.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2002. On a GAAP basis, CheckFree’s fourth quarter net loss was $17 million, compared to $59.4 million for the year earlier. The pro forma results exclude $45 million of amortization for acquisitions, a $10.2 million intangible asset impairment charge and $1.4 million from a previous reorganization charge.

Most parents and grandparents still don’t know about 529 plans, according to a poll commissioned by AllianceBernstein Investment Research and Management. The Harris Interactive poll showed that 64% of parents and 65% of grandparents were completely unaware of this type of college savings plan.

Standard & Poor’s calculates that the forward 12-month dividend rate for the S&P 500 is $13.9 billion higher than it was at the end of 2002. Factoring in the dividend tax cut, this will bring investors $46.7 billion more in profits each year, according to S&P.

Amvescap’s independent trustees are seeking permission to ask shareholders to approve the merging of the boards of its subsidiary companies, AIM and Invesco. The trustees, in a registration statement filed with the SEC on Friday, say this will be the second step in Amvescap’s plan to merge all of its North American fund operations, the first step being AIM becoming the distributor for all of the funds.

Vanguard has filed a registration statement to offer five age-based funds for people in their 20s to their 70s, retiring between 2005 and 2045, in addition to one retirement income fund. Announcement of the new "Target" series comes just days after Fidelity announced it has launched Advisor share classes on its own five "Freedom" funds.

Guardian Investors Services, a subsidiary of Guardian Life Insurance Co., has launched a new bond fund that answers the fears of investors who have taken widely publicized cautions about bond rate volatility to heart. The Guardian Low Duration Bond Fund reduces the risk of interest rate volatility because it focuses on shorter-duration instruments.

Although the average number of fund choices in a 401(k) plan is 15, many employers offer dozens and dozens of selections. But a number of leading companies are now beginning to trim those offerings back, which should be very beneficial to investors, as it helps boost participation, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Life insurer Lincoln National will cut up to 1,000 jobs on top of the 200 it has already eliminated, Reuters reports. The layoffs come after the firm’s earnings fell 84% to $91.6 million in 2002, down from $590.2 million in 2001.

Fueled by strong inflows into equity funds during the month of June, mutual funds took in a net $47.2 billion, according to Merrill Lynch. Equity funds attracted $18.7 billion, bond funds $5.4 billion and money market funds $23.2 billion.

Fidelity Investments has spun off its Geode Investors division – which uses statistical strategies, including hedging, to invest money for its top executives – into a separate company, Reuters reports. Fidelity divested itself of the unit amid increasing regulator concern that mutual fund companies that also employ hedging tactics raise conflict-of-interest issues if one of their mutual fund managers is betting on a stock while a hedge fund manager is shorting it.