Money Management Executive Latest News

Forward Management, a San Francisco-based firm offering institutional and retail investment products, has hired Clay Smudsky as a managing director. Prior to Forward, Smudsky worked for RS Investments, formerly Robertson Stephens Investment Management, as VP of institutional sales.

American Century Investment Management has promoted two investment analysts to portfolio managers. Kevin Laub will become portfolio manager of American Century Small Cap Value, and Jeff Schuller will manage the American Century Heritage fund.

Kunal Kapoor has been promoted from analyst to editor of Morningstar Mutual Funds Morningstar's flagship newsletter publication, replacing Scott Cooley, who has been promoted to COO, Morningstar, Australia.

Citizens Advisers, the investment advisor to Citizens Funds, has hired Joanne Y. Dowdell as director of corporate responsibility. Her chief responsibilities will include corporate and social research, as well as the strategic development of shareholder activism initiatives.

College savings 529 plans are getting a boost from a new industry group called the College Savings Foundation (CSF). Formed by eight financial services firms, the intent of CSF is to inform, educate and disseminate 529 materials and trend data for consumers and advisers.

The Investment Company Institute has added a consumer guide to mutual fund breakpoints on its Web site. The guide offers three tips for investors who have concerns about mutual fund pricing. First, review the fund's breakpoint schedule. Second, take a comprehensive look at all mutual fund investments within a family. Third, inform your financial intermediary about all your family's holdings.

Investors are abandoning equity funds for bond funds and are also giving growth the thumbs down, according to Lipper and Investment Company Institute data. Even among equity funds, the more staid asset classes have been faring well, according to the ICI. Lipper reported net outflows of $1 billion from equity funds in January, representing the first January equity fund outflow since 1990. Bond fund net sales were up $13 billion.

The lagging stock market hasn't turned investors away from equity investments, according to new research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and the Investment Company Institute (ICI). In a five-year examination of 401(k) investment activity, asset allocation remained 70% unchanged. Among all 401(k) participants, 14.6 million, in the 2001 EBRI/ICI database, almost 70% of plan balances are invested directly or indirectly in stocks, despite the fact that, overall, U.S. equity markets declined by about 12% in 2001. Asset allocation in plans was virtually unchanged over the 1996-2001 period, with about 70% of 401(k) accounts invested in the equity market at year-end 2001.

Columbia Management Group has introduced the Columbia Thermostat Fund, a fund whose investment mandate permits it to reallocate between five stock and three bond mutual funds.

Vanguard announced yesterday that due to the growing complexities of the custody business and the few assets it has supervised, it will cease acting as custodian for the intermediary market. Instead, the firm said it will improve investment support, although it did not specify how.