Money Management Executive Latest News

Only 9% of financial firms make retaining customers the No. 1 goal of their customer relationship marketing (CRM) systems, a survey by GartnerG2, a division of Gartner, showed. But particularly in today's economy, customer retention should be the foremost goal of any CRM system, Gartner maintains.

Last year, mutual fund investors paid approximately $31.3 billion to the Internal Revenue Service, according to a recent study by Lipper. "Taxes in the Mutual Fund Industry" looks at the tax implication to investors of nearly $2.91 trillion in mutual funds held in taxable accounts.

Thinking about starting up a hedge fund? While the draw of wealthy investors handing over megabucks, returns that don't depend on the stock market and the allure of beefy performance incentive fees are certainly compelling reasons to dive into the market, operationally, hedge funds and mutual funds are worlds apart.

NYLIM Retirement Plan Services of Parsippany, N.J., announced a new service for 401(k) plan providers last week that will help them select and monitor mutual funds in their retirement plans. Two key aspects of the new offering, Portfolio Complete, are that the firm's partner in the project, Morningstar of Chicago, will assume fiduciary responsibility and that it is designed to aid plan sponsors rather than individual investors.

A number of equity mutual funds are now looking to include shorting in their arsenal of tactics and maneuvers - a potential sign that fund managers don't see a reprieve to the bear market anytime soon.

"This is not a load fund family," said a Janus spokeswoman when the firm created its Adviser Series of funds and it looked like the company might begin catering more to financial advisers in 2000 [see MFMN 6/26/00].

Since the beginning of 2000, the list of the largest mutual funds in the country has changed dramatically. Janus of Denver, which had two funds in the top 10 by assets now only has one in the top 20. Los Angeles-based American Funds' Growth Fund of America jumped from 22nd at the start of 2000, to sixth at the end of July.

Some might argue that the Vice Fund, the latest offering from Dallas-based Mutuals.com, invests in the evils of the world.

Sherry Copper, chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns Economics, said in a recent report that economic growth in the U.S. should rebound with "potent stimulus coming from low interest rates and rising deficits," after revisiting recent lows in the fall.

Investors who recently retired or changed jobs say they were stressed and confused when it came time to roll their 401(k)s into other investment vehicles and would have welcomed help from their plan providers, according to a study conducted by consulting firm Spectrem Group.