Money Management Executive Latest News

CNBC is apparently talking with Louis Rukeyser, who hosts a well-known financial talk show on PBS, about the prospect of starting a new program on the cable news channel.

Rydex Funds has launched its Sector Rotation Fund, a new offering that brings the firm closer to the arena of active management. The Rockville, Md. fund complex has built its business on a quantitative approach that provides enhanced index and sector-based investment tools.

Armada Funds has installed a small television studio on its trading room floor in an effort to make its portfolio managers more available for live interviews on the likes of CNBC, Bloomberg and other financial news programs.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate last week reviewed two 401(k) reform bills that now include provisions designed to make it easier for investors to get advice about their retirement plans.

When Putnam Investments announced that it was cutting its retail fund lineup from 66 to 55, it was not very surprising to industry analysts given the market conditions over the past two years. What was somewhat surprising, however, was which funds the firm decided to get rid of. Instead of closing large funds with poor performance records, Putnam proposed to merge small, overlapping funds and new funds that never really had an opportunity to prove themselves.

The U.S. Department of Justice's felony indictment of March 14, which charged Arthur Andersen with obstruction of justice in the federal investigation of Enron, may be causing fund advisers and their boards of directors to take pause and more carefully consider the auditing process for their funds. That is true even where fund groups have never utilized Andersen to audit their funds.

March 13 was a red letter day for The Payson Funds. The $18 million Payson Balanced Fund and its sibling, the $16 million Payson Value Fund officially became no-load products, shedding their long-standing 4% front-end sales charge as of that date.

Once an obscure, misunderstood college savings vehicle, 529 college savings plans now rival UGMA/UTMA accounts as well as taxable mutual fund accounts when it comes to the investments that financial advisors recommend most often to clients who are saving for college. A December 2001 study commissioned by Manulife Financial of Boston found that 74% of the 200 financial advisors surveyed sold 529 plans.

Lou Foran is the executive VP of sales and marketing for Rydex Funds of Rockville, Md. He joined the firm in January 2002 after serving as executive VP of sales and marketing for Legg Mason's Private Client Group.

Increasing confidence among investors combined with poor yields among bank and money market funds could result in the best quarter for equity mutual fund flows since markets began their tailspin two years ago, according to New York-based researcher Strategic Insight.