Retirement planning

Consumer confidence in the economy, including stocks, bonds, mortgages, credit cards and structured products, is dropping, but experts say consumers need to stay invested in a fully diversified portfolio of mutual funds for their own good and for the good of the economy.

While the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 391.47 points on Tuesday and many investment banks' stocks rocketed in the mid-double digits on the good news of infusion of capital from shareholders, Lipper preliminary data on mutual fund results for the first quarter of the year was disappointing, The Wall Street Journal reports this morning.

Reaction to the Subprime Crisis in the first quarter of 2008.

Market Outlook

Russell Investments has launched six new “strategy” funds in its LifePoints Funds, Target Date Series, including an “in retirement” portfolio

BOSTON-Asset managers will have to adapt their techniques and operations beyond their current business models to survive the shifting demands in the retirement product marketplace.

Nationwide Financial, a Columbus, Ohio, investment manager, opened a website Monday to give mutual funds and other partner firms the resources to help sales agents, principally financial advisers, develop retirement plan business.

Charles Schwab has announced a new suite of funds designed to generate a targeted annual payout for retirees.

ING is providing 403(b) plan documents that public schools can use in order to meet new IRS requirements by next January.

Van Kampen Retirement Strategy Trust has filed for 10 new target retirement date funds with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

MIAMI-U.S. companies are retiring the idea of the traditional, defined benefit pension plan in favor of do-it-yourself IRAs and 401(k) plans.

A new study from Tiburon Strategic Advisors takes a broad look at consumer wealth, the pending baby boomer savings crisis and boomers' likely liquefaction of assets. Consumer Wealth, Liquefaction and the Retirement Income Challenge addresses the financial concerns and savings goals of consumers and consumer households in the U.S. today.

In lockstep with a broadened direction by insurance firms to strip off the complex bells-and-whistles riders and bonuses of the recent past and to issue packaged retirement income solutions-and meet the demands of the new buzzword: decumulation-the other publication I edit, Annuity Market News just relaunched on Friday as Retirement Income Reporter.

The Baby Boomer generation is once again taking credit for saving the economy, according to Reuters. The enormous spending power of the 76 million citizens born between 1946 and 1964 has helped keep the last two consumer-led recessions short and shallow.

Last week's extreme volatility in the U.S. and international stock markets has many retirees and Baby Boomers approaching retirement worried that their life savings will fall short of expectations.

Way to go. Some marketing experts are beginning to get it right. The "Magical Mystery Tour" that's been the past 60 years of Baby Boomer buying power doesn't have to end with mutual fund companies instilling the dreaded fear of outliving one's retirement savings, dying impoverished and, possibly, alone.

Registered investment advisors have had a good run over the past three years. And some 28% of RIA firms have experienced growth of more than 100%, according to a new study published by Fidelity Investments.

By now, most asset management executives have seen the predictions that large-cap growth will be the way to go in 2008. But digging deeper than mere asset class predictions, MME spoke with two industry leaders to tease out nuances of what fund managers can expect this year.

As traditional pension plans are increasingly being replaced by defined contribution plans, retirement income plan providers will need to adjust their tactics in order to keep up with the ever-changing retirement landscape.

As asset managers gear up for Baby Boomers' retirement years, Richard "Mac" Hisey, chief investment officer at AARP Financial, took some time out last with to speak with MME Senior Editor Brent Shearer about how investment firms are trying to reach out to Boomers.