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Most couples disagree on a lot of important points when it comes to retirement planning. That lack of agreement can translate into lost financial planning business, making it important for advisers to get couples to work together, according to Fidelity Investments.

The Insured Retirement Institute Friday responded to the Federal Insurance Office’s request for comment on how to modernize insurance regulation in the U.S.

Morningstar has announced its five nominees for the Morningstar Domestic Stock Fund Manager of the Year Award. The 2011 nominees are:

The Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil charges Friday against former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd, 53, former Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron, 68, and four other ex-officers. The charges were brought in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

FINRA hit Wells Fargo Investments with a $2 million fine and ordered the firm to pay restitution for making unsuitable sales of reverse convertibles to elderly clients and for not providing breakpoints on unit investment trust sales to eligible customers.

Russell Global Index is absorbing 31 initial public offerings for the fourth quarter, effective Monday, Dec. 19.

William Blair Funds has introduced the William Blair Small-Mid Cap Value Fund, aimed at delivering long-term capital appreciation and portfolio diversification by taking moderate risk.

The $241 billion PIMCO Total Return, which has underperformed its peers over the past year—returning 3.48% year to date—has been hit with $17 billion in outflows, Morningstar data shows. By comparison, taxable bond funds, which are up 5.87% YTD, took in $105.8 billion in inflows over the past 12 months.

The 11th quarterly Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll found that near-retiree Baby Boomers have pushed back initial plans to retire at age 60, to 66. Additionally, 68% of Baby Boomers expect to work in some form after retirement, the survey of 1,200 Americans found. Only 11% of current retirees currently work.

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The U.S. economy, while still vulnerable, has shown encouraging signs of progress over the last few months, according to a report released Wednesday by TD Economics, an affiliate of TD Bank.

Despite the historic equity market decline of 2008-2009, most 401(k) participants earned positive investment returns in the five-year period ended 2010, according to Vanguard. In fact, the average return was 3.76% a year, not including the impact of continued contributions.

One of the biggest topics on the minds of financial services executives in 2011 has been volatility, with a slew of articles and TV news stories pinning the blame on high-frequency trading, hedge funds and leveraged ETFs.

The main drivers of markets in 2012 are likely to be similar to last year’s themes —uncertainty over the fate of the Euro, and the related question of whether or not there will be a global recession, said Alan Brown, group chief investment officer at Schroders.

TIAA-CREF has launched the TIAA-CREF Global Natural Resources Fund, aimed at providing investors with diversification, a hedge against inflation and an opportunity to participate in the growing demand for resources among the world’s seven billion population.

Goldman Sachs' asset management division has agreed to purchase the mutual fund division of Dividend Growth Advisors, in a push to offer more income-generating funds.

Advisers’ two biggest pieces of advice for clients in 2012 is continued volatility (cited by 40%) and slow economic growth (15%), the latest survey of U.S. financial advisers by Russell Investments found. The survey was conducted among 300 advisers at 132 firms nationwide.

The new Department of Labor 401(k) fee disclosure rules that go into effect on April 1 will radically shake up the industry, according to Tom Gonnella, senior vice president of corporate development at Lincoln Trust, who gave six predictions for the defined contribution industry in 2102.

NEW YORK—The United States will not fall back into another recession, Benjamin Pace, U.S. chief investment officer, Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, told a press briefing Tuesday.

Fifty-two percent of executives at asset management firms expect bonuses for distribution and marketing professionals to rise in 2012, and 39% foresee additional hiring, according to a Russell Reynolds survey of 529 executives.