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Affluent pre-retirees with investable assets of at least $100,000 are more comfortable staying in the market than they were two years ago, a report from Phoenix Marketing International shows.

IndexIQ has expanded its IQ series of 16 funds with the IQ Global Alternatives ETF Model Portfolio. The investment vehicle uses liquid, transparent, low-cost alternative exchange-traded funds to achieve diversification, growth of capital and low volatility.

Advisors of the future are gravitating toward financial planning programs. Here are the schools on many students' short lists.

In September, more money flowed into mutual funds than flowed out, breaking a three-month pattern of fund outflows, according to Cerulli Associates’ October report on product trends. Despite the reversal into positive territory, however, mutual fund assets remain at a yearly low of $7.4 trillion.

Highland Funds Asset Management has launched the Highland Alpha Trend Strategies Fund, a global fund that will invest in country- and region-specific exchange-traded funds as well as take long and short positions in equity indexes. The fund aims to invest in areas with low correlation and volatility.

Mercer’s U.S. outsourcing business has begun including retirement income from Financial Engines in its defined contribution platform. Financial Engines says its Financial Engines Income+ is the first retirement income solution designed specifically for 401(k) plans.

U.S. households held $10.7 trillion in retirement assets at the end of 2010, Hearts & Wallets said, culling information from the Federal Reserve Flow of Funds and U.S. Census data. This is just above the previous high of $10.5 trillion reached in 2007, and a big climb from the $2.4 trillion loss in retirement assets in the crash of 2008, when these assets fell to $8.1 trillion.

Prudential has just released preliminary survey results indicating that when shopping for retirement plans, consumers between the ages of 18 and 36 are more interested than those over age 45 in guaranteed income features. The company is leveraging these results with additional features, including security, to certain plans offered by Prudential Retirement.

Schwab Charitable has launched the Charitable Legacy Program, to enable individuals to extend their charitable giving beyond their lifetimes.

Financial advisers can now purchase T. Rowe Price Advisor Class shares for their clients at no transaction fee (NTF) on the Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource platform.

Putnam Investments has named industry veteran Stephen Jenks head of product and marketing for its defined contribution business.

The Department of Labor issued new regulations that aim to broaden access to personalized investment advice for workers engaged in retirement savings plans.

With Europe in the grip of a massive debt crisis, U.S. unemployment still near double digits and global markets roiling on what seems an unending rollercoaster ride, the impact from the 2008 financial meltdown has been nothing if not severe.

Confluence, NICSA, Genworth Financial

Since the financial crisis of 2008, Corporate America has proven it can carry out a singular focus on cost cutting and downsizing. And, as the Occupy Wall Street folks would argue, overzealously hoarding cash.

Back in 1994, John Reed was elected chief executive of Citicorp, shares of stock in India were traded in lots of one and Neeraj Sahai became a management associate charged with helping handle relations with large financial institutions in Mumbai.

As the unified managed accounts business grows in size, so do the potential for errors when it comes to communicating information about investment models.

Flexibility. Tactical allocation. Macroeconomic analysis.

Wirehouses have lost headcount and asset share even as the average assets under management per adviser in the channel has risen, according to a new report released Friday from Cerulli Associates.

U.S. firms were the most active acquirers of emerging markets companies in the first half of 2011, according to KPMG International, closing 144 deals. This was nearly twice the 82 acquisitions by Canada. The U.K. made 62 deals, followed by Japan, with 61.