Special Program Root Tag

Assets in managed accounts, which include separately managed accounts and also mutual fund advisory programs, representatives as portfolio managers, exchange-traded funds and other instruments that are sold through programs or platforms, reached $1.503 trillion in the third quarter, up 19.6% from $1.256 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2006, the Money Management Institute reports.

High-net-worth investors are most concerned with preserving their wealth in an environment of volatile credit and stock markets, a weakening dollar and the uncertainties surrounding a presidential election, according to the latest “WealthTrends” survey from the Dow Jones Wealth Management Advisory Council.

Although it cannot be denied that growth among the economies of emerging market nations has been strong and is very real, with GDP growth rates of as much as 11% a year, compared to 3% in the U.S., many are now warning of a flood of speculative money in search of returns, Forbes reports.

Continuing the steady, egalitarian approach to running Vanguard that founder Jack Bogle began, current CEO Jack Brennan continues the firm’s open-door policy and attempt to keep executives with the firm for a long time by rotating them frequently to make their jobs more intriguing and by promoting from within, The Financial Times reports. And part of this egalitarian approach means there is no executive dining room and even the top executives, Brennan included, answer phones at the call center when volume gets heavy.

Nearly 70% of hedge funds are having a difficult time retaining back-office personnel, and 60% don’t have enough staff, according to a survey of more than 500 chief financial officers at hedge funds with $100 million or more in assets under management, by accounting firm Rothstein Kass.

For all of the talk about the importance of saving for retirement through a 401(k) and other savings plans, 37% of those born in 1990 and just now entering the workforce will have no savings by the time they leave the workforce, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office, Dow Jones reports.

The stocks of publicly traded asset management firms are varying widely, with those that are well-diversified outpacing the S&P 500, but the more specialized firms, apparently affected by the credit crisis and more susceptible to an economic slowdown, are faring worse, The Wall Street Journal reports. Those that have listed their shares on an exchange within the past year are also among the worst performers.

Fifty-two percent of Americans say they aren’t saving adequately, 17% aren’t saving anything at all, and 79% think Americans aren’t saving adequately, a survey by the Consumer Federation of America and Wachovia of 2,000 adults found. Among various demographic groups, 86% those with a college education said they don’t think Americans are saving adequately.

ALPS Fund Services has launched a mutual fund that will invest in 30 to 50 stocks of publicly traded private equity companies which, in turn, have investments in more than 1,500 private businesses. The fund, called the Listed Private Equity Fund, is sub-advised by Red Rocks Capital, a specialist in private equity investment.

A number of problems have caused Legg Mason’s stock to decline 20% so far this year, on top of a 20% decline last year, The Baltimore Sun reports.

The U.S. District Court in Manhattan ordered T. Boone Pickens’ son Michael O. Pickens, 53, to pay $1.2 million in restitution he swindled from investors by sending them fictitious tips on thinly traded stocks in handwritten faxes, in order to illegally pump up their prices, Reuters reports. The younger Pickens, whose penalty was paid by his father, was also sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to participate in a substance-abuse program. The scheme only netted Michael Pickens $300,000 in profits, however.

Bank of America has shut the Columbia Strategic Cash Portfolio, a fund for institutional investors, to new investors due to massive losses in the past few months that were spurred by asset-backed securities, depleting its holdings to $12 billion, down from $20 billion, the Associated Press reports.

While the hedge fund industry received $16 billion in new assets in October, the inflow rate was the lowest since January, with investors pulling an estimated $2.8 billion out of direct hedge fund investments, according to a release from TrimTabs Investment Research and BarclayHedge.

Fund managers are beginning to offer a wide variety of municipal bond exchange-traded funds, but most small investors have yet to take advantage of these new products, primarily because they tend to hold muni bonds throughout their duration.

Responding to their customers’ increased appetite for more sophisticated and flexible investment choices and search for more personalized attention, financial advisers plan to recommend mutual funds 10% less frequently, with the share of their clients’ portfolios invested in them declining by 35% to 31% by 2009. That’s according to a survey of 1,266 advisers that Cogent Research conducted in October.

Confidence among affluent investors and millionaires declined last month.

The Zero Alpha Group continues to hammer away at broker-sold mutual funds with its fifth annual report analyzing the returns of funds purchased through brokers versus those purchased directly.

MassMutual will be the exclusive sponsor of a documentary on preparing for retirement that will air nationally on PBS stations across the U.S. this coming April.

NEW YORK-The process of selecting mutual funds is changing as wholesalers' clout diminishes, according to panel members who spoke at a National Investment Company Service Association seminar for distribution executives here last week.

NEW YORK-Millions of Americans will be looking for 401(k) investment advice as they prepare for retirement, but until gaps are filled in relation to conflict-of-interest liability, most 401(k) administrators and sponsors will remain reluctant to offer guidance.