Special Program Root Tag

Investors are placing greater importance on the tax implications of investing and support an extension of tax cuts. However, many are confused when it comes to tax efficiency and have unrealistic expectations about potential gains distributions and, therefore, need advice, according to the findings of the seventh annual "National Investor Survey" by Eaton Vance of Boston. Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates of Washington conducted the survey, polling 408 investors in both qualified and non-qualified plans in the final two weeks of November.

As the deadline for the Security and Exchange Commission's new hedge fund registration rule quickly approaches, many firms are scrambling to determine whether it might be better to take advantage of its loopholes and skirt the costly disclosure document altogether.

Following a merger agreement that has led to the combined entity of the New York Stock Exchange and the Archipelago Exchange (see MME 04/08/05) as NYSE Group, the NYSE is deciding which stock specialist will be handling its own shares, Reuters reports.

Shareholder services company Georgeson Shareholder has found, in its 2005 annual corporate governance review, that the total number of shareholder proposals has decreased along with the number of contested solicitations.

Principal Financial Group has become the principal player in the mid-size retirement market, according to a study by Spectrem Group.

Citigroup Inc. has won a $900 million case having to with the company allegedly issuing flawed research that caused investor Donald Sturm to lose money, with an NASD arbitration panel ruling in Citigroup's favor, Reuters reports.

Faced with big tax bills for the first time since 2000, investors in 2005 flocked to tax-efficient funds, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Fidelity Investments' bold decision to force Lehman Brothers to charge it separately for trades and for research is putting pressure on other brokerages to do the same, The Wall Street Journal reports. But some in the industry point to a potential downside to eliminating soft dollars to pay for research.

The decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow investment firms to provide annual reports and proxy-voting materials online might encourage closed-end-fund activists to wage more proxy-voting wars to open funds and to contest board elections or new advisory contracts, The Wall Street Journal reports. This is a possible scenario, since proxy fights by closed-end funds are becoming more commonplace.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's deputy general counsel and acting director of the division of investment management Meyer Eisenberg, has decided to retire in January because he has accepted a position as visiting professor of law at Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon.

Charles Schwab's decision to return to the discount brokerage giant that he founded and serve as the CEO of the firm once again has put the firm on stronger footing, according to MarketWatch.

A class-action lawsuit has been brought against IG Investment Management Ltd., CI Mutual Funds Inc., Franklin Templeton Investments Corp., and AGF Funds Inc., by a group of Canadians who invested in their mutual funds between 1998 and 2003. The fund companies are accused of breaching their fiduciary duties to investors, and of being negligent and allowing market timing. The claim has been filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Eaton Vance Corporation's seventh annual survey of investors, conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, Inc., reveals that there is a significant percentage of investors who are becoming more tax savvy but do not know how to make their money work in the most tax-efficient manner.

Charles Schwab & Co. has unveiled the Option Strategy Finder, a Web-based tool created to help investors find the optimal strategies for their individual investment objectives and needs. The tool is available on www.schwab.com, and begins the tailoring procedure by first asking the investor six questions to better understand the criteria for their needs. The tool then lists the strategies that are best-suited to that investor.

John Bogle, formerly the head of Vanguard, is famous among investors. Just how famous? Ask Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer and Michael LeBoeuf, authors of The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. The trio took Bogle's philosophy on investing and reduced it to a short and poignant slogan: invest smart, safe and cheap, and you'll do well, according to Reuters.

Some portfolio managers who left mutual funds in recent years to run hedge funds are returning to their roots, the Financial Times reports.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) fired off a strongly worded letter to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, challenging him for not recusing himself from a 2002 case involving Vanguard, where Alito has a six-figure investment, the Associated Press reports.

The New York offices of U.K.-based money manager Barclays is caught in an international money laundering investigation that implicates a top Russian official with close ties to President Vladimir Putin, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security will be put on hold until the next administration takes office, a leading Social Security historian told to the Daytona Beach News.

The NASD has launched a streamlined version of its online tool that allows investors to instantly compare the expenses of up to three mutual fund products.