Subject Root Tag

In response to growing demand for international equity funds, RS Investments has launched two new global equity mutual funds, the RS Global Growth Fund and the RS Greater China Fund. Baillie Gifford Overseas will sub-advise the funds.

Allianz Global Investors white paper authored by UCLA professor Shlomo Benartzi is offering several tools drawn from the field of behavioral finance to help advisers help their clients.

Hubspot’s latest study shows that the number of companies that blog has grown from 48% in 2009 to 65% this year. Indeed, it appears that non-bloggers are fast becoming the minority, and it’s not hard to see why: companies that blog have 55% more visitors, 97% more inbound links, and 434% more indexed pages, compared to those that do not.

The end of the Fed’s QE2 should not have much impact.

In general, big banks are restructuring their executives' compensation to put more emphasis on stock or cash awards that depend on how well the company does over 3 to 5 years.

The unit of Bank of America Private Wealth Management said Wednesday that it hired Greg Khost as a managing director and regional executive in Florham Park, N.J., Donald R. Quattrucci, as a managing director and market investment executive in Rhode Island, and Nancy E. Anderson, as a senior vice president and private client advisor in Minneapolis.

After riding out some choppy storms in the middle and latter part of the last decade, registered independent advisors -- and their clients -- now stand ready to cash in on enormous growth opportunities as long as their willing to embrace new technology and communication mediums.

A new report released this week from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) claims that some of the largest mutual funds -- including Vanguard and BlackRock -- are guilty of rubber-stamping company-initiated, executive-compensation plans that are often out of whack with their companies' performance and therefore compromising shareholders' best interests in the process.

I've put on my annual to-do list that sometime this year I'll create a Facebook page, and Lord help me, I may even start twittering before long. This means I'm about to stick my toe into the dreaded Social Media world.

Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) have proposed the Savings Enhancement by Alleviating Leakage in 401(k) Savings Act (SEAL), which would limit the number of loans that participants can take from their 401(k) to no more than three at a time.

Despite the widely held belief that younger investors have become tremendously risk-averse due to the economic crisis, Vanguard is finding that younger investors have increased their equity exposure considerably.

Russell Investments has launched a new suite of six exchange-traded funds, the Russell Investment Discipline ETFs, which focus on six investment styles commonly used by investment managers.

Investors clearly are buying into the social media hype, sending LinkedIn shares through the roof in their first trading day.

Global X Funds has launched the Global X Auto ETX (ticker: VROM), which will invest 76% of its portfolio in auto manufacturers and 26% in auto parts and equipment.

Since most participants accept the deferral rates that are automatically set in 401(k) plans, sponsors should increase those rates to at least 6% or higher, The Principal says.

According to a survey conducted by TD Ameritrade, RIAs reported a 7% increase.

Deciding what do to with an old 401(k) or other workplace retirement plan may not seem complicated, but a surprising number of participants do not understand which options are available to them, according to a survey by Fidelity Investments.

Variable annuities sales in 2011 climbed significantly in early 2011, continuing a trend begun last year, and reversing a slide that saw them fall from a high of $184 billion in 2007 to a low of $128 billion in 2009.

If financial advisors really want to increase the likelihood that their clients will commit to and execute on the retirement savings plans they've devised, they should ask less questions, use lots of simple visual aids and talk to them like eight-year-old children.

Corporate cultures will ultimately define how far social media tools go in helping banks and financial services firms deliver services to customers.