Subject Root Tag

To help parents and their children alike manage their finances better, Wells Fargo is promoting online budgeting and savings tools available on its website, and releasing the findings of a survey of parents on their children that demonstrate a generational knowledge gap.

Only 376 hedge funds liquidated in the first quarter of the year, down 52% from 778 that shut their doors in the fourth quarter of 2008, Hedge Fund Research said. The number that liquidated in the first quarter represented 4.05% of the 9,050 total number of hedge funds, and the number that went out of business the previous quarter was 7.77%.

The number of people who believe their financial security is worsening is now 45%, down from 49% in April, a survey by Country Financial found.

The Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission have released the agenda and list of speakers at this Thursday’s hearing on target-date funds.

Hedge funds are returning to the practice of leveraging, with some levels as high as 50%, Reuters reports. Nonetheless, risk-taking, even by hedge funds, is not expected to return to pre-crisis levels.

Fidelity Investments is planning to charge advisers for referrals to high-net-worth investors in its discount brokerage program that it makes to them.

After dropping 38.9% in 2008, slightly worse than the S&P 500’s 37% decline, the average stock mutual fund is up 9.9% year to date, quite a bit better than the index’s 5.3% return, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Americans are increasingly worried about their preparedness for retirement, The Hartford found in a survey. Thirty-four percent were either “extremely” or “very” worried about their ability to save for retirement, and 56% said they feared they would have to cut back on their contributions.

Canellos to Run SEC's New York Bureau

New Bill Would Reduce Taxes On Lifetime Annuity Income

Although there have been reports of one-third of employers cutting back on or eliminating 401(k) matches, for the most part, they have continued to add other features to the plans to increase participation and investment rates, Charles Schwab found. And that has helped most workers stay the retirement savings course.

NEW YORK -- Investors tend to stay quiet about financial products they don't understand as long as the profits keep coming in, but when the tide goes out and profits fall, they want answers.

A recent cartoon in The New Yorker surely sums up many retirement investors' feelings toward their financial advisers: It depicts them being sacrificed to a volcano.

Before the bottom fell out of the markets last year, most asset management firms thought they already had robust risk management processes in place. Now they're not so sure.

After consenting to a $40 million fine by the Securities and Exchange Commission for inflating the value of mortgage-backed securities in its Ultra Short Opportunities Fund, Evergreen Investment Management is now being investigated by the Massachusetts Securities Division for valuations in another mutual fund and a variable annuity.

Shares in publicly traded mutual fund management companies have soared 54% this year, compared to approximately 5% for the Standard & Poor's 500 index, but that growth may be about to slow down as fund companies catch up on paying expenses they have been putting off, USA TODAY reports.

Investors continued to gradually move out of the safety of money market funds and into the equity markets, as total assets of money market mutual funds dropped $16.33 billion to $3.747 trillion for the week ending June 10, according to the Investment Company Institute.

State Street Corp. and Vanguard Group are reeling at the annoucement of BlackRock Global Investors, the $13.5 billion merger between BlackRock and Barclays's asset management arm.

Equity funds took in inflows for the 12th straight week, netting $4.63 billion in the week ended June 3, the Investment Company Institute said. In the previous week, they netted $1.59 billion.

The U.S. House of Representatives has reintroduced a 401(k) fee disclosure bill, the fifth such bill to be considered by Congress.