Employee benefits

Big changes are brewing in the 403(b) world. For the first time in 40 years, the Internal Revenue Service is mandating new requirements that aim to make the plans more like 401(k)s.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a pair of initiatives designed to strengthen its position in the asset management market.

Iowa has launched a “Baby 529 College Savings Giveaway” program in which it will randomly award $1,000 in money toward a 529 plan to one baby a month at participating Iowa hospitals. Every family that registers their child, however, will also receive a small “welcome home” gift, courtesy of Iowa State Treasurer Michal L. Fitzgerald.

Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman has declared May 29 as “529 College Savings Day,” in part to draw attention to the tax-advantaged college savings plans and to roll out a new Web-based resource that allows family and friends to make online contributions.

Industry leader SEI recently concluded in a white paper that collective investment trusts (CITs) are becoming more popular in the defined-contribution retirement market. In the first quarter of 2008 alone, 63 new collective trusts were launched, and from 2004 to 2007 CIT assets actually tripled.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously last Wednesday on a proposal that would require mutual funds to provide risk/return, fee and strategy information using the same new digital data tagging system as the 500 largest U.S. corporations.

WASHINGTON - Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have been growing by leaps and bounds lately, but you ain't seen nothin' yet, said a panel of executives involved in creating and distributing ETFs, speaking at the Investment Company Institute's general membership meeting here two weeks ago.

The mood at the Investment Company Institute's 50th Annual General Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, themed "Our Foundations, Our Future," was markedly upbeat. Certainly, this is welcome and refreshing, especially following the dot-com crash of 2000-2001, the mutual fund scandals of 2003-2005 and this year's subprime credit crisis hitting the financial services industry and Wall Street, in particular, so hard.

WASHINGTON - The general consensus among financial experts is that target-date funds are better suited for the majority of 401(k) investors than money market funds. Only problem is, the passive participant seems to have little interest in making changes to their plan, especially if they were automatically enrolled into it.

WASHINGTON - Regulators, employers and the financial services industry must work together to expand the use of 401(k) plans and increase worker participation, the Investment Company Institute's President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens said Wednesday at the institute's 50th annual general membership meeting.

The Charles Schwab Foundation will sponsor awards for the National Financial Literacy Challenge, a 35-question test of personal finance for high school students in the U.S.

Many investors are gasping at the first-quarter losses on their financial statements and wondering whether they should change their asset allocation to a more conservative plan.

Hedge Fund Investments Drop in First Quarter

NEW YORK - As the world economy becomes increasingly connected, communicating important financial information, such as income statements, cash flow, balance sheets and mutual fund returns, would be all but impossible without a common language.

Talk about a living legend brimming with institutional knowledge.

What inspired me to find a tremendous investing opportunity in the Internal Revenue Service's tax code?

Senate Democrats in Connecticut are pushing for a state-sponsored 401(k) retirement plan for small businesses, designed for employers who can’t afford to offer a retirement plan to their workers.

Russell Investments has launched “LifePoints Funds, Target Distribution Strategies,” a series of multi-manager funds designed specifically for the “decumulation” phase.

Gen Xers are stressed out about the prospect of retirement, with only 31% of them believing they will be able to retire from the workforce.

Mike Henkel, the former president of Ibbotson Associates, has joined Envestnet as managing director of the firm’s new retirement services group.