Employee benefits

Hedge Fund Managers Have Rough Month

Consumer confidence in the economy, including stocks, bonds, mortgages, credit cards and structured products, is dropping, but experts say consumers need to stay invested in a fully diversified portfolio of mutual funds for their own good and for the good of the economy.

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services is expanding its team that services third party administrators and shifting personnel to strengthen this move.

After a year of record growth, Hartford Financial Services wants to expand its 529 college savings business over the next two years by increasing sales and, perhaps, in what would be a shift in strategy, by becoming a plan sponsor in another state.

After a year of record growth, Hartford Financial Services Inc. wants to expand its 529 college savings business over the next two years by increasing sales and perhaps by becoming a plan sponsor in another state.

One of the nation’s largest student loan operations announced this week that it will suspend making federal-guarantee loans starting next month, according to the New York Times.

The Supreme Court has ruled that participants in 401(k) retirement plans can sue their providers for losses if their instructions are ignored or their account is mismanaged.

MIAMI - As the burden of responsibility for retirement planning continues to shift toward the individual, investors should be cautious about "fast analysis" investment advice, a top financial executive said Tuesday.

The credit crunch is crunching another corner of the market: securities tied to student loans, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The huge burden of meeting new Internal Revenue Service retirement plan regulations just got a lot easier.

Average investors are getting cheated out of thousands of dollars in earnings for their 401(k) plans by hidden fees and expenses, according to Bloomberg.

The Baby Boomer generation is once again taking credit for saving the economy, according to Reuters.

UBS Global Asset Management and Genworth Financial plan to introduce a guaranteed income for life option for 401(k) participants.

As traditional pension plans are increasingly being replaced by defined contribution plans, retirement income plan providers will need to adjust their tactics in order to keep up with the ever-changing retirement landscape.

The Department of Labor's proposed rules on 401(k) disclosure are insufficient, claim critics who say the disclosure isn't to the right people.

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.

Fidelity Investments released the results of its first annual College Savings Indicator on Wednesday, which tracks how well prepared parents are to meet future college costs, which are currently projected to top an average of $100,000 nationwide for today’s high school seniors.

Although the Pension Protection Act permits 401(k) fund administrators to give advice to participants as long as fees collected from the advice remain constant, no matter what the investment choice, it doesn’t address the problems that arise when the advice steers investors into funds run by the 401(k) administrator itself, The Wall Street Journal reports.

A U.S. Supreme Court case of a 401(k) investor from Dallas who claimed his employer failed to execute an order, costing him $150,000, may pave the way for lawsuits by individual investors, rather than class-action suits.

Much as target-date funds are gaining traction in 401(k) plans, parents investing in 529 college savings plans are overwhelmingly preferring age-based funds that become more conservative as a child’s first year of college approaches, Investment News reports, citing speakers at the recent 529 Technical Conference.