Fund performance

Financial advisers have been going independent or switching wirehouses in record numbers since the economic crisis began at the end of 2007, and brokerages are scrambling for ways to get them and their loyal clients to come back.

Bond funds are not as reliable as they have historically been, which his creating some headaches for investors, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Retail investors appear to be regaining some nerve, The Washington Times reports.

Christopher Ryan, managing director of Fidelity International, told Bloomberg he is particularly optimistic about China, citing the economy’s diversification and the government’s stimulus plan.

Massachusetts on Friday subpoenaed four brokers to obtain sales, revenue and training records for leveraged exchange-traded funds: Ameriprise, UBS, LPL and Edward Jones.

UBS has stopped selling leveraged exchange-traded funds, saying that the funds don’t conform to its belief in long-term investing due to the “short-term nature of these securities.”

Securian Retirement is urging sponsors that offer stable-value funds in their 401(k) plan to be aware that there can still be risks in such funds, depending on their holdings and the stability of the financial markets. Such funds need to be monitored, Securian says.

For anyone in a rush to snap up wealth management firms, or who thinks Wilmington Trust Corp. is poised for a buying spree, Ted T. Cecala says think again.

Firms attempting to prepare and strengthen their risk management systems in this rapidly changing regulatory landscape are finding it's a bit like trying to hit a moving target.

NEW YORK -- Most retirement planners agree that retirees should maintain some equity exposure during retirement in order to keep up with inflation and a retirement that could last three decades or longer, but what this level of exposure should be -- and whether or not the government should set some parameters -- is being widely debated.

The U.S. should adopt a Systemic Risk Council made up of top financial regulators, according to Investment Company Institute President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens, during testimony July 23 before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.

Buoyed by strong performance in the first half of the year averaging 9%, hedge funds’ assets under management rose by $142.5 billion, for a total of $1.43 trillion under management, Hedge Fund Research reported Tuesday.

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin is investigating the sales materials of fund companies that sell leveraged exchange-traded funds.

Working with elderly clients can be challenging, but by networking with the right contacts and involving clients' heirs, some advisers are developing a lucrative and self-feeding business-and fund companies that can provide them with retirement income products that rely on capital preservation rather than aggressive investments will come out the winners.

Of course, it cannot be proved that hedge funds contributed to the financial crisis, as the Department of the Treasury said last week. However, it's more than likely that the top-performing hedge fund managers, those earning a staggering $1 billion a year in 2006, 2007 and 2008, were invested in the mortgage-backed and leveraged instruments that brought the economy to its knees.

Brokers who offer advice to investors may be held to the same fiduciary standards as investment advisers if legislation proposed by the Obama Administration is passed by Congress.

A full 49% of retirees are insecure about their financial future, up from only 20% who were afraid a year ago, a survey conducted by LIMRA, the Society of Actuaries and the International Foundation for Retirement Education found.

AQR Capital Management has launched three momentum indexes and mutual funds, the AQR Momentum Index, AQR Small Cap Momentum Index and AQR International Momentum Index. The three no-load mutual funds are the AQR Momentum Fund, AQR Small Cap Momentum Fund and AQR International Momentum Fund. Each requires a minimum investment of $5,000.

It could take as long as five years for asset managers around the world to recoup the $10 trillion they lost in 2008, according to a report by Cerulli, which calls the global meltdown "of near-biblical proportions."

Fidelity Investments aims to double its assets under administration in the next five years, and stepped-up sales through banks will be a major contributor, company executives said.