Investments

Bankrate.com said there is a surprising amount of interest among investors in liquid CDs, step-up CDs, and bump-up CDs.

They are the Preferred and Income Securities and the Focused Equity funds.

GoodHaven Capital Management has launched the GoodHaven Fund, a no-load value fund with a go-anywhere mandate that includes fixed income and cash.

Destra Capital Management has expanded its lineup of funds that emphasize income and seek to minimize downside risk with the launch of the Preferred and Income Securities Fund, sub-advised by Flaherty and Crumrine, and the Focused Equity Fund, sub-advised by WestEnd Advisors.

Prudential Investments has launched three new fixed income funds: the Prudential Floating Rate Income Fund, the Prudential Absolute Return Bond Fund and the Prudential Emerging Markets Debt Local Currency Fund.

With advisors and investors focused on tax season, Ed Slott returns to financial planning with some quick answers on Roth IRAs, required minimum distributions, and what all this means before (and after) April 18.

Sixty-five percent of Americans do not know what a hedge fund is, according to a survey by Thesis Fund Management.

While most of the U.S. continues to endure sluggish or retreating housing prices and foreclosures still remain a persistent blight on the economic landscape, ultra high net worth individuals continue to fork over huge sums to garner real estate in most of the world's most exclusive enclaves.

Franklin Templeton, Loomis Sayles and State Street will be the sub-advisors.

Institutional investors and regulators are paying more attention to the sector.

For investment managers, the capabilities most in demand this year from retirement plans, endowments and foundations will be global and emerging markets investing, hedge funds, private equity and real assets, according to the 2011 Consultant Search Forecast.

According to a Russell survey, enthusiasm for non-U.S. equities has declined.

Standard & Poor's said that U.S. corporate dividend increases surged up 27.8% in the first quarter of this year.

Tax-exempt money market funds saw only moderate outflows as investors yanked a mere $252.5 million in the week ended April 4, causing total net assets to dip slightly to $319.05 billion, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Genworth Financial Wealth Management has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer six asset allocation funds that will be sub-advised by Franklin Templeton, Loomis Sayles and State Street Global Advisors.

The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence rose to 67 in the first quarter, up from 62 in the fourth quarter—showing a measurable amount of faith in the economy since a reading above 50 indicates a positive outlook.

Sub-advised fund assets topped $1.7 trillion in 2010, an all-time high, Financial Research Corp. said.

State Street Global Advisors has launched a new exchange-traded fund based on a corporate bond index weighted according to three quantitative measures: return on assets, interest coverage and current ratio.

Companies paid out $19 billion in dividends in the first quarter of 2011, Standard & Poor’s said. And the number of companies increasing dividends rose 27.8% to 510, up from 399 in the first quarter of 2010.

What portfolio management activities provide the MOST value for your time/money/energy/attention, and which activities provide the LEAST value for your time etc.?