Investments

After one 2030 target-date fund lost 41% in 2008, legislators in Washington went up in arms against the fund category. One of the most controversial proposals would have limited equity exposure in such funds, but the industry fought back on the grounds the 40 Act gives asset managers leeway to determine asset allocation on their own.

MetLife believes that the once-ignored “emerging investor” is becoming critical to advisor business as firms try to figure out how to retain and recruit new clients.

Financial services firms have yet to create a strong retirement income plan, Cogent finds.

More retirement think tanks are getting on board with the idea of including annuities in 401(k) plans, but so far, only a handful of large employers have this as an option.

Charles Schwab Corp. has partnered with Pacific Investment Management Co. to offer wealthy clients in or approaching retirement a managed municipal bond laddering product.

But the direct-pay subsidy rate would shrink from the current 35% of interest costs to 33% in 2011, 31% in 2012 and 30% in 2013, under a draft of a second jobs bill unveiled yesterday by House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich.

More retirement think tanks are getting on board with the idea of including annuities in 401(k) plans, but so far, only a handful of large employers have this as an option.

The SPARK Institute has released the “Universal Small Employer Retirement Savings Program” report, in which it explains how universal plans would be less expensive and easier than automatic IRAs.

Vanguard Group plans to spend more on advertising this year as it increases its spending on targeted marketing online.

In an effort to sell more products through financial advisers, Fidelity Investments announced Monday that it plans to reorganize hundreds of its employees.

More than half of ads will run online.

Fidelity Institutional has formed a new centralized client experience organization to improve service for registered investment advisors, broker/dealers, traders and family offices.

Proposed new hedge fund rules in Europe would limit access to the market for fund managers and custodian banks outside the EU, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has argued. Nonetheless, the European Commission is pressing ahead with the new rules.

NEW YORK -- Experts predict equities and equity mutual funds could have a double-digit rally later this year -- if investors respond as they should and flee a future correction in the bond market.

Investors continue to stuff municipal bond mutual funds with cash, supporting bond prices even as by some measures they are nearly as expensive as they have ever been.

9% of Finance Execs Planning to Hire Soon

Canadian investors are missing out of up to $500 million a year in yields by sticking with money market funds rather than higher-yielding, insured premium savings accounts.

Direxion has launched six new long and short exchange-traded funds tracking BRIC, India and the semiconductor industry, bringing the total number of leveraged ETFs it offers to 34.

Direxion has launched six new long and short exchange-traded funds tracking BRIC, India and the semiconductor industry, bringing the total number of leveraged ETFs it offers to 34.

This recovery is for real, according to TrimTabs. As cause for the optimism, the research firm points to a 3% increase in wages and salaries from a year ago and a 9% spike in online job postings. Year-to-date, job postings have surged a surprising 18%.