Investments

Last week's extreme volatility in the U.S. and international stock markets has many retirees and Baby Boomers approaching retirement worried that their life savings will fall short of expectations.

Way to go. Some marketing experts are beginning to get it right. The "Magical Mystery Tour" that's been the past 60 years of Baby Boomer buying power doesn't have to end with mutual fund companies instilling the dreaded fear of outliving one's retirement savings, dying impoverished and, possibly, alone.

Insured Bond Funds Quietly Outperform

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

Bank of New York Mellon announced Tuesday that it had completed its purchase of Arx Capital Management, a Rio de Janeiro independent asset manager. Arx Capital specializes in Brazilian multi-strategy, long-short and long-only investment strategies and has more than $2.8 billion of assets under management. The price of the acquisition, which was announced on Nov. 13, was not disclosed. Arx Capital will be integrated into BNY Mellon Asset Management Brasil. The company said that the combined business will be one of the largest asset assets managers in the country.

The Supreme Court's decision in Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC v. Scientific Atlanta will mean that mutual fund companies, could be better protected from class-action investor suits involving third parties that support the administration and running of a fund's trading floor and back office.

Hit hard by mortgage-related losses, Wall Street is returning to less risky transactions and focusing on tried-and-true practices like selling stocks and bonds to investors, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Money market mutual fund assets rose $13.55 billion to $3.189 trillion for the week ending Jan. 16, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Only a minority of financial institutions are actively promoting health savings accounts.

Registered investment advisors have had a good run over the past three years. And some 28% of RIA firms have experienced growth of more than 100%, according to a new study published by Fidelity Investments.

Vanguard Takes Top Spot from American Funds

By now, most asset management executives have seen the predictions that large-cap growth will be the way to go in 2008. But digging deeper than mere asset class predictions, MME spoke with two industry leaders to tease out nuances of what fund managers can expect this year.

BOSTON - Fund companies will need to plan ahead to ensure they can meet new regulations on fund disclosure without costly delays to investors and brokers.

BOSTON - Participants at one session of last week's National Investment Company Service Association's east coast regional meeting set their sights on how the managed funds industry is going to market itself to the 80 million Generation Y members.

First there were environmental mutual funds that rewarded do-good companies and those with sustainability sensitivities. Next came alternative energy and climate change funds.

Sincere Joins F-Squared Board

The rapid growth in the exchange-traded fund arena is increasing the complexity of capital gains taxes, writes the Wall Street Journal.

Investors should have realistic performance expectations when investing international funds, said Dan Lefkovitz, a mutual fund analyst for Morningstar Inc.

Morningstar's database of hedge funds, excluding funds-of-funds, returned an average of 1.98% during the fourth quarter of 2007, outperforming the MSCI World Index and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

The rapid growth in the exchange-traded fund arena is increasing the complexity of capital gains taxes, writes the Wall Street Journal.