Retirement planning

By now, investors are accustomed to the creative, informal "Talk to Chuck" advertisements of Charles Schwab & Co. in which animated, yet somewhat realistic, images of people gripe about trying to get through to other brokers, but take heart at the thought of reaching Chuck Schwab, the man, through one of his people.

According to recent analysis by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a leading global consulting firm, defined benefit pension plans tend to have higher rates of return than 401(k) plans.

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in LaRue v DeWolff to permit workers in 401(k) plans to sue administrators for high fees will inevitably lead to lower fees—and the end of the retail mutual fund industry’s dominance of the market. That’s the strong opinion of widely quoted, and frequent financial TV guest Ric Edelman.

A shocking lack of financial knowledge by our nation’s teenagers has caused a junior achievement organization and an association of retired teachers to band together to help bridge this gap.

Approximately 78 million working Americans are currently working jobs that do not provide them with a retirement plan; however, Barack Obama is looking to change this predicament, according to a report by CNNMoney.com.

Charles Schwab has announced that the Charles Schwab Trust Company (CSTC) will offer target-date collective trust funds for retirement plans.

Big changes are brewing in the 403(b) world. For the first time in 40 years, the Internal Revenue Service is mandating new requirements that aim to make the plans more like 401(k)s.

Mutual fund and other financial services firms are making it easier for their investment advisers to address a broader array of clients' trust needs, ranging from estate planning to philanthropic giving.

Wachovia Corp. says its retail retirement group is drawing assets by having advisers work face to face with customers at every income level to create a retirement plan.

Millionaires became slightly more optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy in May, according to Spectrem's Millionaire Investor Index.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a pair of initiatives designed to strengthen its position in the asset management market.

Walter Ricciardi, the Security and Exchange Commission’s deputy director of the Division of Enforcement, announced he will retire this month to join the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP as a partner.

Industry leader SEI recently concluded in a white paper that collective investment trusts (CITs) are becoming more popular in the defined-contribution retirement market. In the first quarter of 2008 alone, 63 new collective trusts were launched, and from 2004 to 2007 CIT assets actually tripled.

WASHINGTON - Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have been growing by leaps and bounds lately, but you ain't seen nothin' yet, said a panel of executives involved in creating and distributing ETFs, speaking at the Investment Company Institute's general membership meeting here two weeks ago.

The mood at the Investment Company Institute's 50th Annual General Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, themed "Our Foundations, Our Future," was markedly upbeat. Certainly, this is welcome and refreshing, especially following the dot-com crash of 2000-2001, the mutual fund scandals of 2003-2005 and this year's subprime credit crisis hitting the financial services industry and Wall Street, in particular, so hard.

WASHINGTON - The general consensus among financial experts is that target-date funds are better suited for the majority of 401(k) investors than money market funds. Only problem is, the passive participant seems to have little interest in making changes to their plan, especially if they were automatically enrolled into it.

Until recently, getting a guaranteed income in retirement meant buying an annuity.

The mood at the Investment Company Institute ’s 50th Annual General Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, themed “Our Foundations, Our Future,” was markedly upbeat. Certainly, this is welcome and refreshing, especially following the dot-com crash of 2000-2001, the mutual fund scandals of 2003-2005 and this year’s subprime credit crisis hitting the financial services industry and Wall Street, in particular, so hard.

No sooner does the mutual fund industry come up with an innovative solution to the retirement income problem than the financial media has to tear it down.

WASHINGTON - Regulators, employers and the financial services industry must work together to expand the use of 401(k) plans and increase worker participation, the Investment Company Institute's President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens said Wednesday at the institute's 50th annual general membership meeting.