892 articles · page 41 of 45
There is good and bad news in the most recent Fidelity study on average 401(k) balances. The good news is that 401(k) balances grew by almost 12% in 2012, making the average 401(k) account $77,300, up from $69,100 in 2011. According to Fidelity, the nation’s largest 401(k) administrator, average 401(k) balances rose sharply due to…
“The more things change, the more they remain the same” (Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose) is an old French expression that conveys the pessimism of established practices. This is especially evident in the phrase plus ça change that “indicates a certain disillusionment or resignation regarding whatever is being talked about. A company…
NBC News reported that one in three Americans are using their 401(k) retirement assets to pay current living expenses. While that is an expected event coming right after the worst recession in modern history, that news, along with the following comment, miss the most important—and politically incorrect point in the story—that real wages have not…
Conflicts-of-interest between financial advisors and their own clients remains a major problem in the financial services business since it costs investors billions and violates the fiduciary standard, according to author Chuck Epstein. “Conflicts-of-interest are common, especially in the mutual fund industry where fund companies pay investment professionals a fee, called revenue sharing, for recommending their…
It’s 2012 and close to four years after the Lilly ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law. Surely, the gender wage gap has been closed, right? Wrong. Even with moves toward equalizing pay between men and women, men still make almost 20% more than women in nearly all industries. This is despite the fact…
As Congress debates tax rates and potential cuts to entitlements, many Americans face the longer-term reality of a financially uncertain retirement plagued by historically low investment returns, politically-motivated attacks on Social Security and Medicare, and stagnant wages. Recovery Times To Recoup A Housing Price Loss The trillions of dollars lost in home equity could take…
Equity mutual fund investors are incurring unfair trading costs of up to $10 billion annually, which penalizes long-term investors. The industry knows about this problem, but does not want to correct it, even if there is a viable solution, according to financial expert Seymour Sacks. Here are some reasons for the industry’s resistance to change.
Looks like the victory of Elizabeth Warren as the new senator in Massachusetts will revive the battle for Dodd Frank, the fiduciary standard and other needed financial reforms. Warren, a Harvard law professor and bankruptcy expert, is a major, vocal proponent of financial reform and will provide some much needed energy to the push for…
Proposals to create private investment accounts in Social Security will victimize ill-equipped investors, generate huge fees for the mutual fund industry and jeopardize the financial security of millions of Americans How 401(k) Fees Destroy Wealth and What Investors Can Do To Protect Themselves by Chuck Epstein Privatizing any aspect of Social Security into private accounts…
The new Department of Labor (DOL) regulations on 401(k) fee and expense disclosure will have a profound impact on the trillion dollar retirement industry. But these big changes hinge on whether millions of 401(k) investors want to save their own money by getting better informed. Now, a new book examines how these new regulations work,…
By David Lufkin As part of the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC has been charged to “identify the existing level of financial literacy among retail investors as well as methods and efforts to increase (it).” Part 1 of the SEC Financial Literacy Study was released recently, but the horses left the barn a long time…
New Department of Labor (DOL) regulations on 401(k) fee and expense disclosure are having a profound impact on the trillion dollar retirement industry. But these big changes hinge on whether millions of 401(k) investors want to save their own money by getting better informed. And if you do, you can save thousand of…
As the mutual fund industry struggles to differentiate itself either through performance, products, strategies or fees, the U.S. Department of Labor has handed the industry a great opportunity to innovate through regulation. That’s a difficult concept for the financial services industry to accept, but regulation has its benefits. The Robber Barons recognized that at the…
August 30, 2012 is a first big day for the new era of disclosure covering millions of 401(k) investors. That’s the day 401(k) plan sponsors must disclose their plan-level fees and expenses to employees who participate in the company’s 401(k) plan. These disclosures are part of the historic U.S. Department of Labor’s new 401(k) fee…
The developing scandal involving years of price rigging of the London Interbank Offering Rate (LIBOR) should not be relegated to the financial pages alone. Instead, it should become a key element to counter the Republican’s incessant push towards deregulation as the most recent large scale example of abuses in the deregulated markets. As recent news…
Recent news that housing prices are beginning to rise after a six-year slump in certain cities, such as San Francisco and Seattle to Miami, makes for good headlines, but it does not mean this is a national event. Nor does it mean that home prices will appreciate any time soon to their pre-crash levels. It…
It is certainly no surprise to readers of this site that the financial services industry ranks as one of the most reactionary in the U.S. For hundreds of years, it has always been “heads I win, tails you lose” for the individual investor. Now, the group dedicated to pushing through the adoption of a fiduciary…
If you ask any investor: “Which federal agency is supposed to be looking out for your best interests?” the most common answer would be the SEC. That is the wrong answer. The correct one is the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), which will enact new regulations in July that will finally give individual investors some…
In what is being called the first suit involving revenue sharing and fee disclosure and heightened transparency, a Missouri company has been ordered to pay $35 million to current and former plan participants. The lawsuit (Ronald Tussey et al v. ABB Inc. et al, Case No. 2:06-CV-04305-NKL, United States District Court, W.D. Missouri, Central Division,…
While all men are created equal, history proves that over time, some men become more equal than others. That is certainly the case at the highest levels of Wall Street where the ability to move markets give the largest and most secure profits to those who are more equal than others. On Monday (April 16,…
