Investing and personal finance: markets, ESG and socially responsible funds, banking, financial advice.
77 articles · page 3 of 4
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon (salary: about $21 million annually) knows a lot about banking but not much about how ordinary people manage their finances, including a minimum wage teller who works for his bank. In this exciting video exchange, Dimon is dumbfounded when asked how to manage money on minimum…
A new survey from the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) found that 55% of Baby Boomers had retirement savings today. In 2011, the study found that 75% of Boomers had retirement savings. Worse, among this current group, 50% have less than $250,000 in retirement accounts. Depressing surveys about the how ill-prepared Americans…
Online banks that work directly with customers, as opposed to traditional branch banks, are becoming more popular among younger depositors, according to a new JD Power Survey. The survey found that “direct banks continue to significantly outperform traditional retail banks in overall customer satisfaction.” The survey found the top-rated banks are: Charles…
If you are an established U.S. based and registered cannabis company and want to be listed on a major stock exchange in Canada, there are some new opportunities north of the U.S. border that may be interesting. At least, that is the goal of the Tormont Group, based in Toronto, which is…
Social or Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing is getting more attention from large institutional investors in five parts of the world than it did only five years ago. Two separate studies, one conducted by RBC Global Asset Management and another by Callan Associates, show a trend toward a greater acceptance of ESG investing. According…
Since the first corporate pension plan was created in 1874 by the American Express Company, there has always been a blind spot in how small business owners offered retirement benefits to their employees. For over 70% of business owners, this decision to offer any form of retirement was simple: They didn’t. The reason was most…
Traditional marketing theory and business practices have long argued that politics and religion should be avoided at all costs in daily business practices. But the new reality is that politics is ever-present. It is now part of social relationships, dating, religion, and business. It is now being injected into most industries and…
As the Trump Administration continues to steamroll democratic institutions, accompanied by concerns about the income gap, wage stagnation and economic security continue, financial advisors have a choice: They can continue to provide clients with financial plans based on a no- or small-wage growth scenario, accompanied by admonitions to save more and reduce…
It sounds simple, but hiring a financial writer for a corporate job in the financial services industry is complex. The reason is that many corporate hiring managers don’t have a realistic idea of what a financial writer is supposed to do. Will they write speeches, quarterly market commentaries, marketing materials, shareholder newsletters, webcasts, work with…
Since this website was created in 2011, Mutualfundreform.com has sought to educate investors and future retirees about securing a more financially stable retirement. Now, something is happening that can increase your odds of having a more financially stable retirement. That is the start of a progressive political caucus that can address various…
While the dangers of a market meltdown and continued market volatility can make many institutional investors nervous, there is now a solution that uses a fixed income overlay strategy to convert equity declines and volatility into a defensive strategy using a fixed income overlay strategy. The fixed income overlay strategy is offered by…
Since 2011, this website has emphasized the importance of finding investment managers who don’t have conflicts of interest, charge excessive fees, and don’t have a considerable overhead in terms of having national mutual fund wholesaler fund sales forces and excessive executive compensation. This old sales investment management structure was designed for the benefit of…
Investment professionals with exceptional research skills, proven track records, and access to large amounts of data are in a better position than average people to discern the investment future. So, with that in mind, here are well-prepared assessments from Kevin C. Smith, CFA, founder and CEO of Crescat Capital, Denver, and investor Jim Rogers…
It’s taken for granted that an expanding economic pie is good for everyone in the financial planning and investment businesses, but given the current election dichotomy between the haves- and the have-nots, it looks like many people in these businesses are going to be voting against their own self-interests. Of course, it’s not…
Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump’s vindictiveness and pettiness should be well-known to the American public by now. Trump has a long history of making racist comments. In one especially vehement public episode, Trump criticized Judge Gonzalo Curiel, presiding over one of the cases against Trump University, and ordered the release of documents related…
Changes in technology, politics and regulations are converging to bring new changes to the financial industry. And in a rare move, all of these present new benefits to average investors. What makes these changes noteworthy are that they are forcing the very conservative, often anti-investor financial services industry, to essentially give investors more control over their investments…
When science is used for political purposes it results in some very distorted and dangerous results that serve a specific point of view at the expense of the rigorous standards mandated by the scientific method. History has numerous examples of scientists who have twisted, concealed or fabricated scientific studies to promote an industry or political…
It’s no secret that every aspiring entrepreneur focuses on building a brand. For certain industries, this is a valid pursuit. But for the emerging cannabis industry, devoting excessive resources in time and money to build a brand may be a mistake. The reasons: Cannabis is a perishable, crop-by-crop product, and producing the exact clone of…
Call it good timing, fortuitous luck, or being in the right place at the right time, but the cannabis industry seems poised to become the most technological industry ever to develop. While the assembly line revolutionized auto manufacturing in 1913, this sole technological advance did not immediately change other elements critical to the car business,…
What happens when a company that espouses financial transparency with all of its customers and shareholders suddenly shifts gears and changes its structure to hide financial information in order to pay fewer taxes? Should the company still be trusted by its customers? Does it still meet the standards of being “socially responsible”? Or, were the…
