401(k) fees and disclosure, fiduciary rules, mutual funds, Social Security, retirement planning.
171 articles · page 4 of 9
Every day, about 60,000 baby boomers turn 65 and whether they retire or not, they are entering the older part of the population in greater numbers than any other time in U.S. history. According to the National Institute of Health, there are about 35 million Americans over age 65 and “this number is…
The Republicans have never hid their distain for regulation and now with the surprise victory of Donald Trump and his arch conservative vice president, the simmering Republican distain for reversing all things from the 1930’s New Deal will are going to be reviewed and partially reversed . This will take time, but the…
I think this is only the second time I have posted something directly from another site that was not original, but it is an important story on how far Wells Fargo has gone to deceive its own customers, many of whom don’t speak English, in order to sell life insurance policies from their…
Since I started in financial journalism over 35 years ago as a reporter in a two-person bureau in Chicago with the trade magazine Pensions & Investments, the issue of underfunded corporate and municipal pension funds is something we all learned on the first day of work. Now, over 35 years later, thanks to…
The Chief Investment officer (CIO) of CalSTRS, the second largest pension fund in the U.S. said his fund relies more on indexing than active management primarily due to the high fees and sub-par returns associated with active management for their $192 billion pension fund. In an interview on Bloomberg TV today (Nov. 29, 2016,…
Since the unthinkable has happened and Republicans control the White House and Congress, it’s only a question of a few short months before intense efforts start to dismantle the DOL fiduciary rule, Dodd-Frank and all other major regulations that provides transparency to individual investors. This is sad news for those industry professionals who strongly advocated for…
Tonight’s final presidential debate between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump has one segment about Social Security entitled “Entitlement or Debt.” The debate will be moderated by Chris Wallace of FOX News, who has been credited with coming up with the debate segment topics. Of course, this segment will get off on the wrong…
In the show (see video), Oliver created a 401(k) for his show’s employees. The show’s producer chose John Hancock as the plan provider, who charged an asset management fees of 1.69%, on top of a $24 per-person annual fee and other fund fees. In addition, Hancock an unnamed intermediary broker (who told Oliver’s…
Being a political outsider has captured the attention of the American electorate in the last decade or so and is now been credited with generating a fundamental re-assessment of the national political establishment. Now, it’s time for outsiders to emerge in the financial services industry. Why? Simply because the “financial services industry,” a term I have used thousands…
The best way for the average American to build wealth is through home ownership, which creates home equity accompanied by appreciation, which is difficult to achieve in the stock market. That’s why any weakening of the long-touted dream of people owning their own homes is critical to the long-term abilities of working people to become…
Today’s decision by the US Department of Labor to authorize overtime payments for certain workers to boost their net take home pay is good news for financial planners. Under the new rules, almost all workers earning salaries beneath the “overtime salary threshold” of $23,660 are entitled to time-and-a-half pay whenever they work more than 40…
With the Department of Labor (DOLs) long-delayed, new fiduciary standard is now becoming more accepted, the financial services industry still has not confronted its biggest conflict-of-interest: using client’s money to fund lobbying campaigns designed to victimize their own customers. Like animals that eat their young, the financial services industry lobbying machine takes unsuspecting client’s money,…
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has done a yeoman’s job of tentatively passing new a new set of regulations that will benefit individual investors from the conflicts-of-interest that are too common in the financial advisor business. But in order to get the revolutionary new regulations passed, the DOL had to make concessions to the…
The Trump Administration has announced that it will seek to reverse the U.S. Department of Labor’s historic announcement that millions of investors will finally be able to receive objective, unbiased information about their investment choices. This attack on the fiduciary standard also is being abetted by the most powerful, reactionary lobbying forces in…
Social responsibility has been a buzzword in corporate America for decades, but nowhere has it been more conspicuously vacant than in the recent stories about the pending retirement crisis that is currently facing millions of Americans. At issue is whether the retirement industry, comprised of investment, mutual fund and insurance companies, 401(k) plan administrators and…
Fund expenses are the only thing an investor can control. They cannot control market volatility, political disputes, oil production, Fed interest rate policy or the decisions made by public companies. But they have total control over their fund expenses and these represent money that goes directly to any investor’s bottom line. As noted in the…
As a career politician, Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan knows the value of money, both now and in the future. Now, he has secured both by vowing to oppose the DOL’s pending fiduciary standard rule. And in the process, he will be paid lots of money. How much money are we talking about?
The Golden Rule is having an impact on the financial services industry. This biblical phrase, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31) has driven discussions about the ethics of reciprocity for over a thousand years, but at many of the nation’s largest financial services firms, this lesson is unknown…
For decades, people concerned about financial reform and protecting individual investors against predatory industry practices have accepted the fact that they must work in a very confined space in order to advance even modest reforms. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has changed that perception. Sanders is an unabashed, long-time advocate of breaking up the nation’s…
Market volatility is increasing. The market is swooning. China is approaching a recession. And your portfolio returns are falling. If you want to boost your returns, here is the best and easiest way. Cut you fees and expenses. Those savings go right into your bottom line and not into your broker’s or fund manager’s pockets. Here…
