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Half of Independent RIAs Add Clients

Advisers are benefitting from growing dissatisfaction with brokerages.

Group Annuities May Be Inappropriate for 401(k)s

Critics cite lockups, higher fees.

Advisers Succeeded in Gaining 14% for Millionaires in 2008

While millionaires who didn’t work with an adviser lost an average 18% in 2008, those that did lost only 4% of assets.

ProFunds Launches ETFs Leveraged 3X to S&P

The “UltraPro” funds offer 300% exposure on both the upside and the downside.

High-Net-Worth Individuals in N.A. Down by 19%

The number of millionaires in the world plunged 14.9% last year as the markets faced extreme losses and volatility, according to the Merrill Lynch/Capgemini 2009 World Wealth Report. This means there are fewer millionaires in the world today than in 2005. The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (those worth net assets of at least $30 million, not including their primary residence) also dropped 24.6%. …

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Articles

Eliminating Money Funds' $1 NAV Causes Concern

While the financial services industry largely embraced most of the Obama administration's financial services overhaul, the idea of removing money funds' $1 net asset value is causing widespread concern in the mutual fund industry. 'If you float the value of a money fund, you've essentially destroyed the product,' said Investment Company Institute President Paul Schott Stevens. 'We're going to explain clearly why we believe a fluctuating [NAV] is a very bad idea.'

Target-Date Fund Hearing Focuses on Disclosure

At the hearing on target-date funds that the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission held in Washington last Thursday, the focus was on better disclosure of holdings. Even though the makeup and glidepaths of target-date funds vary so considerably, as proven by the range of minus 7% to minus 41% that 2010 target-date funds delivered in 2008, fund executives resisted government-mandated caps on holdings.

FINRA Fines Seven Bond B/Ds for Violations

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined seven firms a total of $184,500, including $80,000 for Tulsa-based BOSC Inc., for failing to timely or accurately report municipal securities, unfairly pricing bonds, as well as other muni and non-muni rule violations. FINRA announced the sanctions in monthly disciplinary actions last week. Besides BOSC, it fined Charles Schwab $30,000, Stoever, Glass & Co. $20,000, Piper Jaffray & Co. $17,500, Finance 500 Inc. $15,000, Bonddesk Trading LLC $12,000, and Country Club Financial Services Inc. $10,000.

401k Fee Transparency Push Could Increase Fees, Confusion

WASHINGTON - Many investment industry leaders are worried that the proposed 401(k) fee disclosure regulations currently being pushed through Congress will actually increase the fees investors pay and increase their confusion. 'Regulators feel they need to add nuances to 401(k) fee disclosure, but what's it going to cost the industry to comply?' asked Fred Teufel, a principal of institutional retirement plan services at The Vanguard Group, during the Society of Professional Asset-Managers and Record Keepers' conference titled 'Retirement Plans at a Crossroad' held here last week at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. 'We spend an increasing amount of our budget on regulatory compliance,' said Barbara March, executive vice president of workplace investing for defined contribution plan services at Fidelity Investments. 'This reminds me of redemption fees. The cost of complying with the rules was more than anyone would have been hurt by the fees.'

Sponsors Continue to Add Many Features to 401(k)s

Although there have been reports of one-third of employers cutting back on or eliminating 401(k) matches, for the most part, they have continued to add other features to the plans to increase participation and investment rates, Charles Schwab found. And that has helped most workers stay the retirement savings course. In fact, of the plans that Schwab manages, participation increased in 2008 to 77%, up from 73% from the year before. Plans with between 500 and 1,000 participants displayed the highest participation rate (88%). A majority of employers, 70%, continued to offer a 401(k) match in 2008, down from 78% in 2007. Of those that did offer a match, only 8% reduced it.

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