News

Through an arrangement with Morningstar Associates, LLC, Prudential Retirement has created an in-plan asset allocation option that provides a guaranteed withdrawal benefit.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday announced a $37 million payout to more than 300,000 investors who were harmed by Columbia Funds’ fraudulent mutual fund market timing between 1998 and 2003.

The third of seven ineffective habits of retirement plan advisers

Although a majority of defined benefit plan sponsors have either closed the plan to new hires or frozen it for all participants in the last two years, most of those sponsors have also bettered their 401(k) offering.

NASD announced on Wednesday it has fined Securities America, Inc. of Omaha, Nebraska, $375,000 for improperly sharing directed brokerage commissions from a mutual fund company with Michael Bullock, a former Securities America broker.

As high net worth individuals (HNWIs) develop an increasingly more global outlook with diversified interests, ‘investments of passion’ have become an important portfolio allocation.

Claymore Securities, Inc. has announced the launch of two new exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the Claymore/Zacks Country Rotation ETF (CRO) and the Claymore/Zacks International Yield Hog Index ETF (HGI).

Despite an overall drop in assets of U.S. exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets, international funds experienced strong growth during the month of June.

For years, football’s Dallas Cowboys called themselves “America’s Team″, but baseball has long regarded itself as the nation’s national pastime.

With bills pending in both the U.S. Senate and House encouraging employers to sponsor auto-enrolled IRAs, an AARP-sponsored study says such a vehicle would help as many as 48 million workers amass enough of a retirement nest egg.

Union Bank of California is introducing a new benefit for its SelectBenefit retirement plan sponsor clients and plan participants.

Ameristock Funds is now offering five exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the Ryan Treasury Indexes.

Legg Mason, Inc. has announced the launch of two new separately managed account products for retail investors to access Western Asset Management's Core and Core Plus strategies.

The Principal Financial Group has introduced Financial Security Review, a tool for annual financial checkups that pulls together information from a variety of sources into one comprehensive package for financial professionals.

John Hancock retirement plan participants will soon be able to use an option that allows them to roll their 401(k) account balances over from an employer-sponsored plan to another retirement account.

Standard Retirement Services, Inc. has agreed to acquire the assets of Portland, Oregon based third-party retirement plan administrators DPA, Inc., and its associated investment adviser business, MasterPlan Advisors, Inc.

Advisers can count on new regulations relating to retirement plan fees and disclosures in the near future but it is unclear whether those will be authored by Congress or the regulators.

Although the Pension Protection Act has officially ushered in a wave of automation to retirement plans, education is still a vital part of a successful 401(k) and advisers can help plan sponsors measure the effects of their education campaigns.

Suggesting that many retirement plan advisers will become fiduciary advisers under the Pension Protection Act (PPA), attorney Fred Reish, Partner at Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen, said plan sponsors should expect these advisers to be experts on a successful retirement plan, not just investments.

Although plan fees might not be excessive, advisers and plan sponsors should consider whether they can be less.