News and Articles

• Four in Five Americans Will Fall Short of Retirement Income Needs

  05/13/2010

  Based on an article by aul Menchaca at BankInvestmentConsultant.com, according to a study by Hewitt Associates, "four of five Americans are expected to fall short of meeting all of their financial needs in retirement unless they improve their savings habits or retire at a later age." 

  As always, save more for later days is essential to achieve better retirement incomes. On the other hand, better managing one's portfolios is even more important. In fact, another study on college savings 529 plans reports that on average, people's 529 investments are losing money in the past 10 years. Thus, not only one did not achieve tax benefit, he has less money than he would have gotten if simply putting money to the bank. This is a somber story one should keep in mind when investing. Finding a sound strategy and sticking to it is imperative before embarking on any such endeavor. Many times, financial service people just want to get people into the door and then leave them in the dark!

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• ETF Assets Rise

  05/12/2010

  By Matt Ackermann Financial Planning May 12, 2010

  As markets continued to rise in April, assets held in exchange-traded funds increased for the third consecutive month. As of April 30, there were 888 ETFs managed by 31 investment managers nationally.

  Vanguard announced last week that it reduced commissions associated with its exchange-traded funds. Vanguard’s ETF assets have more than doubled to over $100 billion in the past year. The company offers ETFs that track an array of domestic and international benchmarks, including fixed income funds.

  Competition is increasing. In March, JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced that it plans to introduce a pair of exchange-traded funds. The New York-based company wants to introduce both actively managed and index-based ETFs.

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• 8 Things You Must Include in a Financial Plan

  05/04/2010

  RISMEDIA, May 3, 2010

  Building a financial plan is key to building your financial security. There are eight things you must include in your financial plan.

  Income Tax

  Retirement
  

  Estate Planning

  Legacy Planning

  Asset Protection

  Education Funding

  Investment Portfolio Management

  Risk Management and Insurance

   

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• Alternatives to annuities? Plenty, say advisers

  05/04/2010

   

  By Darla Mercado Investment News May 4, 2010 2:31 pm ET

  Erin Botsford , the president of The Botsford Group, had perfect timing. The dot-com bubble burst, but her clients’ income benefit rose by 5% per year. Better yet, the product had a commuting feature, which allowed clients to move 90% to 95% of their principal value to another product. Despite such success stories — and the Obama administration’s desire to let plan sponsors include the insurance products in their 401(k) menus — annuities remain a much-debated topic among advisers. Indeed, many advisers remain wary of using annuities in retirement portfolios, preferring other strategies to help boost income.

  For her part, Ms. Botsford sees the value in a full array of investments. But she’s still using annuities to help meet clients’ retirement income needs. She asks clients how much money think they’ll need to cover their basic living needs and lifestyle, then funnels assets into the annuity bucket. The rest of the money is invested elsewhere, she said.
  

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• Vanguard Offers Its ETFs Commission Free

  05/04/2010

  Based on an article published by Bank Investment Consultant by Matt Ackermann, Vanguard, one of the largest index fund and ETF providers, will offer commission-free trading to its brokerage clients that use its lineups of 46 proprietary ETFs. This represents a comparable move as Fidelity and Schwab. 

  In addition to Fidelity and Schwab plans, MyPlanIQ now has a Vanguard  ETF plan. Notice since most Vanguard ETFs have short history, the model portfolios have not been tested since 12/31/2007. 

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• Relative Strength Strategies Vindicated

  05/03/2010

• IRAs Outpacing Workplace Retirement Accounts

  04/30/2010

• Are 529 Plans About to Become Less Risky?

  04/28/2010

• A Battle for Your 401(k)

  04/28/2010

• Is Your Self-Directed IRA the Worst Mistake You Made?!

  04/26/2010

• Retirement Roundup: Take Control

  04/26/2010

• Reducing 401K costs can lead to earlier retirement

  04/22/2010

• BlackRock Uses ETF Weapon to Expand in 401(k) Market

  04/22/2010

• Financial Security is Not an Impossible Task

  04/22/2010

• Make More on Your Cash

  04/22/2010

• Hewitt Says 401(k) Balances Remain 11% Lower Than in 2007

  04/22/2010

• The Future of Personal Finance

  04/20/2010

• Target-Date Funds 2.0

  04/07/2010

• RESEARCH ROUNDUP: Investing Ideas and Analysis for the Week of April 5

  04/07/2010

• Financial Tuneup: Remember to Rebalance

  04/05/2010