Mutualfundreform.com

“Verizon Wireless bowed to a torrent of criticism on Friday and reversed a day-old plan to impose a $2 bill-paying fee that would have applied to only some customers.” –New York Times, Dec. 30, 2011 If a $2 per month fee can reverse the decision of the nation’s largest cell phone company, what will happen when 401(k) participants see they are being charged thousands in fees for services that do…

“Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives more than doubled, according to the analysis of financial disclosures, from $280,000 to $725,000 in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars, excluding home equity.

If you participate in a 401(k) plan or have a role in administering one, the year 2012 will be important.  The reason: 2012 is when administrators and plan participants will be discussing about the little-known practice of revenue sharing and how their 401(k) plan providers charge for their services. On April 30, 2012, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new fee disclosure regulations go into effect, largely due to the “unprecedented attention” about the need…

At one time, Europe was considered the trendsetter in fashion, design and political thought.  Now, a new study by Greenwich Research shows that Europe is leading the way in fee reductions and introducing new investment products centered around ETFs and specialized funds. The reason for the re-positioning is due to Europe’s new economic realities. The 2011 European Intermediary Distribution study found that in order to remain competitive and provide a…

Just as momentum is building inside Congress to enact new rules prohibiting insider trading among elected officials, an opposing Objectivist view (advocated by adherents of Ayn Rand) is being aired which contends that insider trading should be legalized. The rationale? 

Investment pundits have identified at least 15 distinct types of investment risks.  Now, we can add another: broker risk. After the Bernie Madoff scandal, investors again saw that sociopathic money managers could steal entire accounts.  Now, investors have seen that entire brokerage firms can similarly confiscate customer money, even though it is supposedly held in segregated accounts; which cannot be co-mingled with non-customer, corporate funds.

The debate over the benefits of active investment management versus passive investing remains a favorite topic of investors.   Whenever new data emerges to buttress the long-established argument that index funds, which use passive investing, outperform on all measures compared to active-funds, the strategy gains more attention.