As Some States Move Ahead With Fiduciary Regulations, Advisers Prefer Federal Rules

Jack Bogle died on Jan. 16. Business and investment guru Warren Buffet, a huge fan of Bogle’ s, once bet a hedge fund manager $1 million that an index fund would beat his hedge fund’ s gains over a period of time. The other thing Jack Bogle did was to drastically lower the fees investors pay to mutual fund managers, for both index and traditional, actively managed funds.

“One of the treasurer’ s highest priorities in the new year is to put together more supporters and business advocates now that there is a new general assembly,” said Mike Connolly, director of communications for the Pennsylvania Treasury in Harrisburg.“ Employees would be offered a mandatory IRA plan through work, as a payroll deduction. It does not put a burden on…

Married women overall are still in their peak earning years in their 50 s and early 60 s, while married men’s earnings are on the decline, says economist Nicole Maestas, an associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School and the author of a recent study about couples’ income and retirement patterns. As a result, married women typically…

The Internal Revenue Service is recalling about 46,000 of its employees furloughed by the government shutdown _ nearly 60 percent of its workforce _ to handle tax returns and pay out refunds. The employees won’t be paid. The Trump administration has promised that taxpayers owed refunds will be paid on time despite the disruption in government services caused by the partial shutdown now in its fourth week.

Clients will be able to contribute more to these accounts in 2019 because of changes in tax law, but choosing a plan is still no easy decision.

The volatility experienced at the end of 2018 is something long forgotten by some investors. Volatility isn’t always a bad word, it really means a tendency or vulnerability to rapid change, often unpredictably, especially for the worse. For equity investors, 2018 exuded evidence of increased volatility, and much of it was in the downward direction.

Stocks took small losses Monday after China reported a drop in exports in December, but the market didn’t come close to matching the plunges it took in the last few months.

The high-stakes skirmish between the Federal Reserve and Wall Street over the path of interest rates is over. But something quite unexpected had transpired: The Fed, facing strong criticism from Wall Street and the White House for its campaign to raise interest rates to more normal levels, concluded it was best to take a breather. Wall Street, by contrast, was sure…

Values-based planning can help improve your practice by allowing you to better advise your clients, predict their behavior under stress and focus your conversations. If you’re interested in incorporating this approach into your practice, review the three recommendations below.

The three-day talks in Beijing that wrapped up on Wednesday were the first face-to-face negotiations since U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met in Buenos Aires in December and agreed on a 90- day truce in a trade war that has disrupted the flow of hundreds of billions of dollars of goods. US officials used three days of trade…

Stocks around the world built on their early 2019 rally Wednesday after negotiators from the U.S. and China extended their round of trade talks to a third day, which investors took as a sign the discussions were productive even though no major breakthroughs have been announced. Oil prices also continued to climb and stocks linked to faster economic growth, such as technology companies, kept climbing. Bond prices fell, sending yields higher.

The SEC is running on a skeleton crew that effectively halts routine oversight.

When trying to predict and plan for Alzheimer’s, diabetes and other genetic diseases, certain tests seem attractive. Are they worth the time and money?

In good times and bad, Wall Street has to have a story— a clear, concise view of the economy and markets and how you, our valued client, can make money by trading with us. Bloomberg reporters sifted through dozens of Wall Street research notes and provided a Reader’ s Digest version of the key takeaways. “We think the bear market is mostly complete for emerging markets, has…

One recent characteristic of the stock market is that every day can feel like bedlam. Investors have been careening from fear to relief and back again depending on the latest news. More tests of the market’s mettle lie ahead, with U.S.-China trade talks, the fourth-quarter earnings period and another Federal Reserve meeting on the horizon.

As you reflect on the holiday gatherings of the past few weeks, it may be a good time to consider your estate plan as well. In my experience, an almost-universal goal of estate planning is long-term family harmony. Will your plan achieve the desired results?

Investor worries about stock market volatility are understandable, advisers told the Tribune-Review, but those should be balanced against the multiple signs of a growing U.S. economy. The economy is doing quite well and has been for the past year or two, “said Kurt Rankin, PNC Financial Services Group economist. After Apple reported Thursday that iPhone sales in…

The sharp decline comes on the heels of Apple warning traders about slowing revenue and weaker iPhone sales in China. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a letter to investors the company’s revenue for the October to December quarter is significantly lower than the company had expected. Following the announcement, Apple fell 8.3%.

NEW YORK– The roller-coaster ride on Wall Street resumed on Wednesday, the first trading day of the new year, as stocks plunged early on, then slowly recovered and finished with a slight gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped as much as 398 points in the first few minutes of trading after more shaky economic news from China. From September through the end of…

Forecasts focus on when– not whether– the next U.S. recession is coming. Because much of the rest of the world economy already has begun to slow, and that is adding to the slow down in the U.S. economy expected this year. Forecasters put off the next recession until 2020 largely because the U.S. economy currently enjoys a brisk pace of growth.

Wall Street closed out a dismal, turbulent year for stocks on a bright note on Monday, but still finished 2018 with the worst showing in a decade. After setting a series of records through the late summer and early fall, major U.S. indexes fell sharply after early October, leaving them all in the red for the year. Britain’ s FTSE 100 lost 12.5 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average led a tepid rally in stocks today, the final trading session of 2018. Watch Merck, Pfizer, Verizon, McDonald’s in 2019.

No doubt the holiday season got the best of your plans to review your financial plan. If that’s so, now would be good time to make sure you start the new year off on the right foot especially when it comes to your retirement accounts. What should you be doing?

It’s that time when economists are looked to as fortune-tellers. The fortune, in this case, is our collective well-being tied to growth in the overall economy. Of course, no economist- no matter how well-trained- can perfectly predict the future of a $19 trillion economy like we have in the U.S..

Shares are mixed in subdued New Year’s Eve trading. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1.3 percent while the Sensex in India was flat. Australian’s benchmark edged lower. U.S. futures were higher after President Donald Trump tweeted that he expected to reach a deal to help result trade friction with China after speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

For many of us, the new year means a fresh start and the chance to set new goals. If your resolutions are money related, here are some ways to strengthen your financial foundation in 2019.. If you are setting other New Year’s resolutions, such as hiring a personal trainer, mastering a new skill or traveling overseas, incorporate the cost of pursuing these activities…

In 2019, the yearly contribution limit for a Roth or traditional IRA rises to $6,000. Your modified adjusted gross income may affect how much you can put into a Roth IRA: singles and heads of household with MAGI above $137,000 and joint filers with MAGI above $203,000 cannot make 2019 Roth contributions. For tax year 2019, you can contribute up to $19,000 to 401,…

The Dow has fallen significantly after its biggest point gain in history, shedding as much as 500 points a day after gaining over 1,000 points. The Nasdaq fell 2.2% and the S&P was down 2.1%. The huge gains and losses have suggested that investors remain on edge about the economy, monetary policy, trade, and Washington dysfunction.

Each week MDRT and AdvisorNews bring readers advice on topics encompassing the financial services industry including case studies, practice management, tips for success and much more.

Dec. 27– What the stock market gives, the stock market takes away. Shon Anderson, president of Dayton’s Anderson Financial Strategies and president of the CFA Society of Dayton, said Thursday morning he did not initially foresee negative volatility to this extent in the market. This year is shaping up to the first since 2006 in which the U.S. economy grew at about…

It seems the famous “fiduciary rule” has lost steam and is no longer headline news due to delays and lack of support in general. Yet we see situations every day where clients were not ethically cared for. This strikes me as archaic in this day and age of technology and transparency.

Microsoft, Nike, Pfizer, Merck and Visa are all in the running to be the top Dow Jones stock of 2018. But who is the winner?

The organization of CFP volunteers and other nonprofits are ramping up services and recognition for advisors who do good deeds.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett tried to bring some calm to the markets earlier Wednesday when he assured reporters that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell’s job is “100 percent safe. “Yes, of course, 100 percent,” said Hassett, the chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, when asked by reporters at the White House if Powell’s job…

FINRA announced today that it has fined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner& Smith Inc. for improperly selling shares in initial public offerings to industry insiders, including its employees’ immediate family members and customers who were brokers at other brokerage firms. FINRA rules restricting who may purchase IPOs are intended to promote investor…

NEW YORK— Stocks went into another slide Thursday in what is shaping up as the worst December on Wall Street since the depths of the Great Depression, with prices dragged down by rising fears of a recession somewhere on the horizon. “This is the classic shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later market,” said Scott Wren, senior global equity strategist at Wells Fargo…

Each week MDRT and AdvisorNews bring readers advice on topics encompassing the financial services industry including case studies, practice management, tips for success and much more.

US stocks are slipping again after several days of steep losses as investors remain concerned that economic growth around the world and in the U.S. could slow down dramatically over the next few years. The benchmark S&P 500 index is now 15 percent below the peak it reached in late September. Oil prices fell further and interest rates continued to head lower after the Federal Reserve signaled that it will raise rates next year, albeit at a slower pace.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says that the negative market reaction following the Federal Reserve’s rate hike this week was “completely overblown.” Mnuchin says the market overreacted and that computerized program trading took over and drove stock prices down further.