A flurry of a week that saw lawmakers go back to the future, the brokers get more than they bargained for and another good “teachable moment” for investing.
Tag "active"
How many different ways can you mention “passive investing” in an article relating to 401k plans? It seems like reporters had a theme last week – and it showed up in the strangest of places.
Just as a major brokerage firm begins to yield on its opposition to the fiduciary standard, the co-author of the bill compelling the SEC to look into it tells the regulator to lay off brokers. And that’s only the beginning. We’ve also see cracks in the cult of ETF (or is it indexing?).
It was a bad week for fans of pensions, ETFs and annuities. At least we had Babe Ruth to save us.
Trending topics this week explores whether a popular investment product is a ticking time bomb or the Holy Grail of investing and connects the dots to lament over the apparent loss of a true fiduciary standard.
This one paper almost accidentally seals the deal for the fiduciary standard, exposes the conflict-of-interest created by 12b-1 fees and, dare we say, touches the forbidden third rail of all investment research…
Has index investing become the soma of savers? Does it place employees – and the markets – in harm’s way? By extension, has the 401k fiduciary now assumed a greater liability?
The question now on the mind of every 401k fiduciary: Will the DOL’s new rule increase my personal fiduciary liability?
With the decline of Modern Portfolio Theory as the default operative model, sophisticated investors seek the Holy Grail – the theoretical basis for determining when active will beat passive and when passive will be active. Has it now been found?
FiduciaryNews Trending Topics for ERISA Plan Sponsors: Week Ending 4/6/12
In a week that we featured Investment Due Diligence for 401k plans, a major court ruling shows what happened without such due diligence.