When searching for investment advice, consumers are drawn to the alphabet soup of credentials
<i>Breakfast with Benjamin:</i> Consumers drawn by alphabet soup of adviser credentials. Plus: Job cuts continue at Barclays, pushing for nationwide fracking, a big retirement risk, commodity hedge funds take a beating, and another smidgen of bad news for the IRS.
- The alphabet soup of credentials in the financial advice industry is pretty much what consumers look for when hiring a financial adviser. Who woulda thunk? Recommendations also play a key role
- Barclays Plc plans to cut 7,000 jobs from its investment bank by 2016. That's on top of the 12,000 jobs it plans to cut this year. We'll call this the flipside of Barclays' hiring spree following its 2008 acquisition of Lehman Bros. out of bankruptcy. The latest effort to revive profits
- Fracking pioneer wants to push the controversial drilling techniques westward in an effort to build the country's energy independence. How will Californians feel about this idea? Drilling from sea to shining sea
- The biggest retirement risk might actually be our inability to keep financial reality in perspective as we age. In short, get a good financial adviser, who isn't too old. It's rooted in biology
- Commodity hedge funds are not looking so brilliant this year after mostly missing the run-up in broad commodity market prices. Two-thirds of commodity hedge funds lost money in the first quarter, likely due to big bets against higher crop and energy prices. Big oops. Getting less bang for your buck
- In addition to slow-rolling conservative-group requests, the IRS audited 10% of Tea Party donors. Coincidence, or just another smidgen of bias by the agency? Requesting donor lists
