Funds rely on leverage, synthetics to amp up performance
Unconstrained debt fund down 1.8% this year; missed bond rally back home
Uncle Sam's paper up 26% this year; given troubles in Europe, demand not 'waning anytime soon'
With stock trading down, the major online brokerage firms continue to ramp up their options-trading capabilities. While futures generate sizable commissions, critics worry that the use of greater leverage could leave less-sophisticated investors wondering where their money went.
Worried clients pulling out of equity, plumping up debt investments
Bill Miller's decision to relinquish the reigns of Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust in April is unlikely to herald big changes in how the $2.8 billion fund is being run, according to the fund's incoming lead manager, Sam Peters
Lincoln National Corp.'s CEO today stressed that the insurer has sufficient reserves for its universal life products
Government-backed mortgages could be the next best alternative to cash, according Jeff Dutra, manager of the $830 million ING GNMA Income Fund.
Ameriprise Financial Inc. and Lincoln National Corp. have strong VA hedging programs, Moody's Investors Service said in a report on the most frequently asked questions about variable annuities
Up 13% after Citigroup analyst said insurer can withstand mortgage-related losses
Legendary fund manager Bill Miller finally gave up the ghost, unloading his entire stake in Eastman Kodak. The damage? The Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust took a $550 million hit from the sale.
Aviva says a slew of charity-originated life insurance policies were touted as way to aid churches in poorer neighborhoods. But the carrier claims agents and third-party were the biggest beneficiaries
Most baby boomers, even those past retirement age, say they don't know much about Medicare, the federal health insurance plan for seniors. Their ignorance could end up costing them.
Almost one-third of U.S. employers are likely to stop providing health coverage for workers in 2014, when U.S. subsidies become available for people to buy individual policies.
B-Ds get notice of pullback as job cuts in annuity unit are reported
There is now substantial literature on the behavioral economics of retirement saving, which has stressed that both behavioral and institutional factors play an important role in determining saving accumulations
In a move that highlights regulators' concerns with nontraded real estate investment trusts, Wells REIT II told investors last week that the new estimated value per share is $7.47
An eye-opening analysis of the “distributions” of nontraded REITs sold exclusively by David Lerner Associates Inc. shows that the REITs' property investments largely underperformed the level required to pay promised dividends to investors
The secret to increasing sales of variable annuities at broker-dealers and wirehouses has everything to do with insurers' speeding up the sales process and making information easier for brokers to find.
