As the Section 529 college savings plan industry this month enters its most important marketing period, it has turned a blind eye to the unsettling events of the past 12 months.
So much rides on the meaning of “fiduciary,” a word alien to the vast population and, at least until recently, to a good part of the financial world.
An Alabama bank is suing University of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez for defaulting on a real estate loan — but his adviser claims that the coach was the victim of a Ponzi scheme.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary L. Schapiro last week issued an open letter to broker-dealer chief executives, warning them to make sure supervisors are vigilant about conflicts of interests as they recruit registered representatives.
As wildfires blazed through Angeles National Forest last week, advisers who had weathered other such natural disasters kept their data safe and found ways to connect with their clients.
The unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent in August, the highest since June 1983, as employers eliminated a net total of 216,000 jobs.
President Barack Obama's plan to recast how the government regulates Wall Street could be thrown a curve this fall if Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat whose home state is a major hub for credit card companies, takes over the chairmanship of the Senate's banking committee.
Central United Life Insurance Co. has come out swinging against a lawsuit filed by the Missouri Department of Insurance, which accused the carrier of improperly paying claims to cancer patients.
H&R Block Inc. said today it lost a larger-than-expected $133.6 million in the first quarter, about the same as a year ago, as acquisition expenses and other costs offset slightly higher revenues.
A South Shore, Ky.-based insurance agent this week was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay almost $400,000 in fines for swindling clients in a Ponzi scheme that involved annuities.
New jobless claims fell slightly last week while the number of people receiving unemployment benefits rose, a sign the job market's recovery will be long and bumpy.
Retailers on today posted sales declines for August as shoppers held back on back-to-school purchases and continued to focus on necessities, raising further concern about the upcoming holiday season.
The amount of money students borrowed for college has risen dramatically in the last year, a development that could be beneficial to Section 529 college savings plans — if the 529 industry can effectively communicate its message, observers noted.
Former AllianceBernstein CEO Lewis A. Sanders will launch a new firm as early as January, according to sources who declined to be identified.
The latest settlements are with Northwestern Mutual Investment Services LLC of Milwaukee, which was fined $200,000; City Securities Corp. of Indianapolis, which was fined $250,000; and Fifth Third Securities Inc. of Cincinnati, which was fined $150,000.
Insurers Argus Group Holdings Ltd. and Tremont International Insurance Ltd. have reached a partial settlement in a lawsuit filed by variable-annuity and variable-universal-life customers who lost money in Bernard Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme, according to court documents.
A bill that would continue to allow investors in Section 529 college savings plans to make two changes each year to their investment allocations appears unlikely to pass the House anytime soon, industry and Washington insiders say.
Two agencies with oversight of the financial markets are trying to coordinate their regulations to eliminate differences involving similar types of investments and instruments
Worker productivity grew at the fastest pace in nearly six years in the spring while labor costs fell by the most in nine years, as companies slashed costs to survive the recession.
Advisers and investors may snap up <a href=http://www.almanac.com>The Old Farmers Almanac</a>, which hit the newsstands yesterday, not only for the weather forecasts but to see which way the wind is blowing when it comes to futures.
