You can’t turn your back on Congress for a minute. Just when you think an issue will be settled in favor of investors, a Senator oozes under the door and slides a quick pro-business, anti-investor change into a bill.
That’s how the equity-indexed annuity — a costly product with a woeful past — slipped out of the [...]
What Jane Says: Investing
- Investor protection gets knocked out of the financial reform law
- POSTED 06.25.10
Senator Tim Johnson socked investors with what might be a knockout punch, during negotiations on the financial reform bill. Investor protection is down for the count. The new law, when passed, is going to leave you out.
Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat, laughs at the concept of “fiduciary duty”—the idea that people who advise you on [...]
- Set Up a Future Retirement Income with New-Style Annuities
- POSTED 06.4.10
If you’re saving for retirement and want to lock in a future income on favorable terms, consider buying a tax deferred variable annuity with lifetime guarantees. The prices being offered now are probably too good to last.
Note that this deal might not be best choice for people who need income now. It’s for people looking [...]
- Could your munis default? 5 tips for finding safety
- POSTED 05.30.10
Repeat after me: tax-free municipal bonds rarely default. It’s unthinkable for a state not to pay the interest on its debt.
Then pause for a moment. Is anything really unthinkable anymore? You buy munis for security. Some of the bonds you’re holding, in a mutual fund or an individual portfolio, no longer measure up.
General [...]
- Stop Senator Collins! She wants to cut a key investor protection from the financial reform bill
- POSTED 05.18.10
I’ve praise the Senate financial reform bill here for imposing a fiduciary duty on stockbrokers. And I praised Maine Senator Susan Collins for wanting to extend that duty to brokers who sell to institutions such as pension funds and mutual funds.
Wow, did I ever speak too soon. Last week, Collins declared herself in favor of gutting [...]
