How much are you paying for the financial-planning advice you get? Some investors don’t know. Others think they know but don’t. “Fee-only” planners and registered investment advisers state their fees up front. “Fee-based” advisers appear to do the same but might be charging you in other ways. Brokerage house advisory accounts charge the most and [...]
If you own a variable annuity — a favorite investment recommendation of financial advisers — should you drop it and buy one with “new features” that didn’t exist before? Usually not. Yet that’s what The Hartford Financial Services group recently suggested to its customers, in a letter than enraged its agents.
As it turns out, the [...]
Investors need to kick the inflation state of mind. You’re huddling in short-term bond funds or fretting about a bond bubble because you’re sure that hyperinflation lies right around the corner. But the case against it is stronger than you think. Consumer prices rose only 1.2 percent in July, compared with a year ago. Near-zero [...]
I recently had an affectionate email from Steve, one of the devoted readers of this blog. I had written about the brokerage industry’s habit of giving investment advice while dodging the fiduciary rule – that is, the rule that advisers have to disclose all fees upfront and put their client’s interests ahead of their own. [...]
The game’s afoot. The financial industry is beginning its stealth attack on financial reform. First up: The single speck of potential investor protection that sneaked into the new law.
If activated, the change could push brokers, planners and insurance agents toward selling their clients better investments than they might be recommending now. That happy outcome, [...]
