(Photo: Bloomberg News) Kenneth Heebner, who ran one of the top-performing U.S. mutual funds Advertisement Related to this story during the past decade, bought stakes in Whirlpool Corp. and Cummins Inc. during the first quarter while selling Priceline.com Inc. and Ford Motor Co. Capital Growth Management LP purchased 1.82 million shares of Whirlpool, the largest appliance maker, during the three- month period that ended March 31, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. The money manager bought 1.01 million shares of Cummins, a maker of diesel engines, after … [Read more...]

The rising level of investor skittishness since the 2008 financial crisis has been a boon for alternative-strategy mutual funds, according to Cerulli Associates Inc. Advertisement Related to this story A report out this month from Cerulli shows the number of alternative-strategy mutual funds has grown by 56% since 2008, and alternative strategies has grown by 173%. “The obvious trend is that investors woke up to the reality of what could possibly happen in the markets, and now there's more of an appetite for risk mitigation,” said Matt Pickering, a Cerulli analyst. Among the report's … [Read more...]

Uninsured medical expenses are a major factor in about half of all personal bankruptcies and home foreclosures in the United States. Yet American workers are increasingly unprotected from the risk of long-term disability as employers scale back workplace benefits, according to a new survey conducted for Sun Life Financial. Advertisement Related to this story Long-term disability insurance replaces a predetermined portion of an employee's income if a qualifying disability, injury or illness lasts at least three to six months — depending on the policy. But a growing number of employers no … [Read more...]

In another example of the variable annuity trend du jour, Jefferson National Life Insurance Co. has bolstered its roster of alternative-investment offerings. Advertisement Related to this story The insurer, which offers a flat-fee variable annuity aimed largely at the fee-only registered investment adviser set, said Monday that it's adding a slate of funds that will use derivatives and dynamic asset allocation to the investment options available to VA owners. “A growing number of RIAs and fee-based advisers are using alternatives to achieve greater diversification and downside protection … [Read more...]

Retirement 2.0 Mary Beth Franklin What your clients mean when they talk about retirement Archives » Contact » RSS Feed » In my previous blog, I posed the question: Is Medicare the next frontier for financial advice? Several readers responded with a resounding yes. Advertisement Related to this story The question was triggered by a recent online survey by Nationwide Financial that revealed that nearly half of high-net-worth Americans who are close to retirement age are “terrified” of what health care costs may do to their retirement plans. But 38% of those surveyed said that they … [Read more...]

Calling for 'common-sense regulation' (Photo: Bloomberg News) Mitt Romney says he wants to talk about the economy in this presidential campaign, including his call to repeal the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)'s $2 billion trading loss in risky transactions isn't the sort of conversation he had in mind. Advertisement Related to this story So far, presumptive Republican nominee Romney has said little about the transaction that is roiling Wall Street and Washington, prompting an inquiry by the Federal Reserve, a call for a congressional investigation and a … [Read more...]

Obama: He's no Bill Clinton, according to commercial A Florida-based investment firm run by a frequent Republican donor is the sole contributor to a group that is airing television ads comparing President Barack Obama's leadership unfavorably to that of former Democratic presidents. Advertisement Related to this story The commercials aired in two cities, Youngstown, Ohio and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, both of which could be critical to Obama's re-election chances. Four years ago, when Obama won Ohio by 5 percentage points, he took 62 percent of the vote in Mahoning County, which includes … [Read more...]

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s disclosure last week that it had sustained $2 billion in trading losses is one more worry for investors who have watched the stock market retreat after one of the best first quarters on record. Advertisement Related to this story At the close of trading Friday, the S&P 500 was down 4.6% from the 2012 peak it reached in early April. Despite the index's having been down in six of the last eight trading sessions, financial advisers and market analysts believe that the market's problems are minor compared with what it was dealing with this time last year. �Even … [Read more...]

Political oddsmakers are working overtime to assess the chances of stronger bank regulation in the wake of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s an-nouncement last week of a $2 billion loss on a bad derivatives bet. Advertisement Related to this story “The whole notion of re-establishing trust in the bailed-out financial services system took a hit [Thursday],” said Kurt Schacht, managing director of the CFA Institute's Center for Financial Market Integrity. “We're a little stunned by it. It seems as if JPMorgan wanted to play it off as an honest mistake rather than engaging in precisely the … [Read more...]

(Photo: Bloomberg News) Faith in Wall Street diminished further following a $2 billion loss by JPMorgan Chase & Co. on a derivatives bet – a situation that has Washington Democrats calling for implementation of a strong regulation to prohibit such trading by banks. Advertisement Related to this story “When a giant investment bank with lots of smart people can't figure out how to manage their own risks, it doesn't reflect well on the financial services industry in general,” said Michael Kitces, director of research at Pinnacle Advisory Group Inc., on the sidelines of the National … [Read more...]