New This Week at InvestmentAdvisor.com
Bailout Plan Goes to House as More Banks Totter (09/29/2008)
Administration and Congressional officials announced Sunday, September 28, that they had compromised on the $700 billion financial services bailout plan and would send the revised, 110-page bill to the House of Representatives on Monday, September 29, where many expect there to be significant debate before the bill is sent to the Senate. However, Congress has already delayed its much-loved pre-election adjournment, so quick action is expected.
WaMu Failure Further Sign of Financial Turmoil (09/26/2008)
Signs of the faltering economic environment continue to unfold as the federal government seized Washington Mutual (WaMu) on September 25 in what is being called the largest bank failure in history. Congress continues to debate the $700 billion financial bailout today even as talks were dealt a setback September 25 when a group of House Republicans sought to institute an alternative plan.
TD Ameritrade Offers $50 Million in Client Support (09/26/2008)
In the wake of the announcement that the value of the original money market mutual fund, The Primary Fund, had dropped below $1 per share, primarily due to debt written off in the face of the Lehman Brothers collapse, TD Ameritrade has pledged up to $50 million to mitigate client losses.
In Crisis, Opportunity Abounds for RIAs (09/25/2008)
Greeting the 1,400 advisors who gathered in Atlanta on day one of the annual Schwab Institutional Impact conference on September 24, SI’s Charles Goldman argued that “as severe and unique as the crisis is, there’s also great opportunity” for Schwab and its advisors during this troubling time in the markets. Noting that “our real competition are the wirehouses” whose “sales forces will be there long after this crisis is over,” Goldman sought to rally the troops by reporting that in the first six months of 2008, “you brought more assets into Schwab alone than the wirehouses brought into their private client groups in total.” He acknowledged that the markets’ swoon had led many RIAs to be working harder while their revenue has taken a hit as their AUM numbers have shrunk during this time of “incredibly turbulent markets.”
Credit Crunch Likely to Boost Popularity of 401(k) Debit Cards (09/25/2008)
The advent of 401(k) debit cards, which allow people to withdraw from their 401(k) plans the way they would from say, a home equity line of credit, has made it all that much easier for people to access their retirement savings—something that could be dangerous for the future of retirement finance in America.
Most Gen X, Gen Y Members Don’t See Early Retirement (09/25/2008)
More than six in 10 Americans (62%) aged 19 to 39—members of Generation X and Generation Y, in other words—say they have given at least some thought to retirement, according to a recent survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI), and 20% say they have given the matter a great deal of thought.