- Empower Retirement Launches Custom Managed Account Service with Advisors
Introduces Advisor Managed Accounts with independent advisory firms
Empower Retirement today announced a new means of delivering customized advisory services to workers saving for retirement through close collaboration with the skills and expertise of financial advisors.
read more - Golf and Investing: Back to Basics
Ups, downs, hot streaks, bad breaks & rallies... why do we keep coming back?
by Steve Selengut
Is it luck or skill that gets us to the goals and objectives we set for ourselves--- gimmicks and software programs or practice and understanding? How many golfers are still using the putter they started with decades ago at a nine-hole cow pasture?
read more - MetLife Investment Management Originates Record $14.7 Billion in Private Debt in 2018
Private debt portfolio grows to $70.6 billion
MetLife Investment Management (MIM), MetLife, Inc.’s (NYSE: MET) institutional asset management business, originated $14.7 billion in private debt in 2018 across its corporate private placements and infrastructure platforms, a record amount for MIM.
read more - Dow, S&P, Nasdaq All Rise
Waiting on a Boeing effect; Waiting on a China deal
The big story last week was the sudden grounding of Boeing 737 Max 8 and 9 passenger jets in dozens of countries. The financial effects of this ban could potentially impact the airline industry and segments of the economy for months.
read more - Institutional Investors: In Search Of Alpha
Institutions with More Than $1 Billion in Assets Expect to Increase Allocations in Active and Non-Traditional Passive, While Decreasing Allocations to Passively-Managed Strategies
Institutional investors are looking at ways to diversify sources of investment outperformance, also known as alpha, in preparation for a potentially lower return or more volatile market environment, according to the Fidelity® Global Institutional Investor Survey.
read more - Self-Directed 401(k) Balances Down 6.3% On The Heels of A Volatile Q4
2018 Correction weighed on participant accounts
According to Charles Schwab’s SDBA Indicators ReportTM, the market correction that occurred during the fourth quarter of 2018 weighed on participant accounts, as the average SDBA balance fell to $246,153, a decline of 10.6 percent from 3Q 2018 and 6.3 percent year-over-year.
read more - Stocks Dip on Growth Concerns
Waiting on China...
As in February, investors spent most of the first full trading week of March hoping for new details in U.S.-China trade negotiations. While they waited, stock benchmarks drifted downward.
read more - Managing The Retirement Income Portfolio
Repeat after me: Neither a stock market correction nor rising interest rates will have a negative impact on my retirement income
by Steve Selengut
The reason people assume the risks of investing in the first place is the prospect of achieving a higher "realized" rate of return than is attainable in a risk free environment…i.e., an FDIC insured bank account featuring compound interest.
read more - U.S. Business Executives Grow Gloomier About Global Economy
Trade, China and a series of regional conflicts contribute to pessimism
Business executives’ outlook on the global economy slid sharply over the past year, amid concerns about trade conflict and other business impacts, according to the first-quarter AICPA Economic Outlook Survey, which polls chief executive officers, chief financial officers, controllers and other certified public accountants in U.S. companies who hold executive and senior management accounting roles.
read more - Optimism, Consumer Sentiment Rebound in March
Reversing last month’s decline, the Economic Optimism Index, Presidential Leadership Index, and National Outlook Index all rise
The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index, a leading national poll on consumer confidence, rose 10.7 percent in March, ending a four-month slide. Its reading of 55.7 ensures that the index continues its record run in positive territory.
read more - Health Insurance Industry Sustains Strong Earnings Momentum in 2018
ACA exchanges remain profitable
Earnings of U.S. health insurance companies improved significantly in 2018, driven by favorable medical cost trends, lower utilization and steady-to-declining pharmacy costs, as well as a lower tax rate and the positive impact of the elimination of the alternative minimum tax.
read more - A Correction Is A Beautiful Thing…
When it's market-correction decision making time: 10 do's and don'ts
by Steve Selengut
A correction is a beautiful thing, simply the flip side of a rally, big or small. Theoretically, even technically I'm told, corrections adjust equity prices to their actual value or "support levels". In reality, it's much easier than that.
read more - S&P Ends Week Little Changed
As news-headlines could have rattled investors, markets remained calm
Stocks lost a little ground as February gave way to March. While domestic and overseas political developments made headlines, the market stayed relatively calm: from Monday's open through Friday's close, the S&P 500 ceded just 0.17%, finishing the week at 2,803.69.
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