Posted on December 15, 2008 by mfsw
In this latest installment of meltdown learning opportunities, Bernie Meldoff the hedge fund swindler crafts walls of secrecy within walls of complexity and covers them in a fog of phony expertise. If you want an investor to know why transparency is important, what better way than to revisit the brazen crimes of one of the [...]
Filed under: Market meltdown learning opportunities, Wealth management in a post-meltdown world | Tagged: Bernie Meldoff, hedge fund, investment advisor, prime broker/custodian, Transparency | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 12, 2008 by mfsw
Renowned trader and former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market Bernard Madoff has been arrested and will apparently plead guilty to fraud. (This is the Wall Street everyone has been talking about lately, up close and personal.)
Madoff Confessed $50 Billion Fraud Before FBI Arrest
Dec. 12 — Bernard Madoff confessed to employees this week that [...]
Filed under: Funds and crime, Wealth management in a post-meltdown world | Tagged: Bernard Madoff, FBI Arrest, Madoff Investment Securities LLC, Milberg LLP, Nasdaq Stock Market, Seeger Weiss LLP | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 11, 2008 by mfsw
These losses have wiped away Value Trust’s years of market-beating performance. The fund is now among the worst-performing in its class for the last one-, three-, five- and 10-year periods, according to Morningstar.
Here is the type of learning opportunity that will become increasingly available as chronicles of the demise of stock pickers and market timers [...]
Filed under: Costs of mutual funds, Market meltdown learning opportunities, Wealth management in a post-meltdown world | Tagged: Add new tag, Bill Miller, Great Depression, Legg Mason, market crash, Stock Picker, Value Trust: | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 1, 2008 by mfsw
Mutual Funds Have Bled $2.5 Trillion Since May
Mutual funds had $9.5 trillion in assets as of Oct. 31, a full $2.5 trillion, or 21% less, than their year-to-date $12 trillion under management peak at the end of May, Lipper data shows. Since the beginning of the year, when mutual funds had $11.7 trillion under management, [...]
Filed under: Wealth management in a post-meltdown world | Tagged: Dow Jones Industrial Average, Lipper, mutual funds | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 30, 2008 by mfsw
Holding out in an internationally diversified, indexed-based portfolio with a robust stock to bond mix has resulted in nausea for many.
Company Bonds Give Investors Best Returns Since 2003
Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) — Investment-grade U.S. bonds returned 3.6 percent this month, after losing 7.4 percent in October, as Treasury yields declined on concern the recession is [...]
Filed under: Wealth management in a post-meltdown world | Tagged: Company Bonds, Treasury yields | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 27, 2008 by mfsw
The mutual fund industry has never seen these kinds of losses before;, in additiion, the marketplace has never offered so many popular, transprent, and low-cost alternatives to mutual funds. These two novel factors make it reasonable to suppose that a good portion of this capital may never come back.
Mutual-fund firms rocked by asset decline
Stock and [...]
Filed under: Costs of mutual funds, Wealth management in a post-meltdown world | Tagged: mutual funds, mutual-fund industry, record outflows | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 21, 2008 by mfsw
More contraction for hedge funds appears to be more or less permanent.
The Shrinking Hedge Fund Industry: From $2 Trillion to $1 Trillion By 2009?
Between 1990 and last year the industry’s assets under management grew almost 50-fold, to nearly $2 trillion. Now industry executives predict that assets could fall by 30-40%, as clients stampede for the [...]
Filed under: Wealth management in a post-meltdown world | Tagged: Hedge Fund Industry: | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 18, 2008 by mfsw
This news has a special resonance in light of our recent post of a report forecasting a move away from actively managed funds to passive strategies, as well the recent negative data on active fund management.
Putnam Investments to cut 47 jobs, merge funds
Putnam Investments said Monday it will cut 47 jobs, including 12 portfolio managers, [...]
Filed under: Wealth management in a post-meltdown world | Tagged: Fidelity Investments, portfolio managers, Putnam Investments | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 18, 2008 by mfsw
This press release is from Russell Reynolds talks about the future of wealth management from the perspective of leadership recruitment. I’ve sliced out the middle::
The Game has Changed
* The equity markets have been hammered. Given that most active equity portfolio managers failed to outperform the dismal markets, we expect to see a precipitous drop [...]
Filed under: Advice for advisers, Wealth management in a post-meltdown world | Tagged: active equity portfolio managers, endowment leadership, passive strategies | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 17, 2008 by mfsw
Here are excerpts from Financial Planning Magazine’s collection of remarks from investment industry leaders on the current economic crisis.
I have interspersed commentary throughout from the point of view of wealth management communications.
Markets Under Siege
Anne Lester
Managing director and portfolio manager
JP Morgan Smart Retirement Funds
New York, N.Y.
What is holding up well for us is owning a little [...]
Filed under: Advice for advisers, Wealth management in a post-meltdown world | Tagged: Anne Lester, Brian Murphy, Charles “Chip” Roame, Cheryl Holland, Daniel Moisand, economic crisis, Michael Kitces, Percy E. Bolton, wealth adviser communications | Leave a Comment »