A ‘Cashback’ Pension-Building Card, from Germany
'The Vantikcard uses the 1% cashback as a kickstart into retirement savings and for customers to then save on top of the cashback,' a Vantik veteran said. Right: Vantik...
Mutual funds
Look to China for investment growth: Cerulli
Cerulli, the global research firm, expects Asia ex-Japan retirement funds to continue to lead in terms of growth, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.9% between...
Investors Sought ‘Cheaper, More Cyclical’ Stocks in May: Morningstar
US equity fund flows were quiet for the second consecutive month. After taking in a record $54 billion in March, inflows were just $211 million in May, according to...
US Equity Flows Cool Down in April: Morningstar
After record inflows of $54 bn in March, US equity funds shed over $500 million in April. Large-blend funds saw roughly flat net flows in April after collecting $25...
Long-term funds receive $400 billion in Q1 2021: Morningstar
US value equity funds saw record inflows in March 2021, according to Morningstar's monthly fund flows report. Vanguard and iShares notched significant inflows as passive funds continued to dominate...
Where investors put their money in February: Morningstar
ETFs collected roughly $92 billion, driven by a move into passive equity funds, while open-end mutual funds took in $53 billion, led by flows into actively managed fixed-income strategies,...
The story of Geode—Fidelity’s low-profile indexing jewel
'Growing steadily without a marketing budget, Geode now manages some $720 billion, up from less than $100 billion a decade ago,' the Wall Street Journal reported this week.
Beware the Equity Bubble: Jeremy Grantham
In his new quarterly letter, the master of value investing warns that all the classic signs of an overextended bull market are flashing red. He recommends value and emerging...
Income annuities are “best solution for DC plans”: Cerulli
But 64% of respondents to a Cerulli survey cited low demand for guaranteed retirement solutions—despite the 2019 SECURE Act’s provision of regulatory protections for offering annuities. Cerulli is also...
Another Objection to DOL’s ESG Proposal
The Department of Labor's recent move to chill the use of "Environmental, Social and Governance" investments in retirement plans has drawn broad criticism--including this comment from the Wagner Law...
Investors flee to bonds: Morningstar
'As evidence of investors' lack of enthusiasm for U.S. equities, a record $27.8 billion flowed out of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF,' the fund research firm reported.
“Buffered” ETFs for sensitive stomachs
Like registered index-linked annuities (aka structured annuities), Innovator's Defined Outcome ETFs use options to generate a customized range of returns based on the movement of an equity index.
Investors pump money into bonds: Morningstar
Vanguard holds more than a fourth of all long-term assets, up from 10% in 2000, according to Morningstar's fund flows report for January, written by senior analyst Tony Thomas,...
2019 was a remarkable year for passive large-cap funds: Morningstar
'The strong long-term inflows in both December and for all of 2019 were due almost entirely to record inflows for both taxable-bond and municipal-bond funds,' the fund data giant...
Next-gen funds will be active/passive hybrids: Cerulli
Demand is up for strategies that perform like actively managed funds but with lower fees, such as smart beta and 'active' exchange-traded funds (ETFs), said a Cerulli analyst.
Investors flock to low-yield money funds
Though the Fed's target rate has dropped 75 basis points since July 31, money market funds collected $220.9 bn during the next three months. Long-term funds collected just $57.2...
Fidelity’s brokerage claims industry price leadership
New commission changes take effect on October 10, 2019 for individual investors and will be available on November 4, 2019 for registered investment advisors, a Fidelity release said.
Investors fond of bonds so far in 2019
'Retail investors remain skeptical of the ferocious stock market rally early this year,' said David Santschi, director of liquidity research for TrimTabs. 'While bond mutual funds are drawing big...
A Genuine ‘Value Fund’ Is Hard to Find
"Even if the fund says ‘value,’ there’s no likelihood that it’s a value fund,” said Martin Lettau of UC-Berkeley, co-author of a study showing that Dimensional's value funds may...
Trim Tabs notes ‘Powell put’
'After pulling record sums from equity mutual funds in December, mom and pop investors have turned into net buyers in January,' according to new data from the West Coast...
