Financial Planning

NAPFA LAUNCHES PSA CAMPAIGN: The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, a 1,300-member association of fee-only financial advisors, has launched a consumer-oriented public service campaign aimed at educating Americans about the need for financial professionals to hold themselves to a fiduciary standard. The campaign is titled "Focus on Fiduciary."NAPFA said that the strategy behind the campaign is to highlight the issues surrounding fiduciary standards in the financial industry while helping consumers ask the right questions of their financial advisors. To support the campaign, NAPFA has developed a number of resources available to the industry and consumers alike, including:

Some 50 percent of Baby Boomers ages 50 to 59, with anywhere from six to 15 years before retirement, indicated in a recent survey that they don't know how much money they'll need when they finally stop working.Furthering their financial dilemma, 60 percent of those polled said that they intend to save more than they do, but don't always get around to it.

Most people who work for a living, either as employees or as self-employed persons, are covered by Social Security's old age, survivors and disability insurance program.As a retirement program, Social Security pays a monthly cash benefit to workers who have the equivalent of at least 40 months of work under Social Security, and who are at least 62 years old. The amount of the benefit is based on the worker's primary insurance amount. The PIA depends on how long he worked under Social Security and the amount of his Social Security wages. Social Security benefits may also be paid to a retired worker's qualifying dependents, such as a spouse, a widow or widower, and certain children. The benefits of a worker's dependents also are based on the worker's PIA.

Members of the military serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat zones can now put money into individual retirement accounts, even if they received tax-free combat pay, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

An old colleague of mine from Melbourne, Australia, sent me some information that his country's financial planners have just implemented new guidelines to help prevent conflicts of interest and to improve confidence in the financial planning sector.

Yep, it's that time of the year again! CPA Wealth Provider is calling for nominations for its Fourth Annual Financial Planning Awards in any of the following categories: CPA/Financial Planning Firms, Broker/Dealers, and Financial Planning Software Vendors.

Nine of the 18 insurance firms that provide variable annuities through financial advisors affiliated with Raymond James Financial Inc. will begin offering new, less expensive investment products this week, meeting a deadline set by the financial services firm.

Following the old saw that "What goes up must come down" - and vice versa - advisors who employ a strategy of buying cheap like it when market sectors decline.By the same token, some economic-minded advisors are continually on the lookout for market laggards in the expectation that the next swing might trend upward. Top performers over the recent past are the likely suspects for future price declines, say experts.

COURT TELLS SEC TO LEAVE HEDGE FUNDS ALONE: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has dealt a blow to the Securities and Exchange Commission's plans to more closely regulate hedge funds. The court ruled unanimously in late June that the SEC had overstepped its authority in defining hedge fund investors as "clients" of a fund manager, and subsequently ordering any manager with 15 investors or more to register with the agency.SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said that he hasn't yet decided whether or not the decision will be appealed. In a statement, he said that he had already instructed SEC staff to evaluate the court's decision, as well as to provide a set of alternatives for the commission's consideration. "The SEC takes seriously its responsibility to make rules in accordance with our governing laws," Cox said. "The court's finding that, despite the commission's investor protection objective, its rule is arbitrary and in violation of law requires that going forward we re-evaluate the agency's approach to hedge fund activity."

In an effort to increase charitable giving across the U.S., the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, an independent public charity within the donor-advised fund program of financial services conglomerate Fidelity, has rolled out the Charitable Investment Advisor Program.Fidelity's new offering allows independent investment advisors to provide discretionary investment management to the Gift Fund for contributions made by the advisors' clients.