ONLY 51% READY FOR FISCAL CRISISResults from the fourth annual "financial fitness" survey conducted by Quicken revealed that only 51 percent of consumers were prepared for a financial emergency or had an emergency fund in the event of accident or illness.
In addition, the Quicken survey also found that 24 percent of those polled considered becoming debt-free their second-highest priority for 2007, while 31 percent indicated that they have credit-card debt of more than $8,500. Meanwhile, 60 percent said that they could live as they do now for less than three months if they lost their jobs, while 31 percent said that they could live longer than six months.
Roughly half of participants said that they didn't know their credit scores.
TWO STEP UNVEILS OPTION TOOL
Two Step Software, a provider of governance and stock plan administration solutions, has launched Equity Focus - an integrated stock plan administration system with both option expensing under FAS 123(R) and corporate governance records management.
Two Step's new solution is a browser-based stock plan administration system that calculates FAS 123(R) valuations and amortization, manages complex stock plans, anticipates the effects of various financing options on future capital structures, tracks dividends and distributions, and creates fully diluted capitalization tables. For details, visit www.twostep.com.
MELLON LAUNCHES LIFECYCLE FUNDS
Financial services conglomerate Mellon Capital Management Corp. has launched its Target Maturity Funds, a group of portfolios designed to systematically adjust the investors' asset allocation, including shifting exposure toward fixed income as they approach their projected retirement date.
The strategy also aims to increase returns by including a component that tactically takes long and short positions in global stock, bond and currency markets.
For details, visit www.mellon.com.
CASHEDGE EASES ACCESS TO DATA
CashEdge, a provider of online data collection and financial applications, has expanded the functionality of its proprietary AllData - the company's customized data consolidation tool for financial advisors. AllData enables advisors to permission-direct data feeds from leading custodians and to consolidate client data from multiple advisor portals by registering their own advisor login credentials to access the advisor portals.
For details, visit www.cashedge.com.
