Posted in Recent Posts

Three Coconut Creek properties involved in possible securities fraud…

Three commercial buildings in Coconut Creek, Florida… all purchased in 2008 by Principal Life Insurance Company for the Principal U.S. Property Separate Account, a 401k retirement separate account, had been bundled in commercial mortgage backed securities prior to the time of purchase.  Managed by Principal Real Estate Investors of Des…

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Posted in Ethics & Compliance Recent Posts Your 401(k)

Risk vs. Reward in your 401k

Investing often involves taking risks… risk a loss to make a profit. An axiom of a successful investor is that you can make money and transfer the risk. This would be considered a pure form of profiting without risk. When you opened your 401k savings plan, you understood the risks….

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Posted in Ethics & Compliance

Vetting Your 401k Plan

Vetting Your 401k Plan… This White House Fact Sheet released February 23, 2015 states that conflicted advice leads to, on average, $17 billion in losses every year for working and middle class families.  A recent SEC study reported losses of $1 billion per month for retirement investors.  Where did this…

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Posted in Ethics & Compliance

Investor Relations and Insurance Companies….

Investor Relations and Insurance Companies…. One example of how insurance companies view 401k investors can be found in a letter sent to multiple Federal agencies by CFO Lillis of Principal Financial Group.  Mr. Lillis’ letter dated October 22, 2012 was addressing recently enacted proposals by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve…

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Posted in Ethics & Compliance

Securities Fraud in the CMBS Marketplace

Securities Fraud in the CMBS Marketplace… Following the financial crisis in 2008, Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities came under fire for inaccurate ratings that were reported by McGraw-Hill Financial Inc. and its subsidiary, Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC.  In the Spring of 2015, a $1.5 billion settlement was reached between…

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Posted in Ethics & Compliance

Do 401k investors Really Understand Target Date Funds?

Do 401k investors Really Understand Target Date Funds? Employee Benefit News is a New York based periodical published as an informational resource for employers that provide benefit plans for their employees.  And while the magazine strives to accurately inform employers, a recent article published in their website missed it’s mark…

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Posted in Ethics & Compliance

Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Your 401k

Investopedia defines “Non-GAAP” earnings as “An alternative earnings measure of the performance of a company. Many companies report non-GAAP earnings in addition to the required GAAP earnings, stating that the alternate figure more accurately reflects their company’s performance. Some common examples of non-GAAP earnings measures are cash earnings, operating earnings,…

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Posted in Ethics & Compliance

Is Your 401k Safe?

As the time approaches for the Department of Labor to announce their final ruling regarding fiduciary issues, and with over 3000 comments from interested parties, including the insurance industry, not everyone will be happy with the final answer.  If the financial institutions, including your service provider, are not happy with…

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Posted in Ethics & Compliance

Are Target Date Separate Accounts Toxic Investments?

You’re online and reviewing your asset allocation on your service provider’s webpage. You want security and growth, and the buzz words for both include Target Date Funds. You Google the phrase, and Wikipedia provides a definition… “A target date fund (TDF) – also known as a lifecycle, dynamic-risk or age-based…

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Posted in Ethics & Compliance

Fiduciary Rules… The Good, Bad and the Ugly

The Good…. Recently, the U.S. Senate held hearings on new rules to make retirement investing safer for all Americans. Managing Director of Rebalance IRA, Scott Puritz, is a nationally recognized authority on retirement investing and was asked to provide the Senate with expert testimony on the subject. This Link will…

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