New white paper on fiduciary role under Pension Protection Act of 2006

"Pension Protection Act of 2006: Is an Expanded Fiduciary Role the Right Choice for Financial Professionals," a white paper, has been issued by The Principal Financial Group.

More resources related to the Pension Protection Act of 2006 are available on The Principal's website.

Should you say "sorry"?

"Running a hedge fund means never having to say you're sorry," writes Wall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman in "Dear Investors, We're...: Hedge Funds Strain to Find Words to Say 'Sorry' for Your Losses" (August 16, pp. C1-2). They're not apologizing for their poor performance. Not even with the sharp declines they've experienced recently.

"Instead, in letters to clients, they point fingers at other hedge funds, once-in-a-lifetime events and their own computer problems."

That's a good thing, according to attorneys who say apologies could make managers vulnerable to law suits.

Would YOU apologize for poor investment performance?

Rich are getting richer, according to U. of Michigan research

"Over the last 20 years, the net worth of the top two percentile of American families nearly doubled, from $1,071,000 in 1984 to $2,100,500 in 2005. But the poorest quarter of American families lost ground over the same period, with their 2005 net worth below their 1984 net worth, measured in constant 2005 dollars."

That's according to research from the U. of Michigan's Institute for Social Research.

Related URLS:

Institute for Social Research: http://www.isr.umich.edu

Panel Study of Income Dynamics: http://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/

Frank Stafford: http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/public/experts/ExpDisplay.php?ExpID=721

"Personal Finance Classes Help More in College than High School."

"Adults who took a high school personal finance class don’t do any better on a test of investment knowledge than those who didn’t take such a class, a new study found. And while college classes on personal finance do seem to help improve adults’ knowledge of investment topics, neither high school or college classes spurred students to save more of their money, researchers found."

This is according to research conducted by Ohio State University.

"Researchers say giving leads to a healthier, happier life"

Wealth managers hesitate to raise the issue of philanthropy with their clients. At least that's what I hear at meetings of the Boston Security Analysts Society.

But they could be doing their clients a disservice, according to "Researchers say giving leads to a healthier, happier life," a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor.

The article focuses on research by Dr. Stephen Post of Case Western Reserve University, co-author of a new book, Why Good Things Happen to Good People.

"As head of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love (IRUL), at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, he has sponsored more than 50 studies by scientists from 54 major universities. In a wide range of disciplines – from public health to human development to neuroscience, sociology, and evolutionary biology – the studies have demonstrated that love and caring expressed in doing good for others lead people to have healthier, happier, and even longer lives."