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Quarter 2009 Market Review & Outlook The Markets’ Ills The list of issues affecting today's investment landscape is dizzying and at the top is the dismal state of the global economy. The fundamental problems, as we have discussed in previous articles, were the amount of borrowing in the economy, the lax lending standards used by financial firms and the resulting catastrophically-designed securities (i.e. CDS, etc…) that were created to make the other two factors manageable. This trend was self-reinforcing as purchases with borrowed money drove up asset prices (such as homes) and profits, which supported even more borrowing. And lenders, in their ultimate desire to remain competitive with their peers, wanted to make the loans available. So they did. Other financial firms....> Read More |
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Points of View Articles of Interest The Geography of Recession The global recession is the biggest development in the global system in the year to date. In the United States, it has become almost dogma that the recession is the worst since the Great Depression. But this is only one of a wealth of misperceptions about whom the downturn is hurting most, and why. > Read More A Primer On Qualified Default Investment Alternative Consulting It used to be that a participant's failure to make a decision to participate in an individual account plan, whether involving a failure to decide whether to contribute to the plan, how much to contribute, or where to invest contributions, was simply treated as not having made a decision to participate. > Read More The New Take on 404(c): Confusion in the Federal Courts ERISA Section 404(c) provides fiduciaries with a defense against losses incurred by participants who exercise control over their accounts. But the protection applies only to the investment decisions made by the participants (that is, how the participants use the plan’s investment options) and not to the selection and monitoring of the investment options offered to the participants ….right? Maybe. For the present, we have an anomaly; the answer depends on where you live. > Read More
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