Posted in Recent Posts

What’s in Your IRA?

What’s in your IRA? 401k Specialist magazine has reported this month that 401(k)’s are showing a net outflow (distributions) over inflows to the 401(k) market. The main reason for this change appears to be as baby boomers enter retirement, they are rolling their entire account balances to the retail individual…

Continue Reading...
Disclosures and your 401(k) Plan
Posted in Recent Posts

Disclosures and your 401(k)

If you contributed all the cash to purchase your home, the law says you own your home…. no one has a mortgage interest in the purchase. If you invest in the stock market with your own funds, you “own” those shares of stock. Your 401(k) Plan should be no different!

Continue Reading...
Posted in Recent Posts

Real Estate Investing and Your 401(k)

Recently there has been a push for 401(k) investors to purchase real estate as an investment… as an equity investment, the reported benefits include a much better return, security, and stability. If you are self-employed, and have a solo 401(k) plan, investing in real estate can be a good idea,…

Continue Reading...
Posted in Recent Posts

401(k) Savings… Can you “trust” your Trust company?

This week I opened my email to two email articles…. the first promoted the use of Collective Investment Trusts, specifically through Franklin Templeton Investments.  The focus of the article was the use of trust company-sponsored collective portfolios through Wilmington Trust, N.A.. The second article concerned the imprisonment of the former…

Continue Reading...
pooled separate account
Posted in Your 401(k)

Principal Life Pooled Separate Account

Exactly what is a pooled separate account offered by an insurance company? As an investor, you want to understand as much about your choice of investments as you can, since your money is at risk.  You may have confidence in the “system,”  but often it involves goals…   If you are…

Continue Reading...
Posted in Recent Posts Regulations

Short Sales & Securities Lending… Ripping off 401(k) Investors!

Securities lending (SL) is one of the less-well-publicized shadow banking activities. Like repurchase agreements (repo) and asset-backed commercial paper, SL can be a source of very short-term wholesale funding, allowing a shadow bank to engage in the kind of liquidity, maturity and credit transformation that banks do. And, like other short-term funding sources, it can suddenly dry up, making it a source of systemic risk. When funding evaporates, fire sales and a credit crunch follow. ( Source: A Primer on Securities Lending )

Continue Reading...
Posted in Recent Posts Your 401(k)

Exposing Corruption in Principal 401(k) Pooled Separate Accounts

Principal Life Insurance Company is no Fiduciary, and they own your money. They will tell lies that you love to hear, such as being the world’s “most ethical insurance company.” The reality is that they will devour your retirement savings as a wolf devours it’s prey…

Continue Reading...
Posted in Ethics & Compliance Recent Posts

Faking Ethics… is it ethical?

The Principal Group of Companies purchase ethics recognition from the Ethisphere Institute to protect their reputational risk. They purchase an annual recognition called one of “The World’s Most Ethical Companies”  Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, Ethisphere is a for-profit corporation that sells integrity to corporations. 

Continue Reading...
Stock Buy-backs and your 401(k)
Posted in Recent Posts Your 401(k)

Stock Buybacks & your 401(k)

Stock Buybacks & your 401(k)……On June 11, 2018, Securities and Exchange Commissioner Robert J. Jackson Jr. spoke at the Center for American Progress. Appointed to his position in January, 2018, Jackson has a history of promoting corporate disclosures. While addressing his audience in Washington, D.C., Jackson expressed concern whether SEC…

Continue Reading...
Posted in Recent Posts

Understanding Your 401(k) Pooled Separate Accounts

In 2017, Robert Toth, with Toth Law and Toth Consulting, published an excellent review of Pooled Separate Account (PSA) based investing in his blog post.  He clearly defined what he believes are the benefits of pooled separate accounts, and opens his comments with the following statement, “Why they are worth a…

Continue Reading...