September 5, 2019

PERSONAL FINANCE, FINANCIAL WELLNESS, ANNUITIES, TAXES, CHARITY & FINANCIAL LITERACY

• This Is the Age When Most People Start Saving for Retirement ; How to Retire Before 40 Without $1M
• This is the ideal amount of money you should invest ; What’s the ideal annual withdrawal rate?
• Heirs Can Use NUA Tax Break for Inherited 401(k)s
• Are We Taking Care of Our Seniors? ; Five overlooked items in an estate plan
• Nation’s Report Card Reveals Striking K-12 Financial Literacy Gaps Across States ; Penn needs a financial literacy requirement; Bringing financial planning to the masses
• How Gen Z’s Retirement Will Be Different
• Jackson National suspends fee-based annuity sales in New York due to best-interest rule

HEALTHCARE & WELLNESS

• Reducing Employee Panic About Health Costs in Retirement
• When Apps Get Your Medical Data, Your Privacy May Go With It ; A battle brews over moving medical records to your smartphone
• Keep patient information safe as data breaches rise
• Self-funded vs. fully-funded health plans: What’s the difference? 
• Walmart tests the waters for digital healthcare ; Apple could add sleep tracking to the next Apple Watch

TECH, MEDIA & SOCIAL MEDIA

• Envestnet-fintech dispute takes a nasty turn
• Facebook may hide ‘like’ counts from public view
• No Place To Hide – The Effect Of A Data Breach On Brand Value ; How to maximize your cybersecurity return on investment ; Teenage Hackers Wanted: Could Your Kid Be The Next £20M Cybersecurity Superhero? ; Lawmakers offer bill to shore up federal cybersecurity
• Why Amazon bought a piece of the Yankees’ TV network ; In letter, senators push Amazon to remove unsafe products
• Behind the Rise of China’s Facial-Recognition Giants
• Finally, the newest version of Firefox blocks cryptocurrency miners by default

401k, 403b, 457b, NONQUALIFIED, STATE-RUN PLANS & LITIGATION

• Meaning for DC Plan Participants of Decreases in Interest Rates
• 401k Plan Administrators Problem Uncashed Checks
• Federal Workers, Retirees in Thrift Savings Plan Get New Options
• A bright idea to turn 401(k)s into automatic, flexible retirement income ; Think twice about annuities in your plan
• “Harmonization” May Be Key Problem for the DOL and SEC ; Groups Urge Supreme Court Not to Undermine Value of Plan Disclosures

PENSIONS

• Investment Update: How Do Public Plans Value Their Assets? ; The World’s Largest Pension Funds Shrank in 2018
• Secrets to Success in Managing a Pension Fund
• 9/11 first responders push Cuomo to sign pension bill
• Hunt on to cut police, fire pension costs
• Lowering Chicago’s pension contributions would be seen ‘negatively’: S&P ; It’s The Insolvency, Stupid -Why Pensions Really Are An Urgent Issue For Chicago
• NJ Treasury details pension system’s gun-industry connections
• How a More than $50 Billion Bet Boosted CalPERS Returns
• Protect pensions now for millions of Americans

INTERNATIONAL

• DC plan sponsors urged to stay on top of new features as demographics shift
• Retirees cashing in their pension pots drag down savings rates for everyone
• CEO of Swedish pension fund AP1 leaves after alleged rule breach
• IMF Warns That China’s Savings Rate is Shrinking Fast
• A $20 Billion Fund in Denmark Is Dumping 10 Major Oil Companies
• Robo-advice preferred by 4% of UK mass affluent investors, up from 1.3%

MARKETS

• What to Expect From the Stock Market in September After a Rollercoaster August
• US manufacturing shrinks, 10-year yield hits three-year low
• Yield-curve inversion? Junk bonds still see smooth sailing for economy
• Natural gas initiative expands outside US ; Oil Plunges As Trade War Rages
• Hurricane Dorian Likely to Cause $25 Billion of Losses
• Rutgers’ endowment will consider more socially conscious investing in the future ; Harvard students urge school to pull investments that support prisons ; Due Diligence Necessary When It Comes To ESG Funds
• Central banks are waking up to climate change dangers. It’s about time ; Will They Help, Hurt or Do Nothing? Central Banks Face Backlash
• Trade-War Damage Piles Weight of Global Economy Onto Consumers ; Down, down they go: Emerging central banks deliver most rate cuts in a decade
• China’s Economy Will Grow at 5.7% in 2020, Oxford Economics Says

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS

• Best Investment Ever? Some Say Alternative Assets Carry the Day ; Japan pension funds boost alternative assets in yield hunt
• Hedge funds face “a very difficult environment” in H2 ; Hedge Funds Hire in Distressed Debt to Bet on European Defaults
• As public equity markets shrink private ownership appeals ; Specialty physician groups attracting private equity investment
• Cryptocurrency traded volume dries up in August 
• Real estate is America’s favorite long-term investment ; Overseas Investors Unload US Real Estate ; Can REIT rule loophole pull down the returns?
• Family offices boom as Asia’s wealth matures  ; Some best practices for family offices contemplating a direct-investment program.