Navigating The Mutual Fund Maze, Part 3: The Prospectus
Information describing the mutual fund is disclosed to investors in a legal document known as a...
Charles Field
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Navigating The Mutual Fund Maze, Part 2: Fees And Expenses
Mutual Fund Fees and Expenses Just as important as the information on investment objective,...
Navigating The Mutual Fund Maze, Part 1: What Is A Mutual Fund?
For many investors, the mutual fund is a mainstay of their investment portfolios, whether it be in...
Working For Your 401(k) Rights
Federal Claims Against Milliman, Inc. Employers offer a number of employee benefits to attract and retain their workforce. One of those very important employee benefits is a retirement savings plan known the 401(k) plan. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) is a federal law that governs how employers are to manage their 401(k) plan. It imposes strict fiduciary duties…
Investors Have Rights to Recover Attorney’s Fees In California
Legendary investor Warren Buffet once said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” What Buffet is talking about are the investments in your portfolio. The tide going out is a metaphor for a bear market, and swimming naked refers to poor investments, which often find their way into one’s portfolio because of imprudent investment…
FINRA Arbitration Suffers Reputational Setback in Suit That Highlights Unfair Expungement System
Lawyers who represent victims of investment fraud frequently criticize the FINRA arbitration process as being tilted in favor of stockbrokers. Biased arbitrators, cherry-picked by the industry and beholden to their interests, is a common complaint. A recent filing by the Alabama Securities Commission against a FINRA arbitrator for numerous violations has added credence to the claims of unfairness. According to…
Pensions Score Wins Over Investment Advisers
In the news lately, there have been reports of pension plans fighting back against investment advisers accused of breaching their duties of prudence and loyalty, in one case securing a settlement with their investment adviser for $642 million. In the public sector, at least 25 investor lawsuits, predominantly by U.S. public pension funds, including those for Arkansas teachers, New York…
ESOP Abuses Can Cost You Plenty: Understanding Valuations of Employee-owned Stock
An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (“ESOP”) is a type of qualified retirement plan that provides employees with ownership interest in their company through shares of stock. The purpose of an ESOP is to align employee interests with those of the company, since its employees are also stockholders. Through an ESOP, employees can either purchase stock from their employer or receive…
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Accused of Stock Dump, Trading on Insider Information
The New York Law Journal is reporting that investors in the Chinese company Tencent Music Entertainment Group have sued Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, accusing the investment banks of using insider information to dump shares of the firm in March. The lawsuit, filed last week in Manhattan federal court, named both Goldman and Morgan Stanley over a massive stock sell-off…
401(k) Participants Can Be Prime Targets of Cross-Selling Efforts
Participants in their company’s 401(k) plan have come to expect that their employer will protect their personal information from disclosure outside the plan. However, plan participants of Shell Oil’s 401(k) have filed a case in federal court in Galveston, Texas – Harmon v. Shell Oil Company – alleging Shell took no action to stop the plan’s recordkeeper, Fidelity, from using participants’ personal…