Putnam Launches New Fund
Putnam Investments of Boston has introduced Putnam Floating Rate Income Fund, which seeks high current income by investing primarily in floating rate loans.
The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in senior floating-rate loans and other floating-rate instruments. It can also invest in money market securities and in high-yield corporate bonds. The fund targets floating rate loans made to corporations that are generally senior and secured. Contact www.putnaminvestments.com for more information.
Fund Provides Better Returns
A survey conducted by Burgess + Associates shows participants in Manulife 401(k) plans who contributed to a lifestyle fund from 1999-2003 earned better returns than those who selected their own investment options. To learn more visit www.manulife.com.
Ameritas Selects eMoney Advisor
Ameritas Acacia and Ameritas Investment Corp. have selected eMoney‚s AdvisorPlatform as their financial planning system. The eMoney Advisor Platform is a Web-based wealth-planning tool that offers a comprehensive view of a client‚s financial portfolio. EMoney Advisor, based in Conshohoken, Pa., plans to roll out its platform in other areas over the next several months. Contact www.emoneyadvisor.com for more information.
The independent research business, buoyed by a recent settlement that provided it with tens of millions of dollars, is hoping the advisor community will see it as a new source of unbiased information.
But will it? And will the independent research houses, most of which have been in business for a relatively short period, survive and establish credibility with advisors?
Those are the questions facing the reborn research industry. Some advisors believe they have a stake in these firms surviving. They say that advisors need to turn to them for unbiased research because they lack the in-house modeling capabilities required for sophisticated portfolios and for analysis of alternative investments that clients increasingly request.
A handful of firms led by Standard & Poor‚s, Value Line and, more recently, Morningstar and Argus Research, have traditionally dominated the independent research business. They, along with the newer upstarts, are believed to generate over $500 million in annual revenues, with the larger firms controlling the lion‚s share of the total.
Given the widespread discrediting of Wall Street research, some think independent research could experience a wave of continued growth. "We are also using it (independent research) to challenge or validate research that we have already done in-house," says Joe Birkofer, a certified financial planner and a principal of Legal Asset Management in Houston. Birkofer says his firm, which works with high-net-worth individuals, runs value portfolios. The research provided by independents is important, he explains.
"We‚re seeing independent research firms shifting their focus from the buy side to the sell side," said John Meserve, president of BNY Jaywalk, an independent equity research consultancy. He said that the independents, which have generally concentrated on institutional business, are starting to reorient services toward retail institutions, including individual investors and financial planners.