Opinion Research Corp. conducted the survey in February. Respondents participated in 401(k) or other retirement plans and also had invested outside those programs in stocks or mutual funds during the past two years.
FPA Opposes Thrift Exemption In Proposed Bill
The Financial Planning Association (FPA) is drumming up opposition to a proposed bill that would exempt thrifts from the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
The association has started asking members to write or e-mail their congressional representatives, urging them to vote against the proposal.
Thus far, the association has contacted members whose representatives sit on the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. The thrift exemption is contained in a bill–the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2002–being considered by the subcommittee.
The FPA has opposed exemptions to the advisers act, maintaining that all investment advisors should be on a "level playing field" when it comes to federal regulation.
"It‚s a huge market, and we‚d like to see anyone getting into that market play by the same rules," says Duane Thompson, the FPA‚s director of government relations.
As it stands now, banks and, to some extent, large broker-dealers are exempt from regulations contained in the advisers act, while registered investment advisors are not.
The regulations cover a variety of matters, including advertising, compensation, record keeping and the privacy of client information, professional qualifications and disclosures of potential conflicts of interest.
Morningstar Study Finds Holdings-Based Analysis Superior
Holdings-based style analysis is a superior analytic tool to returns-based style analysis. That‚s the conclusion of a new study comparing the two techniques conducted by Morningstar and released in mid-March.