Declaration of Independence
“Can you be more specific?” Embarrassing, but true: the retirement industry is asking that of the US government. The definition of a Fiduciary needs to be more specific because of cases where Plan Sponsors are legally charged unreasonable fees for a long time, but the Department of Labor’s interpretation is undesirable to Wall Street. Of […]
Risk Management: Employee Retirement Plans
Castle Rock jumps through hoops to be among the best investment advisors. Not every investment advisor goes through the same rigorous training because these hoops are not legally required. We do not think that making best practices a legal requirement will diminish our status as one of the best firms around, but we do think […]
When Is a Buck Not a Buck?
Note: This is a follow up piece to our August 15th interview with an industry expert regarding the recently adopted SEC reforms. In the wake of the Lehman Brothers failure in September of 2008, the Reserve Primary Fund, the oldest money fund in the nation, “broke the buck” and fell to 97 cents per share. […]
Coming Up: Recently Announced Money Market Reform
Friday, August 15, Michele Suriano (President of Castle Rock Investment Company) and I spoke with an industry insider and expert about the recently adopted SEC money market funds reforms. We covered the following key subjects: Floating Net Asset Value Redemption fees (discretionary and default) Discretionary redemption restrictions Disclosures to retirement plan participants Definition of “retail” MMFs […]
SEC Study Recommends Fiduciary Standard
On the night of January 21st, 2011 the SEC submitted to Congress a staff study recommending a uniform fiduciary standard of conduct for broker-dealers and investment advisers when they provide personalized investment advice about securities to retail investors. Why did the Dodd-Frank Act require this study? Most Americans do not know the difference between a broker and […]
SIPC is Not the FDIC*
SIPC is not the securities world equivalent of FDIC. With a reserve of slightly more than $1 billion, SIPC could not keep its doors open for long if its purpose was to compensate all victims in the event of loss due to investment fraud. Securities Investor Protection Corporation was created by congressional charter in 1970. […]