In Morningstar’s recent Rekenthaler Report, “Do Active Funds Have a Future,” John Rekenthaler considers the future of active management. His short answer: “Apparently not much.” Rekenthaler reports that net sales over the past 12 months for all exchange-traded funds, passive mutual funds... READ MORE

In 2009, in the aftermath of the Great Recession, Bill Gross coined the term, “new normal.” Describing the new normal nearly five years ago, Gross told Forbes that “our future will likely include a lowered standard of living, high unemployment, stagnate corporate profits, heavy government... READ MORE

The Wall Street Journal published an article July 6 entitled, “Percentages vs. Dollars — a Battle for Investors' Attention.” Basically, the article contends that, “percentages don't seem like real money to many people. In particular, some experts worry that investors don't fully grasp the magnitude... READ MORE

Forbes.com recently published an article that will appear in the June 30, 2014 issue of Forbes magazine, “How Much Will You Earn On Your Stocks and Bonds?”. The author’s basic contention is something we have all heard many times, which is that investors tend to invest in asset classes that have... READ MORE

A recent EDHEC-Risk Institute study reveals some interesting trends in the adoption of smart beta ETFs in Europe. The study found that, in addition to a high rate of usage and satisfaction of ETFs in general, smart beta indices (i.e., indices that are not cap-weighted) are used by 28% of current... READ MORE

Last week Fidelity Investments released a study analyzing 13 million 401(k) investors living in metropolitan areas. The report contains some interesting comparisons among different metro areas but nothing very surprising. Areas with high incomes (like the San Francisco area, for example) had the... READ MORE

Two interesting studies on improving DC investor outcomes were published last week:• “Financial Knowledge and 401(k) Investment Performance,” a Pension Research Council (PRC) working paper; and • “The Outcomes of Participant Investment Strategies 1998-2012,” a commissioned study prepared for John... READ MORE

Grantham, Mayo and Otterloo & Co. (GMO) has released a white paper, “Investing for Retirement: The Defined Contribution Challenge.” The authors, Ben Inker and Martin Tarlie, divide their discussion into two sections:• Asking the Right Question• Dynamic Allocation: Move Your AssetsLet’s take a... READ MORE

Just as Michael Lewis’ newly published book, Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt is shedding light on the practice of high-frequency trading (HFT), a new threat to market transparency is beginning to rear its ugly head: dark pool trading. This is the practice of trading “off exchange” through... READ MORE