Complex Financing

US – The California State Teachers’ Retirement System has adopted a policy which puts pressure on company management teams to disclose their political contributions.

At an investment committee meeting on 3 November, the CalSTRS board approved a policy that calls for directors of companies within the pension fund’s portfolio to require management to disclose political expenditure.

The policy was adopted after the state treasurer Bill Lockyer, who holds a seat on the CalSTRS board, asked the investment committee to consider the move in May.

Lockyer said: “This policy will ensure corporations’ political contributions serve the interests of companies and shareholders.”

CalSTRS investment committee chair Harry Keiley added: “Transparency in this area has been a longstanding concern for CalSTRS and remains a key part of our ongoing efforts to elicit more disclosure and accountability from the boards of our portfolio companies.

“Interest and support for these practices also has been steadily growing.

Read more…

The Christmas shopping period is due to officially start this weekend, with research revealing Brits’ shopping habits over the festive season.

Almost a third of Brits will start their Christmas shopping this Saturday, as a survey by M&S Money shows that 29% of people like to do their festive shop a month in advance of the big day.

The survey also showed who our favourite shopping partners are. Women fared better than men – 40% of men said their wife is their preferred shopping partner, while just 23% of women said the same of their husband.

Male family members were also unpopular shopping partners, with just 1% of people choosing their dad or brother.

While 29% of people like to get their Christmas shopping done with a month to spare, the survey also found that 11% wait until two weeks before and 5% leave just a week to spare.

“Christmas shopping is a real event in many people’s festive calendar. They

Read more…

Adjust Text Size

I am ashamed to say that my wife told me the other day that she doesnt know what a mutual fund is. This stemmed from a brief discussion about where to invest $1,000 that we had collected from our 8-year-old sons birthday and Christmas money. My wife is a big fan of certificates of deposit. They are her safety blanket, and all she knows about investing.

Of course, I was appalled. I was not only mortified at her investment choices but also at my own inability to educate her over the past ten years of marriage in the topics of my chosen profession.

I realized that part of my problem has been my poor communication skills. Like many couples in America, my wife and I are very different in the way that we think about, handle, and approach our personal finances. It starts to get even murkier when we discuss our combined efforts.

Read more…

US – All US institutional investors performed negatively in the third quarter of 2011 with the median public, corporate and multi-employer funds down 8.94%, 7.94% and 9.03% respectively, Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service results show.

In the year ended 30 September, the median public fund returned 1.31%; corporate fund, 1.98% and Taft Hartley defined benefit plan, multi-employer plans, returned 1.18%.  

All institutional investors including foundations, endowments and welfare funds performed poorly with a median quarterly return of -8.64% and a median annual return of 1.42%

According to Wilshire, the negative returns were due to global equity market crashes, the recent European debt crisis and the previous US debt downgrade.

Wilshire Analytics managing director Robert Waid said: “The overall results across Wilshire TUCS are not surprising given the fact that battered by worries over a worldwide economic slowdown, a headline-grabbing downgrade of United States Treasury debt and the ongoing European debt crisis, the global stock markets took a tumble during the third quarter of 2011 with the Wilshire Global Total Market Index falling -20.66%.

“Here in the US, the stock market fell in all three months of the third quarter, with the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index returning -15.04% for the three month period.

 Within the public and corporate plan category, the largest funds fared best. Pu

Read more…

Graduate students (or prospectives) beware: Beginning July 1, 2012, new federal graduate school loans will no longer be subsidized. But what does this mean for the price of your education and how does the new regulation impact your wallet? It depends on whether youve graduated, are currently in graduate school, or plan on going to graduate school after 2012.

Subsidized loans are interest-free while you are an in-school or otherwise have a deferment (authorized break from payments). As an example, lets say you spent four continuous years in college, plus two years in graduate school. You have a subsidized loan from your first semester for $1,000 with a 5.3% interest rate. After completing your schooling, you would only owe the original $1,000, thanks to the subsidized nature of the loan. If your loan was unsubsidized, youd owe your loan balance plus any interest occurred totaling $1031.80.

Rules arent changing for subsidized loans youve borrowed in the past. If you qual

Read more…