E*Trade Settles with North Carolina Investors

North Carolina is the first state to reach a settlement with E*Trade over the misrepresentation of auction-rate securities as safe investments suitable for short-term cash management purposes.

The NC investigation found that E*Trade salesmen had not been properly trained by the company to sell the products and had failed to consistently disclose the risk that, if the auctions failed, clients would not be able to sell their auction rate securities and could be stuck with illiquid investments.

E*Trade to pay $25,000 settlement - CharlotteObserver.com 

E*Trade to pay $25,000 settlement http://www.charlotteobserver.comE*Trade Securities will pay a $25,000 civil penalty under a settlement reached with the state over auction rate securities it sold to North Carolina investors.

Dumb Money and How to Avoid It

Wall Street uses the derogatory term “dumb money” in reference to individual investors who repeatedly buy stocks at a high price and sell stocks at a low price.

Adopt a disciplined investment strategy to avoid participating in the dumb money.

When Your Money is the Dumb Money - NYTimes.com 

When Your Money is the Dumb Money – NYTimes.comhttp://bucks.blogs.nytimes.comBy now you have probably heard about the growing evidence that “dumb money” is entering the market. The dumb money is not my term, by the way; it’s how Wall Street  refers to individual investors who repeatedly sell stocks at a low price, only to turn around later and buy them for high…

NorthStar Hits All-Time High Following Strong February

The NorthStar Equity portfolio closed at an all-time high of +53% total return as of February month-end.  The S&P 500 with dividends gained a total of only +14.5% during the same time period (Jul 2006-Feb 2011). Notably, the monthly percent return of +9.8% makes February 2011 the second strongest month in NorthStar’s history.

NorthStar vs. S&P 500

Visit the NCA Performance Page for additional information and disclosures regarding performance.  Past performance may not be indicative of future results.

Oppenheimer vs Vanguard

Target-date mutual funds run by Vanguard charge an average of 0.18% of invested assets per year. Oppenheimer charge 1.68% of invested assets per year. Oppenheimer investors pay 9.3 times more than Vanguard investors for the same product.

401(k) Generation Begins to Retire

The 401(k) generation is starting to retire and it’s not pretty. The median household lead by a 60 year-old with a 401(k) has LESS THAN ONE-QUARTER of what its need to maintain its standard of living in retirement!

Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Come Up Short - WSJ.com

Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Come Up Shorthttp://online.wsj.comThe median household headed by a person aged 60 to 62 with a 401(k) account has less than one-quarter of what is needed in that account to maintain its standard of living in retirement, according to data compiled by the Federal Reserve and analyzed by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston…

Surprise, surprise…Fund Industry Does Not Welcome Fee Limits

Here’s a shocker: mutual-fund industry does not like the idea of curtailing high and often-hidden sales fees (“loads”) and other arcane fee grabs (“12b-1”).

FUND TRACK: Fund Industry Objects to Limits on Certain Fees - WSJ.com 

Fund Industry Objects to Limits on Certain Feeshttp://online.wsj.comThe mutual-fund industry has come out firmly against securities regulators’ efforts to change and cap certain fees now charged to some fund investors.
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