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DECIPHERING THE MUTUAL FUND PROSPECTUS - From AAII:  The mutual fund prospectus is essential reading for any prospective investor. However, this document is often written by the fund's legal department-with disclosure requirements in mind rather than the provision of understandable investment information. When you are comparing several funds, how can you hone in on the salient features of each?  Some funds employ the fund profile to introduce their funds. The format of the profile is a standard nine points in a specific sequence, and the discussion is lean. The same information will appear for each mutual fund in a family, in the same place and in the same form.  A step-by-step walk-through of the nine points will give you an idea of what the profile can tell you. The nine points can also be used as a ...
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TEACHING ECONOMICS WITH PIZZA - From Federal Reserve Board: The GDP and Pizza: Economics for Life course is a two-day, online course designed to help students in civics, economics and other social studies classes grasp the challenging economic content-and to explain why these topics are important for citizens to understand. Teachers can use the online course to teach the difference between nominal and real GDP, the definition of per capita GDP, how economists measure economic growth, and how monetary and fiscal policy are related to GDP. Taught by Federal Reserve economic education specialists, this program is designed to help high school teachers meet state and national standards in economics. The cou...
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SAVING THROUGH THE RECESSION - From AICPA:  Although 54 percent of adult Americans say they've not been able to save money over the last 12 months, a surprisingly large number have been able to save money in the past year in spite of the country's economic turmoil, according to a survey conducted for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants by Harris Interactive. Forty-six percent of the survey respondents said they managed to save, and many said they did so by curtailing their spending. Most of their cutbacks were on discretionary items, such as dining out (50 percent), travel (46 percent) and clothing (35 percent), though 31 percent of the savers said they've curtailed home renovati...
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WHAT DO PERSONAL FINANCE EDUCATORS KNOW? - From NEFE: While 89 percent of K-12 teachers agree that students should either take a financial education course or pass a competency test for high school graduation, relatively few teachers believe they are adequately prepared to teach personal finance topics. But in order to advance life-skill learning, many teachers would welcome more learning opportunities in both financial education subjects and teaching methods. University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers Wendy L. Way, Ph.D., and Karen Holden, Ph.D., surveyed more than 1,200 K-12 teachers, students currently enrolled in teacher education programs, and university teacher education faculty to better understand their training and education in personal finance, their opinions about the importance of financial education, and their capacity to teach these topics. The study, ...
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ARE YOU AN OPTIONS INVESTOR? - From OIC:  The Options Industry Council (OIC) released the results of the latest study conducted by Harris Interactive Inc. and found that not only are investors who use options more educated and affluent than investors who don't use options, they also tend to be more strategic investors who are more open to new ideas. The Options Industry Council (OIC) sponsored this study, as well as studies in 1995, 2000 and 2005, to assess interest level, knowledge and usage of options by investors to better direct its options education efforts. The studies have shown options users are more likely to have a wider diversity of investments in their portfolios beyond listed stocks compared to non-options users. Finally, the demogr...
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THE FINANCIAL REFORM BILL AND YOU - The financial reform bill recently signed into law is an attempt to address some of the problems that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. The legislation, officially known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is considered the most wide-ranging overhaul of the U.S. financial system since the aftermath of the Great Depression. Because the problems it addresses are complex, the legislation itself is complex; much of the real impact will be felt only after regulations are developed to implement the law's provisions. Also, some provisions will have a direct impact on individuals and investors; others will primarily affect the ways in which Wall Street functions. AICPA's 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy offers a brief summary if you want to learn about how you may be affected ...
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SIPC HOSTS ONLINE PUBLIC FORUM - The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which maintains a special reserve fund mandated by Congress to protect the customers of insolvent brokerage firms, will hold its first-ever online forum at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT on September 14, 2010 at http://www.SIPCModernization.org. The "listening post" session is the first of two major national public forums focused on soliciting input about the modernization of SIPC. The effort is part of the SIPC Modernization initiative launched on June 17, 2010. The two planned online forums are part of a full-scale review of the operations of SIPC, which has not been the focus of major new legislation in 30 years ...
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KEEPING YOUR RETIREMENT SAVINGS INTACT - A recent report by a major retirement plan provider revealed an uptick in the number of investors dipping into their 401(k)s through either loans or hardship withdrawals. If you really need the money and cannot access credit elsewhere, then borrowing from your 401(k), or taking a withdrawal, might be your best option. FINRA points out several good reasons to keep your retirement savings intact if at all possible. Before tapping your retirement savings, consider these reasons, among others: the money you withdraw will not grow if it isn't invested; repayments are made with after-tax dollars that will be taxed again when you eventually withdraw them from your account; the interest is never deductible even if you use the money to buy or renovate your home ...
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BEWARE FAKE SIPC CHECKS - The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which maintains a special reserve fund mandated by Congress to protect the customers of insolvent brokerage firms, again warned that consumers and job seekers should not accept SIPC checks that are presented online or in person by con artists seeking to buy personal goods or engage individuals for work. SIPC officials said the fake checks include an actual SIPC account number that is used only for deposits. No checks of any kind are issued on the account in question. In over a dozen cases so far, one or more individuals have presented the phony SIPC checks to "pay" for an item on Craigslist or in face-to-face transactions, or to "pay" for services advertised on Craigslist ...
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PROTECTING SENIOR INVESTORS - The Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) updated a joint report that outlines practices being used by financial services firms to strengthen their policies and procedures for serving senior investors as they approach and begin retirement. The SEC, FINRA and NASAA first published the report in 2008 to highlight proactive steps being taken by some financial services firms in serving senior customers. It was intended to assist the overall industry in enhancing compliance, supervisory and other practices related to older investors. The 2010 Addendum  summarizes additional practices now being used by ...
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