Over half of Americans (52 percent) are not currently investing in stocks, according to a new study by Bankrate.com. But it’s mostly because they don’t have the money, with 53 percent citing that as the reason to stay out of the stock market. That is the case for 58 percent of people 65 and over, versus 42 percent for millennials. Others cited a lack of knowledge about stocks (21 percent), lack of trust in stockbrokers or advisors (9 percent), a stock market that’s too risky (7 percent), and fear of high fees (2 percent).
Envestnet will soon give advisors an alternative product to diversify portfolio risk and volatility exposure. The company announced a “strategic investment” of an undisclosed amount in AlphaHedge Capital Partners, which provides long/short equity strategies through separately managed accounts. These strategies were previously only available through traditional hedge funds, and Envestnet said AlphaHedge’s SMAs are more transparent, liquid and require a much lower minimum investment.
A new survey of advisors seems to flatly refute the theory that it costs more to work with an advisor acting as a fiduciary, or that smaller investors would be shut out of the market. According to fi360’s annual survey of over 600 advisors, predominately RIAs, more than eight out of 10 advisors say a fiduciary standard would not price investors out of the market for advice. About three-fourths of advisors surveyed believe the titles “advisor,” “consultant,” and “planner” imply that a fiduciary relationship exists, while 84 percent said disclosures alone were not enough to manage conflicts of interest. A majority of advisors (91 percent) say the DOL's fiduciary standard should apply to advice on rollovers from 401(k) accounts to IRA accounts.
There are 22 cities in the United States where women make higher wages than men, according to a study by NerdWallet. In Inglewood, Calif., women earn 120.6 percent of what a man earns, which is the highest difference of any location. Seven out of the 22 cities are located in California, the highest of any state. Florida comes in at No. 2 with five cities. The research used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey in 2005 and 2013 to rank cities and examine the change in the gender wage gap across that period. Part of the study correlates education to the decrease in the gender wage gap, such as in Las Cruces, N.M., where the percentage of women who earned bachelor's degrees increased.