Financial advice is a highly-effective engagement tool and for 80 per cent of super members it can be delivered through general, limited and scalable advice, Mercer’s Jo-Anne Bloch says. This is important given the link between financial advice and member engagement, and the very obvious fact that members who have received financial advice are more confident and satisfied with their superannuation arrangements. This survey of 1028 working Australians aged between 25 and 65 conducted in December 2010, found 43 per cent of those who had sought financial advice were confident their savings would be sufficient, compared to only 30 per cent of those who had not sought financial advice. Therefore, the real issue for funds, and for those in government, ASIC and Treasury who are consulting on this issue, shouldn’t be whether or not to offer intra-fund or scaled advice in MySuper only, but how to make it cost effective and easy for all superannuation members to access relevant advice. Importantly, too, is the fact the cost is built into the overall superannuation cost – meaning all members can access simple advice in relation to their superannuation account conveniently and don’t need to pay for advice separately. Thereafter we need to ensure simple superannuation advice is easy to access and the cost of simple superannuation advice is affordable and bundled into the overall fee charged to members. read more

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The catch, which car manufacturers know so well, is that the stories about the Mark I version of anything occasionally catching fire or blowing up are still echoing around the industry, even though Mark II buyers, our local investors, should be in for a much easier run now with ETFs. The rush to innovation in the US also meant they moved away from the plain-vanilla funds that mostly make up the market in Australia, and got into leverage — inverted funds running double shorts and the like. That’s all very well if the risks and purpose are fully disclosed but the trend created quite a lot of "synthetic ETFs" that made up for a lack of liquidity in certain stocks by including a swap deal with an investment bank to establish the supposed collateral against which the ETFs were issued. At a recent seminar for institutional investors promoting ETFs, ASX executive Richard Murphy sounded a similar warning by telling issuers not to "tip in some CDO that you couldn’t sell" as collateral for a new product. read more

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If you attended a real estate ?seminar? hosted by Brett Matheson in 2005 or 2006, you might have been the unwitting targets for a major real estate scam. The real estate investor and CEO of Maricopa Property Investment Solutions has now admitted that he was using those seminars to recruit straw buyers for what ended up being a $50 million wire- and mortgage-fraud scheme[1]. He used false documents verifying employment, income, assets and intent to occupy the homes to speed mortgage applications along, then the straw buyers and Matheson?s company received kickbacks once financing was obtained. It is unclear whether the straw buyers understood that what they were doing was illegal in all cases. Let us know what you think about the role that mortgage fraud played in the real estate crisis in the space below. As for the straw buyers, were they aware they were participating in a fraudulant deal? read more

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You may get indigestion and a thinner wallet, the 85-year-old Yale alum warns in his self-published book, The Adventures of a Free Lunch Junkie . But exaggerations and misrepresentations were served up with entrees as reps hawked Wall Street investments, annuities, reverses mortgages, funerals, cemetery plots, retirement homes and long-term health care insurance. Bronsteen quotes in his book a warning about the free food seminars from the AARP and the North American Securities Administrators Association. Before you go , check out the sponsor by calling the North American Securities Administrators Association at 202- 737-0900 or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority at 800-289-9999. read more

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Thomson Reuters is the world’s largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here . read more

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From time to time, we will send you e-mail announcements on new features and special offers from The Wall Street Journal Online. Login with Facebook What’s This? To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www. SANTIAGO (Dow Jones)–Inflationary pressures in Chile are easing as a result of international food prices retreating somewhat, Finance Minister Felipe Larrain said Thursday. Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. To view or change all of your email settings, visit the Email Setup Center . read more

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HE Abdul Rahman Saif Al Ghurair, Chairman, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, revealed the latest Chamber members’ export and re-exports data for the first five months of 2011 which reached Dhs100bn. The seminar, which was attended by Chamber members and representatives of the private sector, discussed the vulnerability of UAE consumers to rising food prices by income group, the global economic outlook’s effect on Dubai and endogenous growth factors, and new business indicators. The Chairman of Dubai Chamber further stressed that the second quarter of 2011 was a fitting time to come together and discuss major issues affecting businesses today adding that 49% new members joined the Chamber in the first five months of the year in comparison to the same period in 2010. The Dubai Chamber-organised economic seminar with its agenda of providing the latest economic indicators based on studies, keep the business community updated with the latest developments and trends and help them make sound business decisions while enhancing their competitiveness globally. The second presentation on the global economic outlook’s effect on Dubai and endogenous growth factors reviewed global economic developments and how they will affect the UAE ‘s outlook. read more

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This new seminar will be a two-day event focused on leading practices for accessing investors outside of an issuer’s country, including in depth coverage of practices to engage U. Chris Taylor, EVP and MD of Global Investor Relations at Ipreo, said, “Driving a successful IR program in the U. This announcement was made at the 2011 NIRI Annual Conference, the world’s largest annual gathering of investor relations professionals. Inspired by the increasingly challenging global environment, IR professionals from around the world are discussing new regulatory and governance requirements, rapidly changing capital markets, the evolving media landscape and other timely topics at this event. NIRI is the largest professional investor relations association in the world with more than 3,500 members representing 2,000 publicly held companies and $5. Ipreo is a premier global provider of high quality data, market intelligence, and productivity solutions to investment banking and corporate clients. read more

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