Wealth management

A majority of Californians believe that they can do a better job of investing a portion of their Social Security payments than the government can -- even though 80 percent admit that they have little or no investing experience, according to a recent poll.

The Financial Planning Association filed a petition in a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals challenging a Securities and Exchange Commission rule exempting certain broker/dealers from the requirements of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

The American Institute of CPAs, the AICPA Foundation, the National Endowment for Financial Education and the American Red Cross have launched a new, broad-based disaster preparedness and planning guide for consumers.

The American College, based here, and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors have partnered to create the Financial Services Specialist designation, a new financial planning credential.

Employers and their advisors are still trying to puzzle through the creation of health savings accounts.

Sherman Hanna is a professor of consumer sciences at Ohio State University. He is also the co-author of a new measure that he says is a better way to calculate how much risk people are willing to take in their investments. It has an interesting twist.

FIDELITY, AICPA EXTEND PARTNERSHIP PACT: Financial services conglomerate Fidelity Investments has extended its partnership with the American Institute of CPAs to assist CPAs in establishing investment advisory practices.

CPAs advertising their services used to be against the rules, until regulators began loosening those restrictions about 25 years ago.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted to allow brokers to offer fee-based advisory accounts without being regulated as investment advisors. The new rule would allow brokers to continue offering fee-based accounts without coming under regulation as advisors, provided that they meet certain requirements. According to reports, clients in such accounts must be given explicit disclosure that they are brokerage accounts, not advisory accounts, and that the brokers' interests may not be the same as their clients' interests. Brokers also must offer clients information on whom to contact at the brokerage firm if they have questions on the differences between these accounts. The commission also ordered a 90-day study into whether any changes are required regarding how brokers and advisors are regulated.

Nearly three-fourths of workers participating in a retirement savings poll said that employers' matching contributions of up to 5 percent of their salaries would greatly influence their decision to join a savings plan at work. In its 15th annual Retirement Confidence Survey, the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that, in addition to matching employer funds, 65 percent of workers were more likely to join a company-sponsored retirement plan if the plan offered an investment option that automatically provided workers with a more conservative allocation as their retirement date approached, while 56 percent said that they would join up if the plan contained a provision that raised employee contributions by a fixed percentage when they received a pay raise. The annual study measures attitudes of workers and retirees toward saving, retirement planning and financial security. A majority of those polled admitted to being behind in their retirement savings, yet confident that they'll reach their savings goal by retirement. Some 69 percent indicated that they or their spouse had accrued some savings for retirement -- the survey's highest level in more than 10 years.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that creditors cannot seize individual retirement accounts in a bankruptcy filing, thereby classing them with pensions, 401(k)s and Social Security, which are afforded protection under bankruptcy law. The case before the court involved a bankrupt couple from Arkansas who were fighting to keep more than $55,000 in retirement savings. Last year, more than 1.6 million people filed for personal bankruptcy, versus 875,000 a decade earlier. Experts say that much of that is being driven by people 55 and older who lose their jobs and can't pay off debts.

The strain on the financial advisory business is starting to show.

* HENSSLER ENTERS ACCOUNTING JOINT VENTURE: The Henssler Financial Group, a Kennesaw, Ga.-based concern, has formed a joint venture with the Atlanta-area accounting firm of Dickinson & DiLuzio to form a new accounting division of the firm - Dickinson, DiLuzio & Henssler LLC.The new entity will provide financial consulting services for both individual and institutional clients. This partnership expands Henssler to two offices and a staff of more than 55.

The Internal Revenue Service's new rules for qualified retirement plans went into effect on March 28, but the ripple effect from the rules has yet to play out.

With limited exceptions, the tax on married couples filing jointly usually has been lower than the combined tax on married couples filing separate returns.

Financial services conglomerate Fidelity Investments has extended its partnership with the American Institute of CPAs to assist CPAs in establishing an investment advisory practice. As part of the extension to the five-year-old program, institute members will receive several new benefits, including low minimum asset requirements and discounts on marketing materials through PracticeMark, Fidelity's online marketing program. Originally sealed in 2000, the pact designates Fidelity as the exclusive, preferred provider of custody and clearing services to AICPA members. Information about the Fidelity program is available at http://pfp.aicpa.org/Resources/Investment+Planning.

While college costs continue to rise faster than the level of inflation, parents and grandparents now have more tools than ever before to better afford this cost years before a child graduates from high school.To most parents, saving for their children's higher education costs can seem like a daunting task, which makes planning all the more critical.

A homeowner may exclude up to $250,000 of gain from the sale or exchange of a home if he owned and used it as his principal residence for at least two of the five years before the sale or exchange took place.The maximum exclusion is $500,000 for joint filers, if certain conditions are met. A taxpayer who uses a property partially as a principal residence and partially for business purposes is treated as using the entire property as his principal residence for purposes of the two-year use requirement if the residential and business parts are within the same dwelling unit. The exclusion doesn't apply, however, to the gain resulting from depreciation taken for partial business use of the residence after May 6, 1997.

AMEX TO SPIN OFF FINANCIAL ADVISORS BUSINESS: American Express Co. said that it will spin off its American Express Financial Advisors unit to shareholders to focus on its credit card, charge card and travel services businesses.Shareholders would receive 100 percent of the common shares of the company, which would be renamed American Express Financial Corp. AmEx said that it expects to complete the transaction in the third quarter.

Framingham, Mass. - A survey of 220 businesses revealed that while compliance costs associated with Sarbanes-Oxley Sections 404 and 302 are front-loaded, once companies are through the process, there is a great deal of proportional value.The poll, conducted jointly by International Data Corp. and RevenueRecognition.com, also noted that a compliance "chasm" exists and that companies that have crossed it have achieved more effective results at less cost.