Charity begins at Fidelity
From The Wall Street Journal
"Donor-advised funds" let ordinary mortals establish charitable-giving accounts that look like personal foundations. They are growing increasingly popular. The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, begun in 1992, is now the nation's third-biggest charity in terms of donations. Vanguard Group, Charles Schwab and Eaton Vance have followed Fidelity's lead in establishing such funds. This type of fund lets investors take an immediate tax write-off after a contribution is made, but delay in actually giving the money away. Some in the charitable-giving community are complaining that the funds are delaying donations that otherwise would have gone directly to charity.

Family feud
From TheStreet.com
Rydex Funds was formed in 1993 as a haven for active traders who live and die by split-second market timing. Now, defectors Tim Hagen of Potomac and Michael Sapir of ProFunds are trying to beat Rydex at its own game. Last week, ProFunds made a frontal assault on Rydex by filing for 17 sector funds, the same number and covering most of the same industries as Rydex. ProFunds also plans to introduce an unleveraged Nasdaq 100 fund, just like Rydex's. Rydex is answering the bell by launching two leveraged international index funds and a twice-leveraged Nasdaq 100 fund, ala ProFunds. Potomac is trying to play in this game, but so far, it's a distant third.

How low can they go?
From Morningstar
For the fourth time in five years, TIAA-CREF reduced the annual expenses for several of its variable annuities. According to CEO John Biggs, the cost reductions are a challenge to the financial-services industry. He says that investors are becoming more and more aware of the impact of high expenses. The cost of the following annuities dropped: Global Equities, Growth, Stock and Equity Index.

 

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