Facing a rising tide of home foreclosures, the Obama Administration is pushing mortgage servicing companies to more than double the industry’s mortgage modifications by Nov. 1. After a day long meeting with 25 servicers at the Treasury Department, the Administration for the first time announced a specific goal for modifications by the industry under the [...]

It is bad enough that many families are losing their homes to foreclosure, but scammers are preying on some of these families and making life all the worse. The Federal Trade Commission as produced this video to hopefully alert vulnerable homeowners to these scam artists tactics and hopefully avoid the associated losses.

What is the opportunity investing in GM stock? Can it be profitable coming out of bankruptcy? If you think so, think again. Read this Investor Alert. The SEC and FINRA are issuing this Alert because we believe there may be widespread misunderstanding by investors that stock in the “old” General Motors Corporation (now known as [...]

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined five bank broker-dealers a total of $1.65 million for deficient supervision and procedures related to variable annuity (VA), mutual fund or unit investment trust (UIT) transactions. Brokers at each of the firms operated out of branches of affiliated banks, selling VAs, mutual funds or UITs to bank [...]

A Private Equity (PE) investment firm can purchase the interests of retiring, inactive or disgruntled family shareholders and allow remaining family members to retain control. There are well over 100 different tools, techniques, strategies, tactics and combinations thereof that enable successful business owners to manage their wealth in accord with their values and goals. Discovering [...]

Many people are concerned about potential inflation in the not too distant future. This story indicates that, at least, Mr. Bernanke has some steps in mind to battle inflation while still attempting to encourage the economic growth we need to produce more jobs. July 20 (Bloomberg) — To keep interest rates at a record low, [...]

Ken French The answer depends on why stockholders want to leave the market. During the financial crisis, some investors discovered that their tolerance for risk is lower than they thought, so it might make sense for them to permanently reduce their exposure to equities. Investors who wish to avoid the price impact of the recession, [...]

The 1.6% increase was the largest one-month gain since July 2005 Residential real estate prices gained 1.6% in May, representing the largest one-month increase since July 2005, according to an analysis by Integrated Asset Services in Denver. For the rest of the story… Real estate prices posted gain in May – Investment News Posted using [...]

A review of 10 of the largest variable annuity providers by Symetra Life Insurance found widespread increases in the fees charged to customers, reductions in guarantees and benefits offered under many riders and sometimes the elimination of an entire guaranteed living benefit offering according to Paul Menchaca in a brief article in financial-planning.com magazine, a [...]

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner today sought to downplay the idea of a second economic stimulus plan, saying the need for another program is a decision the administration “can’t really make” now. In an interview on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” Geithner also was asked about reining in federal borrowing, whether tax increases would be needed [...]