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What does the new Congress–with a Republican controlled House and Democratic controlled Senate–mean for your investments?

Russell Kinnel Morningstar’s director of mutual fund research wrote an article on August 9 2010 titled “How Expense Ratios and Star Ratings Predict Success.” It is a must read and can be found online at Morningstar by clicking on this link.

According to a new Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) report based on the organization’s own data total assets in IRAs are up 25% on average. At $732.9 billion IRAs represent the bulk of the $13 trillion in 14.1 million retirement accounts across the United States.

With trust in banks and the nation’s financial system at historic lows new market research reveals that 86 percent of investors are thinking twice about their financial advisors.

In The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working Tony Schwartz lays out a guide grounded in the science of high performance promising he can “systematically build your capacity physically emotionally mentally and spiritually.”

On September 20 2010 the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) a non-profit group based in Cambridge Massachusetts and the arbiter of when U.S. recessions begin and end officially declared that the recession ended in June 2009 when a trough in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy.

Trust in banks and the financial system in general is at historic lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 700 points in just ten minutes on May 10 2010. Since the Great Recession started in mid 2007 over two trillion dollars of wealth has evaporated. According to the Conference Board consumer confidence in 2009 plunged to an all-time 41-year low.

I had a meeting with a gentleman last week.  He shared a personal story about a high school graduation gift that his grandfather gave him.  It was a print of “The Art of Getting Along.”  The gift was not appreciated at the time but today it is one of his prized possessions and is displayed prominently in his office.  I liked his story so much

What can economists and investors learn from meteorologists? Economics and finance professors in the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa are researching whether using multiple economic and financial models running concurrently can deliver more accurate economic forecasts than one model can.

Ben Franklin famously quipped that the only certainties in life were death and taxes. Of course with the Bush tax cuts scheduled to sunset at the end of the year and the midterm elections capable of changing the balance of power on Capitol Hill there is nothing certain about future tax policy.