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An industry-funded watchdog is beefing up its aging technology as it takes on broader oversight of U.S. stock trading and seeks to manage both a new surveillance program and data-collection system that will usher in an era of big data on Wall Street. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is preparing to build the initial phases of a mammoth broker data-collection system in 2015 known as the Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System, or CARDS, pending approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. FINRA also is one of 10 bidders to run the consolidated audit trail, or CAT, an industry-wide order-tracking system that will replace an existing FINRA system. The SEC ordered the CAT after it took months for regulators to reconstruct trading during the "flash crash" in May 2010.   true       The number of people employed by FINRA in technology has grown to about 1,100 from several hundred a few years ago as the regulator won surveillance responsibilities away f

Many retirees don't maximize their Social Security retirement benefits because they start them at the wrong time or overlook more sophisticated claiming strategies. Those can be costly mistakes, according to a growing body of research. A couple that is strategic about when and how it files can boost its lifelong benefits by as much as $100,000 compared with what the spouses would get if both simply took benefits at 62, according to a March 2014 Journal of Financial Planning article by John Shoven from Stanford University and Sita Nataraj Slavov from the American Enterprise Institute. Advisers willing to learn Social Security planning's finer points can provide a service to clients or even win new ones when they may want them - just before they retire.   true       Jen Lake with Balasa Dinverno Foltz LLC in Itasca, Illinois started "deep diving" into claiming strategies several years ago. She studied the Social Security Administration's website and attended pr

Did you ever get to the point when trying unsuccessfully to fix something you just start whacking it with a wrench? I am getting the feeling that the Federal Reserve is approaching that point with the class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy . Fed officials have recently outlined some unconventional policy options that may indicate desperation, bravado or even, perhaps, a backward kind of genius.   true       Two main points stand out: that the Fed might want to tolerate inflation above its 2 percent target for a period, and that it may wish to have an almost permanent portfolio of class="mandelbrot_refrag"> bonds on its balance sheet Taken together, these ideas underline the fragility and weakness of the recovery and indicate that a return to normal may be more of a hope than a hard target. In some ways this is all understandable. Here we are, the better part of a decade into the financial follies and despite ultra low rates and wave upon wave of special

Three former executives of New Stream Capital LLC, a failed Connecticut hedge fund, have pleaded guilty to conspiring to mislead their clients to keep their largest investor, federal prosecutors said on Thursday. David Bryson, Bart Gutekunst and Richard Pereira each pleaded guilty on Wednesday in the New Haven, Connecticut, federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, said the office of U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly in Connecticut. Bryson and Gutekunst were managing partners of Ridgefield, Connecticut-based New Stream, while Pereira was its chief financial officer.   true       All are free on bail, and face up to five years in prison when they are sentenced in August. A trial was scheduled to begin on June 2, court records show. The defendants had pleaded not guilty in February 2013 to securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges. Authorities said New Stream was once a $750 million firm that specialized in investments such as loans backed by real estate an

U.S. municipal bond funds reported $663.6 million of net inflows in the week ended May 21, compared with $616.5 million in inflows in the previous week, according to data released by Lipper on Thursday. _0"> The four-week moving average remained positive at $549.2 million, said Lipper, a unit of Thomson Reuters. High-yield muni bond funds reported inflows of $408.1 million, up from $348.3 million in the previous week. (U.S. municipal bond team)   true      

Investors in U.S.-based funds pulled $7.6 billion out of stock funds in the week ended May 21 on weak U.S. economic data and disappointing corporate results, data from Thomson Reuters' Lipper service showed on Thursday. All of the outflows stemmed from stock exchange-traded funds, which posted $9.6 billion in withdrawals, while stock mutual funds attracted $2 billion in net inflows, which were the biggest in four weeks. The net outflows were the biggest since February. ETFs are thought to reflect the behavior of institutional investors, while mutual funds are commonly purchased by class="mandelbrot_refrag"> retail investors. The SPDR Standard & Poor's 500 ETF Trust, which tracks the benchmark class="mandelbrot_refrag"> S&P 500 stock index, posted the biggest outflows, of $4.2 billion.   true       The outflows from stock ETFs could speak to a lack of confidence in the U.S. class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy and worries a

Many folks hired to be financial planners may not be planning their time well, a number of studies show. But those who do are more successful and tend to grow their firms with fewer drawbacks, such as stress and exhaustion. Successful firms stand apart from their peers in three key areas: They have a clear target client; they have efficient systems, such as for scheduling and delegation; and they reserve time for planning. Sunit Bhalla, who spoke at a recent National Association of Personal Financial Advisors conference about better class="mandelbrot_refrag"> business planning, says advisers simply need to spend time on the right activities. A Fort Collins, Colorado-based adviser to engineers and technology professionals, Bhalla said good planning allows him time for family and volunteering, and more revenue and profit than he ever imagined. He said he focused on infrastructure first, putting revenue and profit aside to invest in technology. He chose class="m