SEC Proposes to Modernize the Advertising Rules for Investment Advisers

I had my coffee ready and headphones on to listen to Tuesday morning’s Securities and Exchange Commission open meeting for Item 3: “Investment Adviser Advertisements; Compensation for Solicitations.” After cancelling a appointment to watch it, I discovered that Item 3 had been taken off the meeting agenda. The SEC voted on Monday to propose amendments … Read more »

Pre-existing, Substantive Relationships and General Solicitation

As cryptocurrency issuance declines, the Securities and Exchange Commission is continuing to clean out the fraud, mis-steps, and foolishness of coin promoters. These actions have carried over to the services and investment managers involved in coin offerings. Usman Majeed wanted to make his money by running a fund that invests in cryptocurrency. He ran into … Read more »

When Your Model Doesn’t Work

Don’t sell it if it doesn’t work right. That’s an easy lesson learned by Aegon USA, its CIO and Director of New Initiatives. Unfortunately, they were a subadvisor to Transamerica, who had to pay the biggest fine out of the bunch. Transamerica offered, sold and managed quantitative-model-based mutual funds, variable life insurance investment portfolios, variable … Read more »

Lower the Wealth Standard for Investing in Private Placements

With the reduction in the number of public companies and larger companies staying private, the Securities and Exchange Commission is once again talking about loosening the “accredited investor” standard. Much of the concern about private placements is about risk. They seem to be universally labeled as the most risky of investments. The accredited investor definition … Read more »