Today’s update on new housing starts and building permits for April isn’t surprising, but it’s still not encouraging. Permits slipped 4% last month and are down by nearly 13% from a year ago. Housing starts look even worse, falling nearly 11% in April, pushing the seasonally adjusted annual rate down by 24% vs. the year-earlier number.
Daily Archives: May 17, 2011
Slim Index Pickings In 401(k) Plans
Ron Lieber argues that 401(k) plans should offer index funds. “This shouldn’t be a controversial statement,” he writes in a recent New York Times article. “Yet it passes for one in Washington, where regulators and legislators are still mired in a never-ending debate over whether stockbrokers, certain insurance salespeople and others ought to meet that standard, known in legal circles as a fiduciary duty.”