Principal Financial Group may be retiring Eddie, the firm’s advertising mascot for the past 10 years, but the “every man” cartoon character should be able to enjoy his golden years thanks to the financial planning advice he advocated. Principal is even throwing him a retirement party called #SeeYourRetirement. The event kicked off earlier this week on a number of digital media platforms and websites (Twitter,BuzzFeed, Mashable, Hulu and more) and is encouraging people to share their personal goals for retirement. Principal said #SeeYourRetirement is also start of a new global brand for the company that “better reflects our culture and the global nature of our investment management business.”
Frank Gifford Will Details Revealed
The New York Daily News reports that the details of Frank Gifford’s will are now public, and the late football star and broadcaster left the majority of his $10 million estate to his wife, Kathie Lee. Gifford was married three times and left behind 5 children, so it’s safe to call his a blended family (the second marriage produced no children). His will provided $500,000 to each of two children from his first marriage to Maxine Ewart, and set up a $1 million trust fund for the third child from that union, who was seriously injured in a car wreck in 1979. The remainder of the estate, including two homes, went to wife and executor Kathie Lee. The couple’s two children together, who still live with Kathie Lee, were named in the will but received nothing.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged six men involved in a stock fraud that allegedly netted them $20 million in illicit profits. The complaint filed in federal court Thursday alleges John Galanis and his three sons, along with Gary T. Hirst and Gavin Hamels were involved in a scheme to defraud investors in the Gerova Financial Group, which once had shares that traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The regulator claims the six men fraudulently obtained shares in the fund and dumped them on public investors. This isn't the Galanis family's first run-in with regulators. He has been accused in numerous SEC enforcement actions since the early 1970s and his one son, Jason Galanis, was charged by the SEC in 2007.
Does Peer Pressure Have an Impact on Employees Saving for Retirement?
A new study published this month in the Journal of Finance has determined that peer pressure can actually have the opposite impact when it comes to getting workers to save for retirement. According to the research, which was released in collaboration with researchers from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, showing people how their retirement finances stack up against their co-workers didn't motivate them to save more. In some instances, employees were actually discouraged from participating in a 401(k) altogether. To compile the data, a group of 1,400 workers who weren't participating in a company's 401(k) plan were sent a simplified enrollment form. Some workers received information on the fraction of co-workers in their age group already participating in the plan, while others did not. While the thesis of the study was that peer information would increase savings, the opposite results may have come from knowledge that fewer co-workers were saving, according to co-author James J. Choi.
