Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charles Munger has spilled the beans on how former Vice President Al Gore became very, very wealthy. Munger's comments were made in an interview in February but largely ignored then. Gore, whose post-political career has focused on global warming and climate change, decided to enter the investment business by only investing in companies that did not produce any carbon dioxide. Here's how Munger tells it, via CNBC: "So he found some partner to go into investment counseling with and says we're not going to have any (carbon dioxide). But this partner is a value investor and a good one. So what they did is, is Gore hired staff to find people who didn't put CO2 in the air. Of course that put him into services. Microsoft and all these service companies were just ideally located. And this value investor picked the best service companies. So all of a sudden the clients are making hundreds of millions of dollars and they are paying part of it to Al Gore. Al Gore has hundreds of millions dollars in your profession. And he's an idiot. It's an interesting story. And a true one."
Millennials Besting Senior Generations In Saving For Retirement
When it comes to 401(k)s, millennials are more likely than Baby Boomers and Gen Xers to maximize their employer match, according to a new analysis from Wells Fargo. The generation is also the most diversified, with 83 percent of millennials meeting Wells Fargo’s criteria for diversification. The numbers drop to 80 percent for Gen X and 77 percent for Boomers. In addition to taking advantage of Roth 401(k) plans, Wells Fargo said the behaviors exhibited by millennials have them on a better pace to reach retirement goals than their seniors. “This engagement among millennials is encouraging because the sooner they get started, the more prepared they will be for retirement—they have the power of time to help grow their nest egg,” said Mel Hooker, the director of relationship management for Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust. “This generation is benefitting from legislation that made it easier for employers to automatically enroll employees into their 401(k) plan, and from the use of default investments that help them meet a minimum level of diversification.”
Envestnet Adds T. Rowe to Fiduciary Advantage Service
T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services now uses Envestnet | Retirement Solutions’ Fiduciary Advantage, the firm’s portable 3(21) and 3(38) outsourced fiduciary service. As of March 31, ERS supports $25 billion in assets under advisement from 13,390 plans. ERS uses its proprietary ERS SCORE methodology to evaluate and monitor potential investments for retirement plans. "At a time when many advisors are still adapting to the fee-based business model, our flexible, single-source fiduciary channel empowers advisors working with retirement plan sponsors to deliver advice and solutions that are in every plan participant's best interest," said Babu Sivadasan, president of ERS.
