Heartland is Not the First to Write Down NAVs
From Wall Street Journal
Heartland�s recent write down of the NAVs for the Heartland High-Yield Municipal Bond Fund and Heartland Short Duration High-Yield Municipal Fund continue to generate media coverage. The article quotes on investor in the funds (a lawyer no less) as saying that shareholders were victims of "fantasy pricing". It then segues to the issue of "fuzzy" NAVs. After a brief explanation of how funds are priced and what can go wrong, the author takes a walk through NAV disasters of years past. Stops include 1995 when Van Kampen American Capital Asset Management settled SEC charges; 1998, when a Paine-Webber bond fund manager valued holdings too highly; and 1997 when British regulators fined Morgan Grenfell Asset Management $3.3 million. It also recounts a shareholder lawsuit against Minneapolis-based Investment Advisers Inc.

Stilwell Tops Estimates
From Wall Street Journal
S tilwell Financial Inc., the parent of Janus Capital, Berger LLC, and DST, topped earnings expectations of 67 cents per share. The firm reported net income of $170.1 million, or 73 cents a diluted share compared to $82.7 million, or 36 cents a share, in the 1999 third quarter. The firm�s assets under management grew to $324.2 billion from $304.2 billion in the second quarter and from $164.8 billion in the year-earlier period.

Father of 401k Wants More Choice
From Investor�s Business Daily
T ed Benna, the man widely known as the "father" of the 401(k) is on a mission to bring more choice to the 401(k) plan participant. The article provides a brief history of how Benna put the first 401(k) into place for a client (he was a benefits consultant at the time). His goal at the time was to bring a fair retirement plan to the average man, says the article. It also reports his efforts to bring low cost brokerage options to participants to allow them more control over their investments. The article paints the picture of a divided industry with big fund companies wanting to keep participants captive in their funds and Benna alone on the other side. This simplistic account fails to explain the rapid increasee in non-proprietary funds in many plans. It also fails to mention that Benna sits on the board of directors of Persumma Financial. Persumma is a MassMutual and Nextera backed startup that is offering a Web-based bundled product that features a standard brokerage option.

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