Social Media a Financial Education Source for Many

February 22, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – One-quarter (26%) of U.S. adults use social media for personal finance and investing purposes, according to Cogent research.

This rises to 34% for affluent investors. While most investors continue to rely on a variety of resources for investment information, nearly 70% have reallocated investments, or began or altered relationships with investment providers, based on content found through social media, the study found.  

Investors who use social media for personal finance and investing purposes are using various platforms to form first impressions about providers and inform their decision to use a firm’s investment solutions. Regardless of the platform, investors primarily turn to social media to conduct research on investing, products and companies, or to seek advice regarding investment decisions.  

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This reflects the importance of a strong social media strategy for asset managers and distributors, Cogent said.   

Cogent’s findings are included in a new report, “Social Media’s Impact on Personal Finance and Investing.” The report is based on a nationally representative survey of more than 4,000 investors with more than $100,000 in investable assets. 

The study identifies the financial brands with the greatest exposure on each network—company blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube—and analyzes investors’ impressions of their content, as well as its influence on perceptions and connection to specific brands.  

Information about purchasing the report is here.

Vanguard Announces Investment Manager Changes

February 22, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Five members of Vanguard’s investment management teams will be transferred as part of an effort to broaden their experience and provide them with new responsibilities.

Joseph Brennan, who served as the firm’s Asia Pacific chief investment officer (CIO) in Australia since 2009, will return to the United States to lead the Equity Index Group. He will oversee the investment professionals responsible for more than 80 U.S. and international equity index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), representing nearly $1 trillion in indexed assets. Prior to his Australian post, the 12-year Vanguard veteran managed the Portfolio Review Department.

Gregory Davis, head of the Bond Index Group since 2007, will assume the Asia Pacific CIO role, as head of the Vanguard Australia team, which manages equity and fixed-income portfolios available to Australian and Asian investors and has nearly $64 billion in assets under management.

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Josh Barrickman, a 14-year Vanguard veteran with more than ten years of experience in bond indexing portfolio management and trading, has assumed leadership of the Bond Index Group. He previously managed bond index funds with aggregate assets of $90 billion and led Vanguard’s bond ETF management process since the 2007 inception of fixed-income ETF shares. Barrickman has been named a manager or co-manager on 13 funds, including the flagship $115 billion Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund.

John Ameriks, Ph.D, will oversee the Active Equity Group within the Equity Investment Group. Previously a member of Vanguard’s Investment Counseling & Research Group (IC&R), he assumed leadership of the group in 2008 and has been closely involved in the structure and implementation of several active and index investment products and strategies. The Active Equity Group manages $13 billion in quantitative equity fund assets, serving as investment advisor to Vanguard Strategic Equity Fund and Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity, as well as managing portions of 10 other Vanguard stock funds.

Catherine Gordon, a veteran investment professional who created IC&R in 2001, will reassume leadership of this group, as well as help to lead Vanguard’s initiatives on advice methodology and focus on institutional investment thought leadership. Since she joined Vanguard in 1994, Gordon spent several years with the Portfolio Review Department and directed Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services.

“We have found that there are significant benefits to our clients and our crew when we offer our investment professionals the opportunity to broaden their skill set,” said Vanguard Chief Investment Officer Tim Buckley. “In addition to offering growth and development potential to individual portfolio managers, it also enables Vanguard to build an investment team that is deep, experienced and globally oriented.”

Separately, Vanguard announced new portfolio management assignments involving 15 equity funds, 11 fixed income funds, two balanced funds and the Vanguard Target Retirement Fund series. The changes are effective with the February 22 filing of prospectus amendments that detail the leadership and portfolio manager assignments. The funds’ investment philosophies, objectives, strategies and overall portfolio management processes will remain the same.

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