A report released this month on indicates that while average college debt levels reached $23,200 for the graduating class of 2008, there is an extremely wide range of variation among student debts loads in different parts of the country and at different school. It’s not very enlightening to speak of an “average” college debt when average debt levels at specific institutions vary from $5,000 to $106,000. Read the full article

This past summer I wrote about the novel Macroshares trusts released this year that enable investors to speculate on the direction of housing prices. Earlier this week, MacroMarkets announced that instead of terminating in 2014, the trusts will terminate next week. Read the full article

Last Friday, the House passed the the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a measure hailed as the biggest reform of financial services in half a century. Already, though, some interesting exceptions have been spotted in the bill, which weighs in at 1200-plus pages. The bill does a number of laudable things, including the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to oversee financial products and services. Read the full article

The big guns in the securities industry have expressed a desire for a “harmonized fiduciary standard” for broker-dealers and investment advisers. That sounds good, but as the details emerge, it looks more and more as though this "harmonized" standard is actually a "gutted" standard, tailored for the benefit of large financial companies. Read the full article

I’ve learned from Newstex, which syndicates this blog through its Authoritative Blog Content service, that the FFS Blog's content can now be accessed using an Amazon Kindle. Read the full article

Construction-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar recently announced its willingness to settle a lawsuit in which it was accused of charging excessive fees in four of its employee 401(k) plans. Read the full article

Yesterday the New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) held its Fall Economic Conference at the Boston Federal Reserve. Regional economists reported that they expect unemployment in New England to peak next year, despite improvements in the national economic outlook. Read the full article

A recent scholarly paper reveals an interesting conclusion: quite a few hedge fund managers misrepresent the truth about past legal and regulatory problems, performance, or assets under management. Read the full article

Congress just couldn’t resist the urge to give more money away. Read the full article

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left its Federal Funds rate unchanged in a range of zero to 0.25% today; it also gave a few hints as to what would need to happen before it starts raising interest rates. Read the full article

Today I found a nice article at Smartmoney.com that summarizes several indicators that can help you make an educated guess as to whether housing prices in an area are likely to go up. Read the full article

Economists at the University of Massachusetts believe the state’s economy may have bottomed, but the indicators remain ambiguous. Read the full article

Under the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008, Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) for 2009 from IRAs were waived. People who inadvertently received a distribution were confused about their options, but the IRS has issued clarifying guidance. Read the full article

As the November 30th deadline for the $8,000 first-time homebuyers credit approaches, members of both the House and the Senate are floating ideas for ways to extend the credit. Read the full article

Today the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). Read the full article

Despite a decline in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), major retirement plan limits remain unchanged. Read the full article

I don’t often write this sort of advice, but here’s my household risk management recommendation for the Fall: get your flu shots. Read the full article

The Federal Reserve’s latest “beige book” report offers a few encouragements on the state of the New England economy. Read the full article

Each year, contribution limits on 401(k)s, IRAs and other retirement plans are adjusted to keep up with inflation. However, because of a quirk in the rules that define how limits on 401(k) and pension plan contributions are calculated, it’s possible that 2010 limits on these plans could actually decline from current levels. Read the full article

About 50 million people own 401(k)-type retirement plans, and the percentage of workers with defined-benefit (pension) plans has been dwindling for years. One problem with 401(k) plans is that many plans don’t disclose their fees openly. That would change if Congress moves forward with a bill currently awaiting action in the House of Representatives. Read the full article

A number of behavioral finance studies have shown that men tend to take greater levels of investment risk than women. Researchers at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University have added to these observations with new evidence that high testosterone levels are associated with risky investment behavior. Read the full article

Announcements of new exchange-traded funds arrive in my e-mailbox almost daily, but today’s seemed ironically timed: a new inverse ETF tied to the performance of twenty-year Treasuries. Read the full article

The SEC issued a joint warning with FINRA today about the risks of leveraged and inverse ETFs for retail investors. Read the full article

Yesterday the Bureau of Labor Standards provided a CPI update through July 2009. Prices seem to be firming, but no clear pattern has yet emerged. Read the full article

The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), of which I’m a member, is launching a free consumer education webinar series this week. Read the full article

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