The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
In recent years, the financial landscape in Sri Lanka has experienced significant transformations, driven by technological advancements and the increasing demand for quick and accessible financial solutions. One of the key players in this evolving market is CashX, a prominent financial services provider that offers a range of online loan products. This article provides a detailed look at CashX in Sri Lanka, its services, benefits, and the impact it has on the financial ecosystem of the country.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Apple is planning to build its own in-house technology and infrastructure for financial services. Financial services are a rapidly growing part of Apple’s overall product strategy. Developing these services will help Apple create more consistent recurring revenue from customers. Apple is working on payment processing, risk assessment for lending, fraud analysis, credit checks, and additional customer-service functions. The company is preparing to release a pay later feature and hardware subscription bundle to which these new plans will likely apply.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, in a new study comparing searches to gage interest in Crypto currencies India ranked second with 804,000 annual online searches about cryptocurrency.
According to Reuters the government of India is planning to introduce legislation banning cryptocurrency, Reuters reports. The law would impose fines on anyone who trades, mines, or even holds cryptocurrency. The government has a comfortable majority in parliament, giving the proposal a good shot at becoming law.
Continue reading India is planning to introduce legislation banning cryptocurrency
If you’re unsure how using SAP for investment management and other financial services will help you, that’s okay. It is important to learn about different features so you know if what is offered is right for you, and how you can get the most out of it. Outlined below are the key points of what you can get out of the investment management feature, as well as what SAP offers for other financial services.
When it comes to investment management, there are many benefits that SAP brings. It allows you to manage your investments and plan for new ones in an effective and efficient manner. By having a platform which focuses all your data in one place, it makes it easily workable for you. You can identify the success of investments which you have made, and how they are working to make money for your business. You can also identify areas where new investments could advance specific areas of your business which need to be enhanced.
Continue reading Using SAP for Investment Management and Other Financial Services
Location: Arcola Country Club, Paramus Rd., PAramus, NJ 07652
SPEAKERS
Craig Castner
Retirement Plan Counselor
American Funds
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Cocktails and Hors d’oeuvres will be served.
ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP Would you like to know more about which type of retirement plan might be best for your business? If the answer is “yes,” you’re not alone. Unfortunately, many business owners have little time to learn how their business may benefit from a retirement plan as it gets lost among the numerous day-to-day responsibilities associated with running a business. Get answers to your questions:
October 18,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, after a federal appeals court delivered a strong rebuke to the government’s new “consumer-finance watchdog”, declaring the agency’s unusual independence to be unconstitutional, and ordering its powers be curbed. Rep. Scott Garrett gave us his take on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) . In an email Garret spelled out the issues:
“This week, a federal court found that one of the most secretive Washington bureaucracies violates the constitutionally-mandated system of checks and balances designed to protect Americans from abuses of government authority. The court decided that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unconstitutional because of its toxic combination of immense power and little accountability. As Chairman of the Financial Services subcommittee that is responsible for making sure our country has competitive and robust capital markets, I have worked with my colleagues on solutions to restructure the CFPB in a way that protects consumers while holding Washington accountable to We the People.
The CFPB has oversized influence on the U.S. economy because it alone decides which financial products you are allowed to buy. Everything from mortgages, to car loans, to retirement savings, the CFPB’s current structure allows it to unilaterally infringe on the economic choices of every American.
With a single, politically appointed head and its ability to bypass Congress to get funding, the CFPB acts as a rogue federal bureaucracy. And while the CFPB has an important mission, it’s unacceptable to allow a single government agency to control how Americans can spend their own money.
In fact, in his decision on this case, Judge Brett Kavanaugh said, “Other than the President, the Director of the CFPB is the single most powerful official in the entire United States Government, at least when measured in terms of unilateral power.” As someone who has been an outspoken critic of this agency’s unchecked power, I completely agree.
To implement consumer protections that actually put people and families first, a complete re-organization of this bureaucracy is needed. I recently supported the Financial CHOICE Act, a bill that would transform the CFPB into a bipartisan, five-member commission which is subject to Congressional oversight and appropriations, just like other independent Washington agencies. This is the only way to ensure that Washington will actually do its job instead of acting in its own self-interest.
This ruling that the CFPB’s structure is unconstitutional is a win for transparency, and for the checks and balances that protect American families from abuses by overzealous government bureaucrats. While stories like this don’t always make front page news, I feel it’s my responsibility to pass along information about my work and my priorities in Congress to the people of New Jersey’s Fifth District.”
August 24,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood
Ridgewood NJ, Building a trusting relationship with a financial professional is important because you’ll be sharing information about your assets and income, and you’ll want to feel confident when acting on any advice you receive.
But be wary of becoming too close, says Dennis Notchick, an Investment Advisor and Certified Financial Planner with Safeguard Investment Advisory Group (www.safeguardinvestment.com).
“People often become good friends with a broker who’s not doing a very good job for them,” Notchick says. “Even when they begin to realize they aren’t getting their money’s worth, they can’t bring themselves to break the ties. The personal relationship has come to mean more to them than their bottom line.”
Notchick recalls once when a couple in their 60s came to him to discuss whether there were better options for their money. Based on their financial professional’s advice, they had invested $1 million in variable annuities.
“Variable annuities can be very expensive,” Notchick says. “The fees can range from 3 to 4 percent per year, so I pointed out to the couple that they were being charged exorbitant fees and could reduce $30,000 or more in costs.
“The husband was on board and ready to make a change, but the wife was hesitant. She didn’t want to jeopardize that friendly relationship they had with their broker. They decided to stay where they were, paying over $30,000 in fees each year, just because they want to keep that friendship.”
So what should people do when they want to find an advisor they can trust, but don’t want to go overboard with the relationship?
For starters, Notchick suggests they ask these questions:
• Is the advisor a fiduciary? The fiduciary standard says that the financial professional must always act in a client’s best interest. Many advisors, at least right now, are held to a lesser standard. Their advice only needs to be generally suitable for the client, which allows these professionals to steer clients to investment products that are more profitable for the advisor. Beginning in January 2018, a new U.S. Department of Labor rule will be in full effect and require that all financial professionals meet the fiduciary standard when providing retirement advice. Some brokers call themselves fiduciaries – but how can you tell which hat they are wearing when giving you that advice?
• What licenses does the advisor have? If an advisor only has a securities license, then you will only receive securities-related advice. If an advisor has an insurance license, you will only receive insurance-related advice. Make sure you work with an advisor who understands both worlds and creates a plan based on the client’s philosophy, not someone else’s.
• What’s the advisor’s experience? It’s worth knowing not only how long the advisor has been in the business, but more importantly what kind of training and experience he or she has. For example, Notchick says, those who earn the Certified Financial Planner designation must go through extensive training and pass a rigorous exam, but real world knowledge/experience of all the areas of financial planning are also critical.
“Certainly, it’s important to have an advisor you can trust, but you still want to keep the relationship professional,” Notchick says. “When that relationship becomes more like a friendship, high fees almost always mean the investor will pay the price.”
About Dennis Notchick
Dennis Notchick, CFP is a Registered Investment Advisor Representative and Certified Financial Planner with Safeguard Investment Advisory Group (www.safeguardinvestment.com) in San Diego, Calif. He has nearly a decade of experience as a financial professional, and holds Series 3, 7, and 63 and 65 Securities Licenses and a California Life/Health Insurance License. Notchick has a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University Northridge.
June 16,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, released the following statement after the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) issued an alert that Fannie Mae increased the projected budget for their new Washington, D.C. headquarters by over 50 percent. Fannie Mae is one of the government-sponsored enterprises that was put in conservatorship after taking a $200 billion taxpayer bailout in 2008.
“Like a child with a credit card in a toy store, the bureaucrats at Fannie Mae just couldn’t help themselves. After being forced to bail out the GSE’s to the tune of nearly $200 billion, American taxpayers now get the news that they are underwriting lavish spending at Fannie Mae’s new downtown Washington, D.C. headquarters. So while Americans around the country are living paycheck to paycheck, Washington insiders are blowing through budgets by designing glass enclosed bridges and rooftop decks.
“Even more troubling, the Federal Housing Finance Authority—the entity whose sole job it is to oversee the GSE’s—appears to have been asleep at the wheel as costs spiraled out of control. This is the same FHFA that just last year thought it was a good idea to give GSE executives a pay raise to nearly $4 million. This complete failure by FHFA and the excess displayed by Fannie Mae are the exact reasons why the American people are disgusted by business as usual in Washington, D.C.”
file photo Scott Garrett sinking the crony driven Ex Im bank
Garrett Statement on SIFI Designation Struck Down by Courts
Ridgewood NJ, Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, issued the following statement after a federal judge struck down a systemically important financial institution (SIFI) designation by the Financial Stability Oversight Council for the first time ever today.
“FSOC’s ( Financial Stability Oversight Council ) perfect storm of secrecy and intimidation has created a shadow regulatory system that concentrates power in Washington at the expense of hardworking Americans, and I’m pleased to see the judicial branch took a stand for the Constitution with their decision. Now that the courts have spoken, it’s time for Congress to step in and pull back the curtain on FSOC so the American people can see what this secretive body is really up to.”
Garrett has led the call for much-needed transparency and accountability at the FSOC. He is the author of H.R. 3557, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) Transparency and Accountability Act. This bill passed the Financial Services Committee in November.
H.R. 3557 would:
Garrett has made enemies by his unrelenting disapproval of Dodd-Frank which has codified the disastrous “too big to fail” policy and mega Wall Street bail outs . “Garrett says , “the Dodd-Frank Act has stifled economic growth, made it more difficult for Main Street businesses to obtain credit, and increased the likelihood that taxpayers will be on the hook for additional Wall Street bailouts. Most importantly, this law has and has made it harder for Americans to find a job, buy a home, and save money for their family’s future. ” Garrett went on , “Despite creating new bureaucracies that have imposed thousands of pages of rigid, invasive, and unworkable regulations, Dodd-Frank did nothing to reform the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose actions caused the 2008 financial crisis.
While Garrett’s Democrat challenger Josh Gottheimer is a champion of more big government , more corporate welfare ,and more wall street bailouts.
John Berlau
Popular financial radio show host Dave Ramsey caused a firestorm on Twitter last week when he weighed in against the “fiduciary rule”—the controversial pending Department of Labor regulation that would impose new restrictions on a vast swath of financial professionals who handle IRAs and 401(k) accounts. Yet, Ramsey was only echoing concerns about the costs of the rule already expressed by Members of Congress from both parties.
Ramsey Tweeted, “this Obama rule will kill the Middle Class and below ability to access personal advice.” A war of Tweets then broke out between opponents of the rule, and supporters, the latter of which includes fee-based investment advisers expected to benefit from the new costs the rule will shower on their broker competitors.
Fittingly, even before Ramsey came out against the rule, one of his critics called for using the rule against Ramsey, supposedly for providing advice said critic deemed harmful to savers. In an Octoberarticle in LifeHealthPro, an online trade journal for insurance agents and financial advisers, Michael Markey, an insurance agent and owner of Legacy Financial Network, called for Ramsey to “be regulated and to be held accountable” by the government for the opinions he gives to listeners. Markey hailed the Labor Department rule as ushering a new era in which “entertainers like Dave Ramsey can no longer evade the pursuit of regulatory oversight.”
Top Republicans to SEC: Shift Resources to ‘Immediately’ Boost Advisor Exams
Hensarling and Garrett tell SEC Chief White to inform them by Dec. 5 how the agency plans to reallocate resources, consider possible third-party exams
Two top Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee told Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White in a recent letter to reallocate resources to “immediately” boost the number of investment advisor exams because allowing the SEC to collect user fees from advisors to achieve this same goal is too costly.
In their Nov. 24 letter to White, Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., chairman of the committee’s Capital Markets Subcommittee, said that user fees “will impose significant new costs” on RIAs and that those “added costs will be passed along to their customers in the form of higher advisory fees.”
User fees, the two lawmakers say—who both will resume their current positions in the new Congress—could also have a “disproportionate impact on small and mid-sized” RIAs, making it more difficult to compete with larger firms.
“Increasing costs for small businesses and retail investors and curtailing access to investment advice will directly undermine the SEC’s statutory mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets and facilitate capital formation,” the two lawmakers said.
What’s more, the two argue that authorizing the SEC to collect user fees would require the agency to hire “hundreds of additional examiners and enforcement lawyers, with six-figure salaries,” which will also increase costs.
The solution, Hensarling and Garrett write, is for the SEC to reallocate existing agency resources “to immediately increase the amount” of RIA exams. The two cite their Sept. 2013 request that the SEC redirect resources its using to protect “millionaire and billionaire” investors in private funds and to shift “more responsibility” for broker-dealer exams to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2014/12/02/top-republicans-to-sec-shift-resources-to-immediat
Scott Garrett Hosts Bipartisan Group of Business Leaders and members of Congress on the Fourth Anniversary of Dodd-Frank
July 28,2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the Fourth Anniversary of Dodd-Frank Rep. Scott Garrett hosted three roundtable discussions with a bipartisan group of Members of Congress and key financial services leaders and CEOs. The purpose of our talks was simple: protect your retirement investments and ensure that all Americans can continue to invest in great businesses and ideas. The panelists offered their insights and the discussion was lively .
Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises,had previously issued the following statement to mark the four year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act:
“It’s been four years since President Obama signed Dodd-Frank into law and our economy’s anemic growth since that time is just one example of why it is ineffective. In addition to holding back the economy, Dodd-Frank also puts unsuspecting American taxpayers on the hook for endless Wall Street bailouts. The sad news is that the consequences of this heavy-handed law continue to creep into every U.S. industry. Now more than ever, we need solutions that address the real issues behind the 2008 financial collapse, protect taxpayers, and ensure that the U.S. continues to have the most robust capital markets in the world.”
these heavy hitters are listed as attendees:
Fred Tomczyk, president and chief executive officer of TD Ameritrade
Robert Greifeld, CEO, NASDAQ OMX;
Joe Ratterman, CEO, BATS Global Markets;
Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE);
Bryan Durkin, CEO, CME Group;
Edward T. Tilly, CEO, Chicago Board Options Exchange;
Matt Andresen, co-CEO, Headlands Technologies;
Daniel B. Coleman, CEO, Knight Capital Group;
Adam Nunes, president, Hudson River Trading;
Jamil Nazarali, head of Citadel Executions Services, Citadel Securities;
Doug Cifu, CEO, Virtu Financial;
Jamie Selway, managing director and head of electronic brokerage and sales, ITG;
Joseph Gawronski, president and COO, Rosenblatt Securities;
Brett Redfearn, head of market structure strategy, Americas, JPMorgan Chase Securities;
Jim Toes, president and CEO, Security Traders Association;
Kenneth Bentsen Jr., CEO, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA);
Bill Baxter, head of global program trading and market structure, Fidelity Management and Research, on behalf of the Investment Company Institute (ICI); and
Patrick Hickey, head of market structure, Optiver, on behalf of the FIA Principal Traders Group.
list provided by CNBC’s Bob Pisani https://www.cnbc.com/id/101871271
