Deals & People November 5, 2009

Report: Citigroup to Cut 75 from Wealth Management Group

Citigroup is laying off 75 employees in its personal wealth management group, including branch-based financial advisers, according to Dow Jones.

Reported by

The cuts are part of broader restructuring at Citigroup, which will include 100 job cuts in its credit-card business.

“These actions are difficult for everyone involved,” said Samuel Wang, a Citigroup spokesman, in a statement, according to Dow Jones. “For Citi Personal Wealth Management, this is part of a strategic shift to focus qualified financial advisers located in Citibank branches on providing more fee-based, investment advisory services.”

Citi recently announced that the financial advisers at its Citibank branches will switch to offering fee-only investment advisory services (“Citi Advisers Will Switch to Fee-Only, Partner with RIAs”).

Products November 5, 2009

Fidelity Adds Roth Conversion Resources

Fidelity Investments has added resources to its ongoing effort to help investors better understand whether converting their retirement nest egg into a Roth IRA is the best move for them.

Reported by

Fidelity said it has added a Roth Conversion Evaluator and additional content on the Fidelity.com Web site.

The Roth Conversion Evaluator can be used online by all investors, whether or not they are a Fidelity customer. With it, Fidelity said users can:

  • estimate current and future tax situations—based on a series of basic questions, users can receive an assessment to determine if they may benefit from a Roth IRA conversion;
  • evaluate how much to convert—Fidelity believes that users should minimize their tax cost when considering an amount to convert to a Roth IRA;
  • explore sensitivity to key factors—the tool helps to illustrate how changes in key factors, such as tax rates or withdrawal rates, might affect the outcome of an investor’s Roth IRA conversion decision.      =

“Fidelity believes that the opportunity to convert to a Roth IRA is an important consideration for all investors, particularly those who will become eligible for a conversion in 2010,” said Chris McDermott, senior vice president, investor education, retirement and financial planning, Fidelity Investments.

The evaluator product is available at www.fidelity.com/rothevaluator and additional education resources are available at www.fidelity.com/taxdiversification.

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More information about Fidelity’s offerings in the Roth IRA area is available at www.fidelity.com/rothconversion.

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