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SNAPCHAT COMPLIES WITH GOVERNMENT REQUESTS Photo messaging app Snapchat received 403 government requests for user information — 375 from U.S. law enforcement and 28 from other international governments. Snapchat plans to begin issuing transparency reports every six months starting in July, but this early report covers requests received from Nov. 1, 2014 to Feb. 28, 2015. Among the U.S. requests, most were search warrants (172) and subpeonas (159). Snapchat complied with requests 92% of the time, according to its report.
Millennials want a different kind of financial planner
Moribund funds gain 10.7% in first quarter John Waggoner USA TODAY
IRAN STOCKS SOAR ON FRAMEWORK FOR NUKE DEAL The Tehran Stock Exchange rallied on hopes that economically crippling international sanctions soon could be lifted, thanks to world powers agreeing on a framework for a nuclear deal with Iran. The official IRNA news agency said the Tehran exchange index rose 6.9% over two days and jumped 4,535 points to 70,261 on Sunday — the highest level in 18 months. Sunday was the second working day of Iran's new year. GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
SHARP MAY SPIN OFF PART OF LCD BUSINESS Sharp Electronics may ask the Japanese government to help it spin off part of its LCD display business. The Tokyo-based company hopes that the governmentsupported Innovation Network Corp. of Japan would invest in its unit that makes small and medium liquid crystal displays for smartphones and tablets, sources told The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. Amid a restructuring plan, Sharp is seeking an investment of about $840 million this fiscal year, but would keep a majority of the unit, sources said.
USA SNAPSHOTS©
Cost of Madness championship Average price of a 30-second advertisement during March Madness championship game, in thousands:
$1,500
2010
$1,222
2014
$1,493
$1,000 $500 0
Source Kantar Media JAE YANG AND ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ, USA TODAY
Japan stocks spring to life
Charisse Jones USA TODAY
Rachel Lake had worked with financial planners before, but the relationship didn’t click until the Millennial began working with an adviser who focuses his message, and methods, on her generation. “It’s more like a partnership,” said Lake, 32, who is a home loan specialist living in Boston. “I want somebody to be there more as a coach than as someone telling me what I should be doing. Because I don’t feel like I’m on a traditional path, and I don’t think I’m alone in that. ... (Millennials) want someone that sees us as individuals.” When it comes to mapping out financial futures, some financial planners are finding that Millennials prefer to work with those who understand their generation. They are a group that is likely to have several jobs over the course of a lifetime, may decide to rent rather than own and is used to being able to get answers with the click of a button. Many in that generation, born in the early 1980s, may also be burdened with a staggering amount of student debt, and have had difficulty finding a job or boosting their salaries during and after the Great Recession. All those factors mean that the financial strategies that worked for their Boomer or Gen X parents, may not work for them. Eric Roberge, who started a financial-planning firm that targets Millennials and counts Lake as a client, says that traditionally, fi-
“I help professionals in their 20s and 30s use money as a tool to live a life they love.” Financial planner Eric Roberge
nancial firms have emphasized the management of assets. But the average Millennial, just starting to ascend the corporate ladder, won’t have many. “If you’re a wealthy person, you talk about estate planning and taxes and growth in investments,” says Roberge who at age 35 is on the cusp of the generation he serves. “Someone younger, those things aren’t even in their wheelhouse yet. … But (they) have many concerns about their finances because they never learned about these things in school, like goal setting and investment management.” To appeal to Millennials, Roberge bills himself as a “personal trainer” guiding clients to financial health, and money as a tool to live a life fueled by enjoyment and passion. Financial planner Joe Pitzl, 34, says Millennials like himself have a different way of absorbing information than their parents and grandparents, and as a result planners in that age group take a more collaborative approach. “The Millennial generation tends to want to arrive at our own conclusions,” says Pitzl, who works in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. “So instead of definitively saying, ‘You should do xyz,’ you have to ... ask them the right sequence of questions for them to solve the problem themselves.” But both Roberge and Pitzl say that ultimately, Millennials want the same thing as their older peers — a financial planner who understands what they want and where they’re coming from.
If you sent your money abroad in the first quarter, you got some handsome returns — and the farther you sent it, the better. The Standard & Poor’s 500stock index rose 0.6% in the first quarter, including reinvested dividends. And the average largecompany blend fund bumped up 0.8%. It was a decent year in the U.S., but nothing to brag about. But foreign markets woke up. The past decade, the MSCI Europe, Australasia and Far East index has gained an average 5% a year vs. 14.2% for the S&P 500. The biggest surprise: Funds that invest in Japan’s stock market soared an average 10.7% in the first quarter, according to Morningstar, the Chicago fund trackers. The market has lagged since the Nikkei average peaked at 39,000 in 1989. The Nikkei closed the quarter at 19,207. The market has been pushed higher this year by rock-bottom interest rates, a falling yen and government stimulus programs. Japan’s market has been as popular as Mothra the past two decades: The 39 mutual funds that invest have just $4.5 billion in assets. The only international fund category smaller than Japanese funds came in second: Funds that invest in India, which have just $2.2 billion in assets, jumped 8%. India’s stocks have ramped up on hopes that its new, business-friendly government will push profits higher. Diversified overseas fund managers also got a tailwind from Europe, whose stock markets have been surging as the European Central Bank has pushed rates into the sub-basement: The average foreign large-blend fund gained 5.2% in the first quarter, Morningstar says. In the U.S., health care funds jumped an average 10.1% in the first quarter. The worst U.S. sector: energy. Funds investing in energy stocks fell an average 0.7% thanks to the plunge in oil prices. Truly brave (and lucky) investors bought Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-Chinext ETF (ticker: CNXT), which topped the mutual fund charts with a 49.5% gain. The Chinese market has seen feverish speculation this year, raising fears of a bubble. The worst fund to own in the first quarter: Direxion Daily Russia Bear ETF (RUSS). The fund plunged 57.1%.
SKY’S THE LIMIT ON NUMBER OF CAMERAS IN CARS ‘They have become a commodity and a necessity’
“We started seeing a lot more uses for these cameras and all of a sudden, one thing leads to another.”
Chris Woodyard USA TODAY
As if cars didn’t already get enough attention, automakers are finding more ways to give them starring roles by packing them with more video cameras. And just as auto marketers boasted in past years about the number of cupholders or air bags in their models, marketers have now touting cameras. At last week’s press preview for the New York Auto Show, Jaguar officials noted that the new XF sedan has six cameras — five that give a 360-degree view outside the car and one pointing forward to perform a number of safety functions. Infiniti’s Q50 also has six. Even mainstream models are being packed with them. Ford’s
Audi’s Filip Brabec
EVAN SEARS, CARS.COM
The backup camera and surround view in a Nissan Pathfinder F-150 pickup has up to five and could have double that in coming years. “That’s where our industry is going — the sky is the limit,” says Jennifer Shaw, driver assistance electronics supervisor for Ford. The cameras allow cars to “read” speed signs and stay in the lane. Some record trips for play-
back later. Automakers are experimenting with using them in place of rear-view mirrors, although current U.S. law doesn’t allow it. Cameras will play a bigger role, too, in the race for the self-driving car. The camera craze is driven in part by the government. A regulation phasing in starting next year
requires all new vehicles to have rear-backup cameras. Plus, it’s just good business because safety sells. An AutoTrader.com survey last October found 84% of respondents said it’s more important to have a car stocked with the latest safety technology than entertainment features. Digital cameras have also gotten cheaper. “They have become a commodity and a necessity,” says Filip Brabec, Audi’s director of product management. “We started seeing a lot more uses for these cameras and all of a sudden,
one thing leads to another.” Nvidia, a company that makes computers and chips for cars, recently demonstrated a system that can handle inputs from 12 cameras. Multiple cameras cover all sides of the car, provide a longrange view from the front and monitor the rear view, says Danny Shapiro, Nvidia’s senior director for automotive. One camera is aimed directly at the driver to detect drowsiness. Cameras are growing more sophisticated. Ford’s Edge crossover has a front camera that can wash mud or road grime off its lens. The new Ford Explorer will have camera washers both front and back. Edge and F-150 cameras offer a 180-degree view to the rear to better see if cross traffic is coming while backing out of a space in a parking lot. Next generation cameras and processors will be able to distinguish between a police car and taxicab. “There’s a lot going on in these cameras,” Shaw says.