President Barack Obama’s health plan proposal would extend Medicare taxes to the investment income of higher-earning households. The health care proposal released today by the White House would extend the existing 2.9% Medicare tax to unearned income — including interest, dividends, annuities, royalties and rent — for taxpayers with income exceeding $200,000 for singles and $250,000 for couples. Currently, the Medicare tax is assessed only on wages or earned income. The president also wants to hit these higher earners with an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on their earned income. The additional Medicare taxes are similar to those proposed in the Senate’s health care bill. The new taxes would not affect income from active participation in S corporations, according to the administration. The White House said the additional revenue from the tax on unearned income would be credited to Medicare’s Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund, which pays for non…

John Hancock Funds LLC today launched an international fixed-income fund to enable investors to hedge against rising interest rates. The Strategic Income Opportunities Fund invests 80% of its assets in foreign currencies and is designed to be more heavily weighted in cross-border currencies than the firm’s Strategic Income Fund, said Keith Hartstein, president and chief executive of the fund unit. “Right now, bond funds are getting a lot of the fund flows but the problem is where we are in the U.S. inflationary cycle,” Mr. Hartstein said. “We see this fund as a smarter way to get income into a portfolio, without exposing the investor to one market or one inflation cycle,” he said. The fund is managed by Daniel Janis III, who also manages the Strategic Income Fund. Hancock is one of a number of fund firms…

Gold Bullion, Special Issues and the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Coins Feb 22, 2010 Sylvia Cruz The Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coin is minted by the Royal Mint of Canada in 99.99 purity of gold. This purity makes the Gold Maple Leaf very desirable for investments and collections. Because this is one of finest content of gold the coin is eligible for precious metal IRAs in the United States. The gold bullion and proof forms, Special Issues and the 2010 Canada Olympic Games theme are very popular with collectors and investors. All Maple Leaf coins are legal tender in Canada, which means they can be exchanged in the market place. Gold Maple Leafs – Bullion and Proof Coins The Mint of Canada produces the Maple Leaf gold coins in various denominations; however face values are often lower than their true numismatic or market values. The gold content of the Maple Leaf is 1/20, 1/10, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 ounces of 99.99 pure gold…

In strikingly unenthusiastic fashion, federal Judge Jed Rakoff signed off on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s plan to fine Bank of America $150 million after failing to tell shareholders of about $16 billion in impending losses at Merrill Lynch. “While better than nothing, this is half-baked justice at best,” wrote Mr. Rakoff in his ruling released Monday, a week before the case was scheduled to go to trial. “The amount of the fine appears paltry.” The judge wrote in his report that his court was “shaking its head” and that, based solely on the merits, the settlement between the SEC and BofA should be rejected as “inadequate and misguided.” Yet he elected to go along with the SEC’s proposal, citing deference to the authority of regulators and adding that federal judges should be wary…

Invesco Ltd. is changing the name of its Invesco Aim unit to Invesco, and its AIM Funds to Invesco Funds, according to an executive at the investment firm. The reason for the name change, which will happen April 30, is that “the connection between AIM and Invesco has been made,” said Andrew Schlossberg, chief marketing officer of Invesco AIM. “Invesco” now can stand in for “AIM” without any confusion, he added. Invesco PLC merged with AIM Investments in 1997. No similar change is currently in the works for Van Kampen Funds Inc., which Invesco acquired from Morgan Stanley for $1.5 billion in October. A strong connection doesn’t yet exist between Invesco and Van Kampen, so Invesco will be added to the Van Kampen open-end fund names at the close of the acquisition, Mr. Schlossberg said. The deal is expected to be…