Personal Finance Buzz

Over the last six months or so, there has been speculation about the end of free checking accounts. With banks looking for ways to generate revenue in the face of financial regulatory reform, it seems natural that they would turn to more fees.

The media are calling these new regulations, passed by the House and the Senate and awaiting President Obama’s signature, the most significant reform of the financial industry since the Great Depression.

In December of last year, the House of Representatives passed a bill designed to reform the financial industry, introducing more consumer protection and more regulation of Wall Street firms and other financial businesses.

In July, the federal government passed a sweeping new law to reform the financial industry. One of the biggest and most hotly contested aspect of this new law is the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

As people today tend to live longer and continue to work longer, it has been said that a tax reform is critical. The removal of the requirement to have to purchase an annuity plan before the age of 75 has been generally welcomed by the financial industry as a step in the right direction and it is thought that this will help to avoid a dependency on annuities.