Business Highlights + MORE Sep 13th

Wells Fargo cutting sales goals in wake of $185 million fine
NEW YORK (AP) — Wells Fargo will cut its aggressive product sales goals for retail bankers, as it faces $185 million in fines and a damaged reputation after allegations that it opened millions of unauthorized accounts to meet those targets.
The sales goals will be eliminated by Jan. 1, the San Francisco-based bank announced Tuesday. That doesn’t end the matter, though, as Wells Fargo’s chief executive has been called to appear before the Senate Banking Committee next week to answer questions about the bank’s sales practices.
Wells Fargo has long been known for its aggressive sales goals, but in an industry plagued with questionable action during the mortgage bubble and financial crisis, it was also regarded as a well-run, tightly managed firm that did not get into the poisonous behaviour of its Wall Street counterparts.
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Americans got raise last year for first time since 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a long-awaited sign that middle-class Americans are finally seeing real economic gains, U…

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Q: I am turning 30 this year. I am married and I have one kid with plans for another in the near future. I just changed jobs and was maxing out a good RRSP program at my old job and I have about $50,000 in that RRSP. I am not a fan of the company and rates my new job has for an RRSP program. So I am doing the minimum 3% just to get their matching funds. But I want to do something with another 10% of my pay for retirement. Where is the best place to put this for long term, low maintenance, low fee future growth? I have around $4,000 only to start this and want to make bi-weekly payments after it’s set up and this would make around $5,000-6,000 a year for total contributions.
—Jay
A: It sounds like you’ve done a good job of saving in your 20s, Jay, as a $50,000 RRSP balance at 29 is very good compared to most millennials. I can understand your motivation to keep the ball rolling.
One thing I will say is that going all in on retirement might seem good in theory, but in practice, it can backfire…

A roundup of investment ideas for active investors

HONOLULU, Hawaii – A new report shows Hawaii has the nation’s highest average home prices as the cost of housing in the state has soared over the last year.
The 2016 Coldwell Banker Home Listing Report ranked states based on their average price for a home with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Hawaii took the top spot with average home prices at nearly $905,000. That’s about $325,000 more than homes in the second-priciest state, Massachusetts.
The figures represent an increase from the real estate company’s analysis last year, which found the average price of a four-bedroom home in Hawaii was about $655,000, Hawaii News Now reported (http://bit.ly/2cnIfYo).
Honolulu had the state’s highest average home prices this year at $1.2 million. The city ranked 14th among the nation’s municipalities, up from 17th in 2015.
The average price of a four-bedroom in Kapolei was listed at $708,000, up from $569,000 last year. In Ewa Beach, the average price is $653,000, compared to $597,000 last year…

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The state pressed on for more than a decade with civil fraud claims against a 91-year-old former chief executive of insurance company American International Group Inc. as a warning to other executives that wrongdoing won’t go unpunished, a state attorney told a judge on Tuesday during a trial’s opening statements.
Assistant Attorney General David Ellenhorn said former AIG boss Maurice R. Greenberg was “not your typical 91-year-old” as he explained the state’s persistence in pursuing the case against him and the company’s former chief financial officer.
Ellenhorn said he wanted to send a message to other top executives who may be much younger than Greenberg so they know “you cannot manipulate the books of a public company to give a false impression of your company.”
Greenberg is accused of manipulating AIG’s accounting records in 2000 and 2001 to hide hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from investors.
Ellenhorn called Greenberg, who sat with defence attorney David Boies, “spry, active, vigorous” and noted he’d travelled recently to China and was running his own investment advisory firm…