Female CEOs rare in S&P 500

Q: I see that GlaxoSmithKline recently named Emma Walmsley as its new CEO. What other major companies have women CEOs?

A: As of earlier this year, there were 26 women heading S&P 500 companies — just 5 percent. They included General Motors (Mary Barra), IBM (Virginia Rometty), Duke Energy (Lynn Good), Lockheed Martin (Marillyn Hewson), PepsiCo (Indra Nooyi), General Dynamics (Phebe Novakovic), Hershey (Michele Buck), Occidental Petroleum (Vicki Hollub) and Mattel (Margo Georgiadis). Two other financially powerful women are Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Christine Lagarde, who heads the International Monetary Fund.

Companies might do well to appoint more female CEOs. According to research by Quantopian, Fortune 1000 companies led by women outperformed the S&P 500 by 226 percent between 2002 and 2014.

Fool’s School:

The ‘fiduciary rule’

Many people who work as financial advisers aren’t legally required to have their clients’ best interests at heart. Unlike lawyers or doctors, who are bound by oath to do no harm or to represent their clients’ interests faithfully, financial planners and advisers are free to sell any manner of sub-par products.

The “fiduciary rule,” proposed under the Obama administration, seeks to resolve this conflict by making advisers legally bound to serve their clients’ interests in matters related to retirement accounts. (Some already do so, of course.) It hasn’t fully taken effect yet, though, and the Trump administration is reviewing the rule.

Why would anyone object to the rule? Well, it all comes down to fees. Even a small difference in the fees between one investment and another can make a huge difference over a long period. When financial advisers recommend high-fee products to line their pockets, it hurts your ability to save for retirement. This can happen if, for example, a financial adviser was being paid a commission by a mutual fund to steer people toward that particular fund.

The problem is systemic. A study of the 1.2 million financial advisers registered in the U.S. from 2005 to 2015 found that 7 percent of them had misconduct on their records. The problem is even more pronounced at big firms, where as many as 15 percent of advisers have a stained record.

Even if the worst happens and the fiduciary rule is struck down, you can take steps to protect yourself. If you have a financial adviser, make sure the adviser is a fiduciary and legally required to put your interests first. Advisers designated as “fee only” won’t be looking to earn commissions from selling you products, and you can seek one at napfa.org.

Name that company

I trace my roots to 1831 and Cyrus McCormick’s invention of the mechanical reaper. The company he formed joined with others in 1902 to become International Harvester. I built my first school bus in 1922, supplied trucks for the building of Hoover Dam and made torpedo parts, bulldozers, trucks, cannon shells and tanks (among other things) during World War II. In 1986, I took on a new name and have been focused on producing commercial and military trucks, buses and diesel engines. Today, based in Lisle, Illinois, I rake in about $8 billion annually. Who am I?

Last week’s answer

I trace my roots to 1923, when my founder agreed to produce a series of short films. He later produced “Steamboat Willie,” “Silly Symphonies,” and 1937’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” my first featurelength animated film. Now, my businesses include ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios, among others. I rake in more than $50 billion annually. Who am I? (Answer: Disney)