Jan 27, 2012
By Kristen French
This week, FINRA fined Merrill Lynch $1 million for making it hard for former brokers of the firm to fight back in bonus disputes. That’s pocket change for a financial services leviathan like Merrill, which has paid as much or more out to individual brokers in come-hither money. ...
Jan 27, 2012
By Anne Field
Creating a plan for exiting the business takes time. ...
Jan 27, 2012
By Jerry Gleeson
Don’t write off merger and acquisition activity for the registered investment advisor market in 2012 yet. Sure, market volatility and foggy economic prospects dampened dealmaking last year, according to Schwab Advisor Services. ...
Jan 26, 2012
By Diana Britton
Women are controlling a greater share of the world's wealth. The FA industry is taking notice. ...
Jan 26, 2012
By Diana Britton
Raymond James Financial (NYSE: RJF) reported fiscal 2012 first quarter revenue fell four percent to $782.5 million, while earnings were down 18% to $67.3 million. ...
Jan 26, 2012
By Stephen Boswell & Kevin Nichols
By Stephen Boswell & Kevin Nichols
Boston: “I’ve set up my first meeting with a CPA,” started Jay during our new advisors training session. He excitedly continued, “How do you recommend I go about conducting this meeting? How do I differentiate myself? I thought I’d start with my investment philosophy and then talk about our tactical approach to investing.
...
Jan 25, 2012
By Diana Britton
The Financial Services Institute has more than doubled its advisor membership from 15,000 in 2011 to 34,000 today. Many firms are subsidizing the cost of membership for their advisors, the institute says, and it reflects the fact that advisory firms see a clear need to support the group’s work among lawmakers, both in Washington and at the state level....
Jan 25, 2012
By Jerry Gleeson
Contributions to Fidelity Charitable, the custodian and discount brokerage’s donor advised fund, hit a record of nearly $2.9 billion last year, the fund says. And the influence of financial advisors in managing their clients’ money appears to be making itself felt as well; ...
Jan 25, 2012
By Charles Paikert
The hottest trend in wealth management this year will be business development. This is unfortunate, because a lot of wealth management firms are terrible at developing business....
Jan 24, 2012
By Diana Britton
Much of the talk at the Financial Services Institute’s OneVoice 2012 conference in Orlando is about the challenge independent broker/dealers face by allowing advisors to have their own registered investment advisor. During a Tuesday panel session, IBD executives said the RIA model was putting pressure on their recruiting, profitability and expense of compliance. ...
Jan 24, 2012
By Lynn O'Shaughnessy
When families start looking to pay for college, some put their hopes in private scholarships – there are an estimated 1.5 million private scholarships out there, though how many are awarded annually is difficult to track. But only in a handful of cases will these make much of a dent in a tuition bill. If your client insists on seeking them out, here are five things they should know:...
Jan 23, 2012
By Jerry Gleeson
A top institutional and family wealth advisor from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney has joined HighTower, the Chicago-based national registered investment advisor, providing the RIA with a foothold in the Southwest. James Pupillo, 54, managed $2.5 billion at MSSB’s Graystone Consulting. ...
Jan 23, 2012
By Diana Britton
A majority of advisors are marketing themselves as financial “planners,” even though they really don’t provide comprehensive planning services, according to a recent Cerulli Associates report. By adopting the nomenclature, they are hoping they can stay competitive amid the growing trend towards more holistic, one-stop-shops of financial services. ...
Jan 23, 2012
By John Aidan Byrne
Margin pressure, upheaval in advisory business models, lack of certainty in the market – most of the current trends in the wealth management industry can be traced back to the global financial crisis in 2008. Three years after the world fell apart, the industry is still adjusting to the aftershocks....
Jan 20, 2012
By Jerry Gleeson
Plan ahead to avoid these traps and transition your practice. ...
Jan 19, 2012
By Stan Luxenberg
Where art thou, mine lifetime income investment?...
Jan 19, 2012
By Jerry Gleeson
Charles Schwab Corp. is still leading the race for advisor assets, but a muddled economic recovery is taking the steam out of its stride. ...
Jan 18, 2012
By Matt Oechsli
Dallas—“If we are going to develop the reputation we want within the affluent centers of influence, we need to raise our game,” Robert told me. “What do the elite teams you’ve coached do that sets them apart?”...
Jan 18, 2012
By Jerry Gleeson
TD Ameritrade Institutional President Tom Bradley tells Registered Rep. the custodian is considering whether to offer succession financing for its RIA clients. In an interview with editors, Bradley said TD is evaluating three ways to do it: using its own capital, partnering with TD Bank (which owns 45 percent of the company), or staying out of the financing and, instead, referring interested RIAs to outside parties such as aggregators who are willing to put up the money....
Jan 18, 2012
By Jerry Gleeson
The parent company of TD Ameritrade continued to rack up double-digit asset growth in the first quarter ending Dec. 31, the company said today. TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., which has a fiscal year ending Sept. 30, reported $10.2 billion in net new assets for the quarter, up 11 percent on an annualized basis. ...
Jan 18, 2012
By Lauren Barack
Registered reps using BrightScope’s (www.brightscope.com) platform, which rates advisors and 401k plans and helps investors connect with reps, can now automatically archive static content, interactive media and additional social media posts through a partnership with social media archiving firm Arkovi (www.arkovi.com)....
Jan 18, 2012
By Charles Paikert
Given the chaotic financial environment of the past few years, innovative wealth management firms see a real business need to improve the softer side of how they interact with clients. ...
Jan 17, 2012
By Alan Lavine
Age expectancies are rising. Are your clients prepared?...
Jan 13, 2012
By Mark Miller
A Social Security and Medicare checklist for your clients.
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Jan 12, 2012
By Diana Britton
In a conference call this morning to discuss Raymond James’ acquisition of Morgan Keegan, CEO Paul Reilly said his first priority was retaining Morgan Keegan people, reps in particular. Raymond James said the firm expects to offer $215 million in retention payments to Morgan Keegan reps and some management. On top of that, Morgan Keegan has set aside an undisclosed amount for advisor retention, Reilly said. ...
