Jun 22, 2011
By Charles Paikert
Wealth managers need to make key changes in the way they do business to stay competitive, two major studies of the industry have concluded...
Jun 21, 2011
By Alan Lavine
Combining a managed payout mutual fund with a deferred immediate annuity may be a simple way to help clients plan for retirement...
Jun 20, 2011
By Bill Singer
A manager learns the hard way that wording matters...
Jun 17, 2011
By Philip Palaveev
With the decline in margins, the ability to offer bonuses will decline. In other words, a b/d cannot systematically use bonuses to grow...
Jun 16, 2011
By Jerry Gleeson
Financial plans are considered a wise investment for households, but can they save the national economy? A survey commissioned by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards suggests maybe....
Jun 16, 2011
By Jerry Gleeson
Looking to give advisors new measures for evaluating funds, Morningstar plans later this year to release a new “forward-looking” rating tool that uses its analysts’ expertise to evaluate the funds’ ability to outperform their benchmarks...
Jun 16, 2011
By Diana Britton
During its National Conference in Orlando, Fla., this week, independent broker/dealer Securities America announced its new social media program, which will allow all of its 1,800 reps to access and post content on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter in mid-July, said Leia Farmer, deputy chief compliance officer. ...
Jun 16, 2011
RepTV set up shop at the Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago last week. In our “Advisor Insights” video series, Registered Rep. senior editor Jerry Gleeson sits down with advisors from across the country to find out what individuals are doing on a daily basis to improve their own businesses....
Jun 15, 2011
By Diana Britton
Independent broker/dealer Alternative Wealth Strategies in Cherry Hill, N.J., has gone belly up, according to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority documents...
Jun 15, 2011
By Matt Oechsli
“I’m considering joining a team, but a bad experience a few years ago has me spooked. I had two partners, nobody was on the same page, and the break-up wasn’t pleasant,” Michael explained. “Do you have any suggestions?” ...
Jun 14, 2011
By Charles Paikert
Wealth managers with the right resume—and personality—should find a seller’s market when it comes to filling chief executive and investment officer positions, say search firm executives specializing in the field. But there’s a catch: single-family offices are peculiar places, and prospective employees need to know what they’re getting into...
Jun 14, 2011
By Diana Britton
Real estate investment trusts have been very much in the news lately, with FINRA putting non-traded REITs on their radar...
Jun 13, 2011
By Mark Miller
Are immediate annuities about to finally get some respect? ...
Jun 13, 2011
By Stan Luxenberg
For most of the past decade, Fairholme Fund (FAIRX) soared, outpacing nearly all its competitors by a wide margin. Assets poured into the fund, and portfolio manager Bruce Berkowitz was named manager of the decade by Morningstar. But this year the hot manager has turned cold...
Jun 13, 2011
By Susan Konig
A few years ago, when Chuck Goldman sold his highly-successful automotive plastics business based in Leominster, Mass., for tens of millions of dollars, Rob Cotter— producing manager of a Wells Fargo Advisors branch in nearby Worcester—wasted no time going after him. But it wasn’t Goldman’s account he wanted; he already had that. ...
Jun 10, 2011
By Jerry Gleeson
Financial advisors are considered an optimistic, if cranky, lot in the aggregate, but that sentiment was put to the test this week by bond guru William Gross, the keynote speaker at the annual Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago this week...
Jun 10, 2011
By Diana Britton
We’ve heard it said so many times now: Traditional asset allocation models simply fell short in the crisis. Though the market has been in recovery mode for some time, many investors are still afraid to dive back in and are holding their cash on the sidelines...
Jun 10, 2011
By Stan Luxenberg
Vanguard is best known for its index funds, but its actively managed funds may be the way to invest. Huh? ...
Jun 10, 2011
By Diana Britton
During Pershing’s INSITE 2011 conference in Hollywood, Fla., this week, Gordon Brown, the former prime minister of Great Britain, told attendees that Greece’s economic trouble is a European problem, not a Greek problem, and the only solution is to get all of Europe’s leaders together to address the three underlying causes. ...
Jun 9, 2011
By Diana Britton
It’s unlikely we’re headed for a double dip recession, but we are in a “sub cycle slowdown in a sustainable economic expansion,” said Richard Hoey, chief economist at BNY Mellon and the Dreyfus Corporation...
Jun 9, 2011
By Nate Wendler
RIA advisors looking to add low-correlated assets at low cost to client portfolios could do well to consider three no-load alternative mutual funds from AQR, or Applied Quantitative Research, an investment management firm based in Greenwich that manages $30 billion in assets...
Jun 9, 2011
By Matt Oechsli
Advisors must guard against complacency amid continued improvement...
Jun 8, 2011
By Joel Greenblatt
When it comes to picking funds, look for small ones with a value bias. Oh, and take occasional market pain...
Jun 8, 2011
By Charles Paikert
Wealth management firms are stepping up their efforts to woo young heirs to family fortunes...
Jun 7, 2011
By Diana Britton
Independent broker/dealer network Advisor Group is talking to a number of small and mid-sized broker/dealers that the company would consider purchasing, said Larry Roth, president and CEO of Advisor Group, which includes IBDs FSC Securities Corp., Royal Alliance Associates and SagePoint Financial...
