Many industry propeller heads have expected an exodus of advisors out of the wirehouses as the golden handcuffs loosened this year. But our annual Broker Report Card Survey shows that, with the exception of Morgan Stanley, most advisors at the...

Independence is appealing to a growing number of wirehouse advisors, but the RIA route clearly has some challenges for most of them.

The very benefits IBDs have used to lure advisors may actually be their undoing.

Mid-sized RIAs who are behind on switching their registration from federal to state jurisdictions now have until Dec. 17 to get caught up.

Several well-known and successful companies recently have announced plans to convert to a REIT. REITs trade at higher multiples. But just what constitutes real estate anyway? Office shelves?

It’s orthodoxy that small IBDs won’t be able to stay in business given the unprecedented increase in regulatory and technology costs. Yet some tiny firms are bucking the trend. Here’s how they’re doing it.

Net lease REITs are luring yield seekers.

Pressure to serve only the wealthiest, wirehouses are ceding the mass affluent to the independent, DIY brokerage platforms. Indeed, “direct” brokerages are beginning to offer more advice.

Blame it on fiscal cliff nervousness, volatile stock markets, or the uncertainties that accompany a tepid economic recovery, but the world of mergers and acquisitions in the registered investment advisor channel is having a lackluster 2012. Da...