Consider a not uncommon scenario. The date is Jan. 1, 2008. Bob Savvy is the sole shareholder of Family Fortune, Inc., an S corporation. Family Fortune was recently appraised at $10 million, but the investment bankers Bob has spoken to believe...
Estate planners need to identify Internal Revenue Code Section 409A issues when advising executives and professionals who participate in nonqualified deferred compensation plans. The final regulations' effective date Jan. 1, 2008 is fast...
Retirement benefits present unique challenges to the fiduciary of a decedent's estate. In fact, an executor may have to grapple with three scenarios in the context of a decedent's individual retirement account (IRA) or other retirement plan: (1)...
Just as things seemed to be quieting down)after the Pension Protection Act of 2006, Jalong came the latest challenge to the peace of the estate-planning world: tax patents. In early 2006, an infringement suit was filed over the first business...
You, too, can have a Roth individual retirement account (IRA). How? And why would you want to? The final regulations under Internal Revenue Code Section 402A confirm that you may establish a Roth IRA by rolling over a Roth account that's in a 401...
In August, after 17 years with the firm, Ellyn McColgan stepped down as president of Fidelity Investments distribution and operations, which includes Fidelity Registered Investment Advisor Group (FRIAG), the RIA custodian arm of the mutual fund...
When Holly Hunter decided to leave the wirehouse she'd been with for five years, she knew the going would be tough. But she had no idea exactly how tough. Just planning her escape everything from choosing a broker/dealer to creating a budget took...
For decades, investors and academics alike have sought the magic bullet, the one data point that would predict the future performance of mutual funds. Hundreds of studies looked at a variety of variables including past performance, expense ratio...
It's a fact: The biggest financial advisors, in terms of assets under management, are wirehouse advisors. Actually, when we began this top advisor list back in September 2002, only a couple of spots were filled by regionals (Legg Mason, for...
As the popularity of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) grows, financial advisors are increasingly pressed to separate the wheat from the chaff, the meat from the gristle, the men from the boys or whatever other stale clich comes to mind. Industry...
