Registered Rep.: The ideal client is (in three words) Mark Hall: Willing to listen. RR: The ideal advisor is MH: An excellent listener. RR: You've partnered with three local community banks to help grow your client base. What is toughest about...
Over the past 15 years, the Japanese stock market has had more false starts than a high school track meet. Last April, for instance, the Nikkei 225 index hit a high of 17,563, up 9 percent from the start of the year, and then proceeded to collapse...
Let's face it: The custody and clearing business isn't exciting to most advisors. Execution of trades is regarded as an invisible utility. Advisors just want it to work, no mistakes. Ever. And for many reps, they never really have to learn...
SEC Front Running Probe: The SEC is investigating at least 10 securities firms for leaking mutual fund stock-trading data to hedge fund clients and others. The examination, which, according to The New York Times, includes Merrill Lynch, Morgan...
In The Glitch (January 2007), it was reported that NASD had not corrected the CRD record of former Piper Jaffray broker trainee Mark Schley after the regulator announced that it had wrongly flunked him on the Series 7 exam. Wisconsin securities...
The most common sticking point for the family-business owner and his successors is driven by fear. Even though succession planning promises great financial returns and is the embodiment of a family legacy, it's nevertheless terrifying to many...
After stagnating in 1999, real estate funds soared. During the next seven years, the fund category returned 21.8 percent annually, according to Morningstar. Now some advisors worry that the real estate rocket ship is due to crash. But there are...
If you are like most working people, you go to the office every day. And, if you like your job, it can even be hard to stay away. But if you get a suspension from the NASD, don't give in to temptation. Stay away. Go on vacation. NASD Procedural...
I am a registered representative and work out of a credit union. The credit union has a Medallion Stamp Signature Guarantee. We try to follow the guidelines offered by Kemark Financial Services (which administers two of the three stamp signature...
Last year Americans spent all of their money, and then some, buying stuff: The U.S. personal savings rate fell to -1 percent, its lowest level in 73 years, according to a February report from the Commerce Department. That's down from a -0.4...
