Fear of a too-small nest egg is the driving force behind many an advisor/client relationship. But such a high level of anxiety might be out of place. A recent report published in the Journal of Financial Planning argues that most retirees spend...
It wasn't tainted research. It wasn't late trading. It wasn't even good for a lot of headlines. But it was another ugly moment for investment advisors when, in mid-2004, politicians and regulators began looking into 529 college savings plan sales...
The world of corporate actions has become increasingly complex for retail brokerage professionals. Not only are customers investing in a dizzying array of sophisticated instruments, but the corporate action events that can impact these investment...
Morgan Stanley is planning to offer bonuses to brokers who expand their production in 2006. In mid-October, President Zoe Cruz told brokers in a broadcast meeting that qualified brokers would receive stock bonuses equivalent to 20 percent to 30...
Wall Street is a place where trends can cycle nearly as fast as they do in the fashion world, but in the post-bubble years, investors are treating dividend stocks like the always-flattering basic black. To meet the demand from dividend-hungry...
Ron Marino remembers what it used to be like when a new broker joined UBS and had to transfer clients' cost-basis information manually. Because this was a time-consuming process, with each broker having between 300 and 2,500 accounts, we hired...
There's one thing that stands between the big retail brokerage firms and the high profit margins that the executives of these firms and their investors seek: the financial advisor. Yes, the wirehouses including embattled Morgan Stanley have...
In October 2003, a back-office glitch made Robert Burns the recipient of $12,000 that did not belong to him. Burns was an advisor with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, and the error involved crediting the funds to Burns' personal account...
Guy Cramer, president of United Dynamics Corp., says he has a very unique formula for forecasting stock market developments he measures the level of positive and negative ions in the atmosphere. Positive and negative ions have very different...
Theodore Sihpol III, a former broker at Banc of America Securities (BAS), and poster boy for the market-timing scandals and the first target of Spitzer to say no to a plea offer has settled with the SEC. In 2003, the SEC alleged that Sihpol helped...
