Owners of closely held businesses have traditionally used buy-sell agreements to restrict the transfer of interests in their businesses to unwanted third parties, and to establish the price and terms for purchases of interests in their businesses...
For decades, estate planning has been dominated by techniques designed to minimize a confiscatory federal estate tax. But higher exemption levels created by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA)1 have significantly...
For years, reps have been told that separately managed accounts (SMAs), were being The institutional-quality management, tax efficiency, transparency and customization that had made SMAs so popular among high-net-worth individuals would be...
For advisors looking to expand a practice quickly, purchasing a book of clients was once the most expedient solution. Robert Enright learned the hard way that it isn't necessarily so anymore. Enright, of the Burton/Enright Group in Walnut Creek...
As one A.G. Edwards financial advisor sees it, regulators and broker/dealer management have gone overboard with mutual fund disclosure. Take the case of the B-share class of mutual funds. Right now, B shares are the baddest guys on the Street, the...
Just what the small-business owner needed a new regulation that requires more work. In March, the Department of Labor handed down new regulations covering the disposition of funds abandoned in 401(k) plans when employees leave. Surprisingly often...
Any rep or branch office manager who has been disciplined by the NASD can attest to the organization's zealous dedication to enforcement. However, a recent SEC report shows that the NASD is far less enthusiastic about policing itself despite the...
Much has been made about Morgan Stanley CEO Phillip Purcell's 45 percent jump in salary for 2004, despite the firm's lagging stock price. But a look at what major securities firms pay their CEOs shows Purcell is closer to the bottom of the pay...
Tax planning for estates took a hit in 2001 when the White House decided to repeal the estate tax in 2010. But business is back. As the debate drags on over whether to make that repeal permanent, advisors and investors are deciding it's better to...
Ron Galen, a California-based financial planner, struck out in his bid to purchase Jose Canseco's 2000 World Series ring one of a host of memorabilia items the disgraced former slugger had placed on the block. Canseco, an admitted steroid user who...
