Things You Won't Hear at the Martha Stewart Trial Boy, with all this fuss, you'd think I was accused of selling shares or something. Mr. Fanueil, the court would like to remind you that you may not refer to yourself as and please do not call the...
Q: I've been a Morgan Stanley registered rep for 19 years. Lately, with the new push on account fees for everything, sometimes clients don't pay. Firms charge the broker for the fee and deduct it from the broker's paycheck. By law, I'm not allowed...
Canada has a long history as a haven for prescription-drug bargain hunters, for instance, and for draft-dodgers. Soon, we might well add American investors to that list of shelter seekers. A number of Canadian investment vehicles most notably...
When President Bush revealed his latest budget in early February, he included in it a pet proposal for several new tax-advantaged savings accounts. Many financial services analysts doubt the plan will be approved, at least in its current form. But...
One of Merrill Lynch's 10 regional managing directors, who report directly to senior management at the firm, has announced his retirement. Guy Williams, the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based regional director for southern California and the frontier region...
With scandals continuing to dominate the news and broker/dealers under more fire from the investing public, it come as little surprise that arbitration figures rose again in 2003. According to the NASD, 2003 brought more arbitrations than any year...
The word conjures up all manner of restful images a man napping in a hammock, a woman playing bridge with her friends, a visored couple strolling towards a green on a sun-splashed golf course. But please note: the financial advisor does not figure...
Creating a high-performing wealth management team requires a significant amount of good old subjective judgment, but that doesn't mean objective measures are of no use. In fact, through our ongoing research into what makes for successful advisory...
Say a neighbor pays you to shovel the snow in front of his house. But the neighbor on the other side of your house gives you 10 times as much for the same service, plus a bonus if the sidewalk doesn't have a speck of ice on it. Wouldn't you be...
Andrew Duff, CEO of Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis, likes to tell a little story to his troops about why Piper's 1998 marriage to neighboring U.S. Bancorp ended up an amicable divorce in 2003. An affluent Piper client was seated in a conference room...
