While much of the hoopla over the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 concerns ordinary citizens, a small provision in the law could end years of squabbling between independent contractor reps and the Internal Revenue Service.Previously, the IRS had...
Thinking about retiring? Think carefully before drawing up an agreement with someone at your firm to take over your book. A broker could seize your accounts with the manager's approval, leaving you out on the street.Ellis Prince Jr., a former...
On June 2, an NASD arbitration panel ordered the Westcap Corp., the bankrupt Houston-based broker/dealer subsidiary of National Western Life Insurance, to pay a former broker at the firm, George Hawkins, $266,000 for damage to his reputation...
Dean Witter has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by former brokers who complained the firm had no right to demand repayment of training costs.The firm will reimburse brokers the full amount each had been required...
At a pre-trial conference held on Oct. 9 in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the attorneys for both sides of the Smith Barney discrimination and sexual harassment cases told Judge Constance Baker Motley that they had reached an "agreement in...
What sort of income will a client need in retirement? The traditional rule of thumb has been 70% to 80% of current expenses plus an inflation factor. But some brokers are digging deeper into those expenditures, not only to get a better idea of...
After-tax return is where the hoof meets the road in today's bull market. More and more fund managers are looking to figure ways to reduce the tax ramifications of their portfolios. Those unrealized taxable gains built into their funds are...
A cross-border dispute between U.S. regulators and the Canadian investment industry is leaving thousands of Canadians who live in the United States unable to manage their retirement accounts. The problem, which has been simmering for several years...
Ben Edwards lived up to his tell-it-like-it-is reputation. The CEO of A.G. Edwards sounded a rare cautionary note as panel after panel of top brokerage executives extolled the virtues of Internet technology at the Securities Industry Association's...
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has targeted Wall Street sales practices as the focus of a possible national awareness-raising campaign.According to Laura Polacheck, a senior policy analyst for the group, the AARP, along with...
