Bah, humbug. The latest study of charitable giving among America’s high-net-worth households shows a marked decline in generosity. The 2010 Bank of America Merrill Lynch report says that households averaged donations in 2009 of $54,000, down 34.9...
Merrill Lynch released a new broker recruiting deal a few weeks ago—with two major changes. First, a new hire must now stick around for 14 years instead of nine to get his entire recruiting bonus, and all of the back-end money is now...
Affluent investors still remain conservative in their approach to investing this year, despite the fact that they feel financially better off than a year ago. According to the latest Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Quarterly, 39 percent of...
What will happen with the estate tax after the election? I don't think much will happen in the lame duck Congress. We'll have to wait till next year and hope Congress can bring itself to a reasonable compromise. - Gideon Rothschild, Moses &...
Like many large Wall Street broker/dealers before it, RBC is sending a message to advisors who are generating below average revenue: Get your numbers up or take a walk.
Last year was a record recruiting year for some independent broker/dealer firms, as big name financial services firms shed hordes of financial advisors. But that exodus is over, and this year, recruiting is way down. Over the long haul, hiring new...
With few assets and plenty of debt, investors in their 20s are not on many wealth management firms' or advisors' radars. Yet they haven't written them off entirely.
District court rules on deductibility of various estate administrative expenses under IRC Section 2053 The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued two decisions in Keller v. United States (106 A.F.T.R.2d 2010-6309 (Sept. 14...
