If there's one lesson to be learned from this year's market, it's this: Be prepared for a visit from Mr. Volatility. Recently Greece, and now Italy, have shelled domestic investors with V-bombs, making rubble out of many portfolios. With Portugal...
Roger Wohlner is a target date fund skeptic. A fee-only financial advisor for both retirement plans and individuals, Wohlner worries that target date funds — which invest in a mix of assets with the aim of reducing equity exposure as participants...
Exchange-traded funds have multiplied rapidly over the last few years, but FAs still prefer mutual funds. A new Aite Group survey of 440 FAs found that mutual funds represent 25 percent of advisors' assets under management, while ETFs make up just...
What do you get when you splice together a life insurance policy and an immediate annuity?
A reversionary annuity. Yes, that's a mouthful, but it carries some of the advantages of each and is ideal for certain kinds of clients.
The niche insura...
A huge demand among mass affluent investors for retirement income products is building, but industry response to the trend is still in its infancy, the author of a new Aite Group report on the subject says. Greg Cherry, a senior analyst at Aite’s...
In May, Ron Carson, long the No. 1 on Registered Rep.'s Top 100 IBD advisor list, announced plans to leave LPL Financial (Nasdaq: LPLA) to become an independent registered investment advisor and start his own broker/dealer. The firm made the RIA...
