when an advisor decides to do business with a particular money manager. In other words, when performance is equal, an effective wholesaler can often break the tie.

The next time you're researching a company's performance, don't forget to check out the CEO's crib. If the top dog has recently made a very large home purchase, you might want to think twice before buying the common stock.

Investing in development-stage biotech companies is a lot like playing the lottery. First of all, it's a challenge trying to divine the company's scientific advantage.

It’s annual meeting season, a time for disgruntled shareholders to confront management face-to-face and let ‘em have it. Yesterday, Citigroup, Smith Barney’s parent, held an apparently long, long, long meeting in an effort to...

The broker protocol just got a lot more inclusive. The exclusive pact between several wirehouse and broker/dealer firms stipulates that the firms will refrain from taking legal action when their brokers switch to other signatory firms and take...

If you’re thinking of recommending a target-date fund to an individual or small-business client, or if any of your clients already own one—and considering their burgeoning popularity, they probably do—you better take a good, long...

If the Blackstone Group ever goes public, it sure would be cool to get an allocation of the IPO. Imagine your clients at cocktail parties, bragging about how they are “in” enough to have gotten a piece of that deal. (Sure might help...