Now that the Baby Boomer generation is retiring in droves, fund companies are focusing on a thorny question: How can retirees obtain reliable income from their investments? Since September, half a dozen companies including Russell, DWS Scudder and...

Last month's column discussed why clients with college-bound children should not only permit themselves to borrow money to pay for education expenses, but should even be encouraged by you to do so. Since that time, dozens of education loan...

For years, regulators have considered altering the 12b-1 fees imposed on mutual funds. But despite hearings and public debate, no new rules have appeared. Now the SEC seems poised to issue a major proposal that would cap 12b-1 fees on C-shares and...

Registered Rep: What attracted you to Fusion? Philip Palaveev: First of all, the fantastic group of advisors Fusion currently has some of whom were my clients at Moss Adams many of whom have become friends. Second, the great partner and friend I...

April's column discussed charitable lead trusts, and why the vehicles might be an optimal solution for wealthy clients who wish to give more money to charity in the near-term and family in the long-term, and less to Uncle Sam forever. But CLTs...

There was a time when the institutional side of a securities firm would walk with a swagger. After all, it was you, the retail financial advisor, who was stuck making presentations at a coffee table with mom-and-pops. Institutional brokers...

Many brokerage-industry watchers agree that mergers and acquisitions can be rather tiresome for clients, eroding their confidence in the firms and, often, in the reps, too. Considering the wave of deal-making in the brokerage industry of late, you...

Sports and financial markets have more than a little in common. Just as a sports contest takes several innings or quarters to develop, bulls and bears tug and pull upon an asset's price, and when one side starts to win, a trend is created over...

Cleves Delp, an LPL Financial-affiliated advisor in Maumee, Mo., with $1.5 billion in assets under management, says he's been looking into starting his own RIA. When you cross the billion dollar mark, you kind of have to consider the RIA option...

When it Began, the credit crisis had little to do with retail brokerage. After all, the fixed income departments were the ones who made the bad mortgage bets that have since unraveled, resulting in a pileup of more than $200 billion dollars in...