Lawyers drafting wills and trusts must regularly contemplate age-old issues such as ademption, advancement and lapse, as well as more recent issues such as who is to be considered a under the new biology of assisted reproduction. At common law, a...
Given the current real estate market, some owners are feeling more charitably inclined than they used to be. The thought crossing their minds is something along the lines of, Well, if I can't sell it, maybe I can donate it and get some benefit...
It looks like 2012 may be another difficult year for not-for-profits' investment portfolios. Volatility threatens to stay up; yields, down. Many private foundations (PFs) and endowments face a potential struggle to make their distribution...
Distance from the crisis and improved asset flows gave a little kick to advisor satisfaction this year, according to Registered Rep's Broker Report Card. But the ratings are mixed.
For 23 years, Andrew Costanzo, of Costanzo Financial Group, focused on preserving principal for his clients using fixed instruments, a strategy that lends itself nicely to the tenets of buy-and-hold. But Costanzo doesn't want to have to tell his ...
Financial advisors want to be heroes to their clients. Fantastic performance creates fantastic word of mouth, which leads to more clients and more assets under management. Scam artists know that you want to be a hero to your clients. That's why s...
Academics have long concluded that retail fund investors are dumb. Most investors favor actively managed funds, and on average the funds are losers. In a typical study, researchers look at a group of 200 or so funds and find that two-thirds trail...
After finishing Walter Isaacson's wonderful must-read biography, Steve Jobs, I reflected on my business heroes. Although Jobs was a genius whose vision and drive in many ways changed the world, I found myself thinking about Sam Walton.
As we ent...
Whether they are early in their tenure or late in the game and focused on succession planning, savvy advisors know that attrition, rising costs, and pressure from the competition will kill a business that is not in growth mode. You've got to grow...
