San Francisco—“We’ve been talking about making changes in how we manage our practice, but we never seem to execute,” said Jim, the leader of a very successful wealth management team. He then laid out a challenge to his team: “We need to make three...

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LPL Financial (Nasdaq: LPLA) has announced plans to acquire Rockville, Md.-based wealth management platform provider Fortigent, a move which executives and industry consultants say shows LPL’s commitment to the RIA space. Fortigent provides...

As we embark on charitable gift planning for 2012, a look back at the events affecting philanthropy in 2011 can be helpful. At first glance, the events of 2011 may portend another year of uncertainty. But, when it comes to estate and financial...

Life insurance is a confusing topic in and of itself. Start a conversation about life insurance at your next cocktail party and see what happens. The subject is guaranteed to cause eyes to glaze over, even among many professionals. To rid some of...

Long-term care (LTC) and how we pay for it continue to be major issues for Americans and our federal, state and local governments. Congress attempted to address these issues with the Community Living Assistance Services (CLASS) Act, which...

The economy and the markets were major factors in retirement plans last year. Roth individual retirement account 2010 conversions were recharacterized in the wake of declining account values. And during desperate times, some IRA owners were...

I hesitate to write an article containing hyperbole. Whenever I read something that contains terms such as unheard of, or my immediate, admittedly cynical, reaction is to doubt the assertions and question the author's credibility. That said, I now...

With 2011 come and gone, we look back at the recent developments in the area of asset protection planning. With fewer clients concerned about estate taxes due to the increased exemption, more advisors are addressing asset protection needs of the...