In this section we present key findings and insights from our survey questions on practice management and operations, including services offered, the most time-consuming activities, professional designations, custody relationships and documentation trends.
Wall Street Breathed a Sigh of Relief when Eliot Spitzer moved into the governor's mansion in Albany. Word was that Andrew Cuomo, New York's newly elected attorney general, had other fish to fry. And, sure enough, he went on to make headlines with...
Everybody says they offer wealth management these days. But do they? Not really, says research and consulting group CEG Worldwide. Wealth managers use a truly consultative approach, and a lot of advisors are actually what CEG likes to call...
For the past few years, Mark Kemp has offered low-cost income-tax preparation services to the mostly middle-income clientele of his Plymouth Meeting, Pa., advisory firm. Now, with his tax specialist about to go on medical leave, he's not sure how...
Long-term care is not an easy thing to talk about with aging clients. In fact, most folks would rather contemplate their deaths than illness or infirmity in old age. But just because they don't want to talk about long-term care doesn't mean your...
Takeover bait. It's a description most regional brokerage firms have become accustomed to and for good reason. Several have been gobbled up over the years, of course. And, truth be told, there is probably many a midsized broker/dealer who wouldn't...
Exactly 30 years ago, Merrill Lynch launched the first CMA (Cash Management Account). The revolutionary new product combined an investment account, a transaction account (that pays interest on balances through automatic sweep), a debit card, and a...
Moshe Milevsky, professor of Finance at York University Canada, is a widely recognized innovator in the field of retirement-income planning, insurance and pensions. Milevsky has been instrumental in developing the personal longevity insurance...
If you've been an advisor for even a few years, then the sub-prime mortgage crisis probably has you feeling like it's d vu all over again. A high-growth sector of the economy has collapsed, investors are panicking and selling off shares, brokers...
Swiss banking giant UBS joined Merrill Lynch at the bottom of the credit related write-down pile with the release of its earnings Tuesday. The damage: $4.4 billion in credit-related write-downs, wiping out all of the fixed income divisions profits...
Merrill Lynch won’t be paying Stan O’Neal a bonus or severance package, the company announced in it’s Form 8-K filed today. But O’Neal, who “retired” today as CEO after a disastrous third quarter, will receive ...
