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.
I am a registered representative and work out of a credit union. The credit union has a Medallion Stamp Signature Guarantee. We try to follow the guidelines offered by Kemark Financial Services (which administers two of the three stamp signature...
Morgan Stanley's retail brokerage is humming. Is it the magic of one man? One man can't take all the credit for a $5.5 billion-a-year revenue organization. But, James Gorman, who came over from Merrill Lynch to head the wealth-management division...
As the first quarter of 2007 draws to a close, it's a good time to revisit your business plan: those goals you established at the end of last year, the commitment you made to turn 2007 into Your Year of Greatness (as I urged you to do in my...
Some states, such as Florida, ban no-contest clauses in wills as against public policy. A greater number of states allow these measures also known as in terrorem clauses but rarely enforce them. It seems that the law and its practitioners are...
If you do estate and trust litigation for a living, it's easy to begin thinking that greed is ubiquitous. But just when you might harden into cynicism, a case comes along to restore your faith in human nature. Two recent cases are classic. One...
Stock concentration cases against fiduciaries just keep getting scarier. The latest fright comes from Hamilton County, Ohio. If the New York case of Dumontsent chills down advisors' spines, Ohio's Fifth Third Bank v. Firstar Bank, No. C-050518 ...
It is the rarest and most valuable coin in the world, designed by a famed sculptor at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. It should never have been minted. And, for decades, the U.S. government has fought to keep a surviving few...
Sixty-nine brokers left Smith Barney Friday, Feb. 16, just ahead of the three-day weekend—a fact confirmed by the brokerage firm. Fridays before a long weekend are historically prime time for unhappy brokers to make a clean break, but the...
After two frustrating months of worry and speculation, Smith Barney advisors have gotten the final details on their new compensation plan, and many are pleasantly surprised. The outlines of the plan were announced last December, but the firm...
