Time was, the perfect stockbroker was equal parts salesman and stockpicker, but these days you have to throw a good measure of lawyering into the mix. Trouble is, professional-grade legal expertise does not come easy, and a little knowledge in...
Branding is not easy just ask Ford Motor Company, the American automaker that famously introduced its Pinto in Brazil, oblivious to the fact that the name would translate locally as tiny male genitals. When applied to a product as esoteric as...
Q: Back when I was 18 I was charged with two felonies. On one, the charges were completely dropped the next day. For the other, it was reduced to a minor violation (not even a misdemeanor). Now I am 50. I have steered clear of any similar...
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal described a probe securities regulators have launched into fee-based accounts. I paid extra attention, because charging a percentage of assets under management is the advice-and-compensation model I view...
There's one big problem with being on top, and the organization that administers the Certified Financial Planner designation is in the process of learning all about it. For years now, the CFP, issued by the Certified Financial Planner Board of...
To many rank-and-file financial advisors, the Martha Stewart-Peter Bacanovic case is very far removed from their everyday business experience. After all, how many brokers have such high-profile clients? But don't tune the case out completely. The...
Far too many reps are learning the hard way how little responsibility clients shoulder when it comes to assessing the suitability of their investments. When confronted with a suitability complaint, reps typically react with bluster: These charges...
Most reps work under the assumption that all their professional correspondence could be scrutinized, and the SEC now is telling them that assumption is dead on. At an SEC Speaks conference in Washington in March, sponsored by the Practising Law...
Q: In a securities arbitration by a brokerage client, the client's former broker was not named as a party nor mentioned in the claim. Attorneys for the parties exchanged witness lists 20 days before the first hearing, as required, but the lists...