Edward Jones, now about 90 years old, “has prospered by dispensing buy-and-hold wisdom to small clients in small places.” That’s how we put it on our April 2006 cover story on the firm. But now Edward Jones is doing something...

Morgan Stanley on Wednesday reported higher-than-expected revenues and profits in the first quarter, lifted by its acquisition last spring of Smith Barney and by higher fixed income.

Merrill Lynch plans to grow primarily by investing in current advisors and hiring rookies, said Merrill Lynch president of Global Wealth and Investment Management Sallie Krawcheck on Tuesday. Her words come as recruiting bonuses are at an all time...

Profits were down last quarter at Merrill Lynch but the brokerage’s performance still helped to lift the fortunes of its new parent, Bank of America Corp. Advisor defections were flat from the end of 2009, but average production declined.

Banking on a wave of mergers in 2010, the major custodian firms are in a race to offer the best M&A tools to their RIAs so that the assets of selling firms don’t walk out the door to a rival custodian. M&A in the RIA world had dried...

Forget high-tech. What financial advisors are looking for in computer work stations these days is smooth tech, the ability to simplify the complex and sometimes mind-numbing tasks that are part of their daily lives, according to executives at...

Financial professionals do it. Insurance professionals do it. Actuaries certainly do it. Yet we, as tax and estate planning professionals, all too often recommend techniques and strategies without doing it. And that is risk assessment. Time to...

Estate planners often must make a decision whether to recommend a family limited partnership (FLP) or family limited liability company (FLLC) to achieve the best federal estate tax savings for a client.1 While many considerations impact the choice...