Merrill Lynch’s parent, Bank of America, today confirmed what advisors at the brokerage had known about the third quarter—investors kept their money at home, or at least, out of the market.
Tread carefully when you help clients decide what to do with their life insurance proceeds after a loved one dies. The use of a “retained asset account,” one of the most popular methods of taking the money, has come under fire by a...
James Gorman and Sallie Krawcheck said it would be so. With markets stabilizing and bank-brokerage merger integrations progressing, fewer brokers are fleeing the big Wall Street wirehouse firms for the RIAs and independent b/ds in 2010. But those...
Schwab Advisor Services' results suggest the great diaspora of breakaway brokers to Independence Land—either independent b/ds or RIAs—may have climaxed.
Dear colleague:Ever wish someone would turn your dream app into reality? We're on it—but we need your help! At Registered Rep., we're acutely interested in the opportunities being served up by the sudden wave of digital apps for the iPad. So for...
Two former Merrill brokers won $1.167 million in an arbitration award from Merrill Lynch for deferred compensation benefits that were supposed to vest if they left for “Good Reason” following a change of ownership at the firm. It's...
Once the Securities and Exchange Commission officially defines the term “family office” (and it took the first step in that direction yesterday, 12 Oct.), the floodgates may open for registered investment advisors to capture a chunk of...
In a typical year, roughly 12 percent to 13 percent of financial advisers change firms, according to Bing Waldert, a director at Cerulli Associates. But clearly, we’ve not seen a typical year in some time. The industry upheaval of 2008 and 2009 c...
