Direct Investment Sites Are Stealing Even More of Your Business

Mar 08, 2012

With better performance, lower costs, and real human beings on call to give advice, direct investment platforms’ managed accounts are winning more $1 million clients.

The 3-Step Process for Closing New Prospects

Mar 08, 2012

You might call it luck, but getting up early, being at a high-end fitness center, and being prepared with a strong value proposition landed an initial meeting with an excellent prospect.

Community Banks Betting On Wealth Management

Mar 07, 2012

Bruised by the financial crisis and continued low-interest rates, community banks are taking another look at wealth management to bolster their business. Can they make it work this time?

Advisor Group Looking to Buy Mid-Sized B/Ds, Large OSJs

Mar 06, 2012

AIG Advisor Group is in talks with a few mid-sized broker/dealers and larger offices of supervisory jurisdiction (OSJs), and hopes to make one or more acquisitions in the near future.

Team Swaps Merrill for Hightower Over Frustration with International Biz

Mar 05, 2012

Jordan Waxman can handle the Ironman—he’s planning to run his fifth and sixth triathalons this year—but he couldn’t handle Bank of America bureaucracy.

New Social Behavioral Reports 3-5-12

Mar 05, 2012

Social and Behavioral Data Driven Dashboards from Titan Analytics.

Your Broker/Dealer May Be Headed for Divorce

Mar 04, 2012

When LPL Financial, a self-clearing independent broker/dealer, rolled Pacific Life's broker/dealers onto its self-clearing platform in 2009, many advisors protested. But for Jennifer Tanck, president of Independent Financial Partners, an LPL...

Reversal of Fortune: IBD Wins Arbitration Case

Mar 02, 2012

Independent broker-dealer WFP Securities went out of business fighting claims they put clients into risky private placements and non-traded REITS. Yesterday, they got a bit back.

Staying Out of the Murder Holes

Mar 02, 2012

In this excerpt from his book Backstage Wall Street: An Insider’s Guide to Knowing Who to Trust, Who to Run From, and How to Maximize Your Investments, Joshua Brown comes clean about some of the more dangerous investment products Wall Street...

YIELD OF DREAMS: Could PIMCO’s New Active ETF Turn Advisor Heads?

Mar 01, 2012

PIMCO’s new Total Return ETF (ticker: TRXT) started trading on the NYSE today, and the buzz has not stopped.