Over the last 10 years, if you had simply preserved your wealth, that would be considered achievement. But are these last 10 years unusual? A longer term perspective shows that actual real returns earned by investors, on average, have been pretty...
Over the years, I have often been asked about whether a registered representative can borrow money from clients (or in a few cases, lend money to). The answer is either Yes, but or No, but and what comes after that makes all the difference in the...
It's amazing how empirical data can provide you with a blinding glimpse of the obvious. Our most recent study tells us that today's affluent consider it extremely important that their primary financial advisors provide unbiased financial advice...
How do you ferret out unscrupulous financial advisors and bar them from ripping off the public? It sounds fairly easy, actually. After all, the securities industry has established the equivalent of a permanent record, the U4 and U5; the forms are...
Should Wall Street's wirehouse foursome be getting ready for another round of broker-driven class action lawsuits? According to Mark Thierman, yes, they should. Thierman, who led and settled a series of broker overtime suits against the major...
Clouds Are Lifting, Optimism Growing For AdvisorsThe cloud that for so long has spread doom and gloom on Wall Street appears to be lifting, with more advisors expressing confidence about their job security. According to research conducted...
Name Firm City, State Estimated Total AUM (in millions) Years In The Industry Business Description/Specialty 1. Mark T. Curtis Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Palo Alto, Calif. 15,000 29 Private clients, corporate services, endowments, foundations...
Brokers Facing Life in Jail: Eric Butler, a 37-year old former Credit Suisse broker, was convicted in August of fraudulently selling hundreds of millions of dollars in subprime securities to corporate clients in order to generate excess...
In a story titled Picking an RIA that ran in our August issue, we incorrectly stated that HighTower Advisors managed $3 billion in client assets. In fact, it manages $15 billion in assets. We sincerely regret the error.
