Recently, I got a call that startled me. Mr. Reinfeld, this is Congressman Smith's office. Can you hold? The congressman would like to talk to you. I answered. I straightened my tie and closed the game of scrabble on my laptop. Suddenly, I...

Registered Rep: You recently joined Morgan Stanley from Bear Stearns. What do you miss most? Ed Moldaver: The Bear Stearns mentoring program, where I was assigned two kids and met with them bi-weekly. Also, senior managing directors had the use of...

I'd hate to run into Michael Panzner at a cocktail party. Talk about bringing a person down. In his revised and updated book, Financial Armageddon: Protect Your Future From Economic Collapse (Kaplan Publishing), Panzner argues that America and the...

Here's a little news that might interest you: Sometimes it pays to litigate against the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA, formerly NASD) rather than settle. In fact, when a firm or rep decides to settle with FINRA rather than go to...

Some of this year's biggest hedge fund winners were last year's worst performers: High Bridge Capital Management, a JPMorgan Chase affiliate, is up about 10 percent this year after losses of 14 percent in 2007. Goldman Sachs' stinker, Global Alpha...

Once upon a time, Ma Bell owned the phones, the U.S. Postal Service delivered all the mail, and for emergencies you sent a Western Union telegram. Then came faxes, email, instant messaging, bulletin boards, chat rooms, blogs, podcasts, WiFi and...

Expensive Bear Suit: Beverly Hills billionaire H. Roger Wang is suing Bear Stearns for allegedly duping him and his wife into buying 150,000 shares of Bear stock in the weeks before its collapse. The total purchase included 100,000 shares bought...

If there is any lesson for advisors in the recent Bear Stearns implosion, it might be this: In times of market crisis it can't hurt to have an exit strategy planned. In fact, I've heard from many advisors at major Wall Street firms that their...

Small-business owners are well aware of today's harsh economic realities. How could they not be? Some companies especially those in real estate and construction are already feeling the pinch of a slowing economy and rising energy and gas costs...

Now that the Baby Boomer generation is retiring in droves, fund companies are focusing on a thorny question: How can retirees obtain reliable income from their investments? Since September, half a dozen companies including Russell, DWS Scudder and...