ARE YOU CHARGING ENOUGH? That's hard to say. These days, discounting runs rampant in the financial-advisory industry: Firms allow giant haircuts on commissions, wrap-account fees and even fully waived mutual fund loads. Meanwhile, fees on assets...
Christiane Delessert, an advisor with National Financial Partners in Waltham, Mass., was thinking about retiring. But like many reps, she didn't have a succession plan in place to get there. With $420 million in assets under management, over 100...
Recruiting in the independent broker/dealer business has reached a fever pitch. The signs are everywhere. Just take Raymond James, where the number of advisors recruited so far this year is already about 80 percent ahead of where it was last year...
It's All In The Name: The SEC recently charged Robert Ray White Samples, principal of Pot O' Gold Financial Services in Denver, Colo., with misappropriating more than $1 million from 31 investors through two fraudulent investment schemes. The...
Randall W. Epright has been appointed executive vice president and chief operating officer of AIG Advisor Group, and senior vice president of Operations and Systems for AIG SunAmerica Asset Management Corp. LPL Financial Services has named Derek...
Here's one way to evaluate equity research: Measure the impact it has on stock prices. Bespoke Investment Group, a financial research firm, did just that, and apparently, Robert W. Baird takes top honors. Out of 16 firms, Baird's upgrades impacted...
For decades, most financial advisors have clung to a central belief about asset allocation: The older you are, the more fixed income you should hold. Retirees should gradually shift away from equities, and into bonds, the thinking goes. That way...
Most clients wouldn't question the superiority of a 10-percent return over a 5 percent one. Or would they? For some accounts, it's not so much where they end up, but how they got there. Reporting gross returns even when they're not so gross gives...
What book has had the greatest impact on your career? Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crocket Johnson. Not only is it a great story it's a great foundation for any budding entrepreneur. One luxury you cannot do without? Taking a family vacation...