Small broker/dealer firms are trying to slow the proposed merger between the NASD and NYSE Regulation, saying that it’s being pursued too hastily and the consequences are not clear. In a letter to NASD committee members, the Financial...

Here is a new twist in the broker overtime pay lawsuits: The Department of Labor (DOL) says brokers are not entitled to overtime pay after all. Well, that is, unless the DOL is wrong, which it allowed could be the case. (No kidding.)

More and more reps are becoming certified financial planners (CFPs). Trouble is that many wirehouse brokers with CFPs don't actually act as fiduciaries, as the designation currently requires. Should a wirehouse CFP be able to use the prestigious...

Don't take this the wrong way, but brokers wirehouse reps in particular tend to be a worried lot, regularly complaining about their firms even in the best of times. Indeed, they seem to be more prone to conspiracy theories than the general public...

James Daniel knew what he wanted, and it was more independence. So, last year, after three years with Ameriprise in Alpharetta, Ga., Daniel decided he was ready to make The Big Move: He would drop his Series 7 and go out on his own as a registered...

The NASD fined Chase Investment Services and MetLife Securities for failing to establish internal controls to supervise the sale of 529 college savings plans. The two firms were fined $500,000 apiece and ordered to reimburse customers who were...

The expense ratios of the lifecycle funds cited in Spinning Their Wheels (October 2006) represented gross expense ratios and not the net expense ratios that are normally used when examining fund fees. Two of the fund names were also cited...

Mark Sutton, chairman and CEO of U.S. operations for UBS, has announced his resignation after 16 months in the position. Sutton says he plans to pursue other business opportunities and personal interests. Robert Wolf, chairman of the firm's...

Last year, Leven Brown, a Scottish stockbroker with Edinburgh-based Bell Lawrie rowed solo 5,000 miles across the Atlantic in five months. Now the 34-year-old descendent of Christopher Columbus, and recent father, is going to cross the pond again...

Christine Moriarty, a certified financial planner based in Bristol, Vt., recalls one client, a computer business owner, who had been trying to live on a tight budget without any form of long-term planning. He was wreaking havoc on himself. He had...