the classic branch office manager — part alpha dog, part teacher, part corporate middle manager — has all but disappeared in recent years.

How did a homeless man with no credentials or experience get in the door and rise to the top as a stockbroker at two of the Street's most prestigious names, then go on to make millions running his own firm?

In his first four months as head of Morgan Stanley's brokerage unit, James Gorman wasted no time showing that a new regime was in place.

Class B mutual fund shares are under assault. Dreyfus became the second fund company to stop offering B shares in March; Franklin-Templeton was the first in 2005.

Way back in 1998, when stocks were hot, investment-biker and former Soros-partner Jim Rogers launched a commodity index fund, predicting a flat-out bull market in a wide range of commodities. How right Rogers was, again.

Interview with Jerry Wade, President of Wade Financial Group.

“I think it's a mistake — health care expenses take up a huge part of someone's cash flow. It could be a real niche for planners.”

No-load funds continued to attract the bulk of new cash in 2005, according to data recently released by the Investment Company Institute

Morgan Stanley fought Meow, and won. Seriously.

Regional brokers whose firms were acquired by wirehouses are learning what's different about their new employers