To what can administering to a separately managed account be best compared? Arm-wrestling an octopus, some posit. Herding cats, others offer. Fact is, just about any advisor offering managed accounts can testify to the complexity of the related...
The calls started not long after Doug Charney completed a comprehensive investment plan for a new client, a young man who had recently come into a sizable inheritance. We put all kinds of time into it, the Harrisburg, Pa.-based Wachovia Securities...
When dealing with lawyers especially on matters as complex as securities law even the most controlling clients are tempted to go passive. The instinct is generally rooted in good intention: Stay out of the pro's way and let him work his magic. But...
The traditional family ain't what it used to be. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there has been a sevenfold increase in the number of unmarried households in the United States over the past 30 years, including an estimated 14 million gay and...
Playing out of position is something that rarely works out long term it's true in sports and it's true for financial advisory teams. Pressing a baseball catcher into one-time duty at first base, or turning a quarterback into a receiver for a play...
The Certified Financial Planner designation is becoming more popular. More brokers are taking the test and, as with many tests, those who fail it tend to have trouble the second time around as well. First-time takers Date of test Number of Test...
During the late 1960s, best-selling author Adam Smith called Fidelity Investments the Green Bay Packers of the mutual fund world. Just as Green Bay dominated professional football, Fidelity attracted a record following because of growth-oriented...
Quick: Which advisor is more likely to win the inherited assets: The one who established the estate plan that channeled a client's money to the next generation, saving his heirs a fortune in estate taxes? Or the one whose actions consisted of...
Q: I joined a regional bank brokerage firm three years ago. When I hired on, I was asked to sign a nonsolicitation agreement. Eleven months later, at a cocktail party no less, I was asked to sign a revised version of the nonsolicitation, which...
There are few more surefire ways to activate the d nerves in your brain than running into the person who replaced you at an old job. That precisely was the situation I found myself in a month or two back, and the encounter validated both my...