College savings plans are getting the hairy eyeball from regulators: It's one of those things that was so easy to predict, it could hardly have surprised anyone. Indeed, the way scandals have piled up over the last year or so, it seems, at times...

Merrill Lynch recently moved Mark Casey, who has been with the firm since 2001, to its new Private Banking and Investment Group office in Dallas, where he will oversee the so-called Texas region of that group. Recruiters say another appointment...

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...