A Morgan Stanley advisor sat at his desk a few months ago, reviewing his professional life. During the late 90s boom, he had been trading millions of dollars a day. When, like many reps, he crashed to earth in the boom's aftermath, he had to re...

For many Americans, Tuesday, Nov. 2 will be a tense and exciting day, as the country decides who will sit in the White House for the next four years. For Wall Street, however, which candidate ultimately rules the world's highest roost may only be...

Branch managers are supposed to be to borrow Reggie Jackson's own assessment of himself when he played for the Yankees the straw that stirs the drink. That is to say, branch managers are supposed to make it rain: identify and recruit talent...

My, how times have changed. What Peckham used to do as a manager all by himself takes six people now. While he still has a prominent role in helping advisors build their practices, compliance issues have encroached on many parts of Peckham's job...

Your branch manager is a jerk. The broker/dealer is run by idiots. Worse, those morons just reprimanded you for unsatisfactory production and warned you to shape up or ship out. Okay, so you've reached the point in your career when you face the...

How high can you go? It's a question all brokers and recruiters should be asking. We are near all-time highs for broker acquisition packages, actually rivaling the money offered in the dot-com craze, and it's possible that packages may improve...

Regulators have been all over brokerages, investigating mutual fund breakpoints and, more recently, the probity of fee-based accounts. Now, add forgivable loans to the list. Although NASD officials say this is something they've been looking at for...

This column lives up to its tag only insofar as it addresses a frequent shortcoming in advisors of my age group. I'm talking about putting the Web to good use in a financial advisory practice. For all the search engine technology out there, the...

Fund analysts are supposed to be objective: I know this because I can remember the president of our firm saying so, over and over to anyone who would listen. This firm is completely independent when it comes to the products we use, he would say...

If you're a broker, chances are you introduce yourself to clients and prospects as a financial advisor or financial consultant. The Financial Planning Association and some consumer groups are in court in an effort to break you of that habit and...