How can you build the ideal portfolio? For many advisors, the answer can be summed up in one word: Markowitz. In the 1950s, Harry Markowitz changed the financial world by describing how diversification could help investors control risk and achieve...

A-B-C. A: Always. B: Be. C: Closing. Always be closing, always be closing. So go the not-so-gentle words of wisdom from Alec Baldwin's character in Glengarry Glen Ross. In the movie, Baldwin is trying to light a fire under a group of...

When Mike DiGirolamo, former head compliance officer at Raymond James Financial, was first contacted by the NASD about how the firm determined whether fee-based or commission-based accounts were appropriate for customers, he was surprised. That...

Things went from bad to worse for Greg Kinkead, a 10-year veteran advisor based in Las Vegas. In 2002, several months after switching wirehouses, Kinkead received five complaints on his previously spotless U4 form. None of the claims specified...

Merrill Lynch's purported shopping of its investment management unit has some juicy implications for the nation's largest brokerage operation, but it also could be a signpost of a much more important event a history-making shift in Wall Street's...

Q: My firm encouraged in a documentable way the conversion of A-share mutual funds into a new class that could be held in wrap accounts (and be charged the wrap fee). It is now asking for written reasons from advisors as to why certain low...

Wachovia Securities continued the restructuring of its sales and marketing group by naming Keith Gregg its new national sales director. Gregg, previously Wachovia's regional director of the northeast and California, will run the firm's independent...

Rarely will you find a more obvious-sounding investing tip than this: Those seeking growth opportunities should look to agriculture. One of farming's most vocal cheerleaders is Merrill Lynch analyst Donald Carson, who notes global agricultural...

There's no doubting that technology has made the lives of independents easier. The ease with which computers and other devices can be untethered from a home office give indie reps more autonomy than they've ever enjoyed before. Without the right...

Few independent firms have made as big a splash in the last couple of years as New York-based National Financial Partners. Founded in 1998, the firm has followed the unusual and enormously successful business plan of buying up firms at the smaller...