Investing in steel over the past decade has been a minefield. Faced with stagnant pricing and exorbitant labor costs, the U.S. players suffered a near-death experience in 2001, when Bethlehem Steel, the No. 2 steel maker, went bankrupt. But that...

On the list of least respected professions, stockbroker once ranked down there with used-car salesman, but if Nestor Vicknair's experience is any indication, things are looking up for financial professionals. A 12-year veteran of Merrill Lynch...

Trump Towers Used to be, young reps were considered the face of entrepreneurial spirit. So where were the brokers on the reality TV hit, The Apprentice? Only one, the quickly vanquished Tammy Lee (who worked for Merrill Lynch from 1993 to 2002)...

It's common knowledge that mutual fund shareholders lost money in the late-trading and market-timing shenanigans that have recently consumed the fund industry. But shareholders have been losing many times more money over a longer period of time...

Doctors and financial advisors have a lot in common, and perhaps nowhere is this more evident than on late-night television. There, sandwiched between nightmare-date shows and infomercials, lurk the ads from the ambulance-chasing lawyers and from...

Reps now have another designation to pin to their names, and it couldn't come at a better time. As the U.S. population continues to age, the American College of Bryn Mawr, Pa., has unveiled its newest specialization: Chartered Advisor for Senior...

Wachovia has a new regional president of its northeast region: Theresa Roddy, who has been with the firm since 2002 as the Denver complex branch manager. She was previously Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's Chicago complex manager. She replaces Rick...

On Jan. 15, 2003, a phone call abruptly transformed me from a freelance contributing editor to Registered Rep. magazine into an infantry officer bound for Iraq. As a national guardsman, I was aware that I could be called up for duty. After a few...

Cost-cutting has been a hard fact of life in the securities industry since the bubble burst, but new numbers from the Securities Industry Association suggest that cost-reduction efforts are easing. Between 2001 and 2002, broker/dealers reduced...

Just when you thought the news couldn't possibly get worse, it has. Both the NASD and the SEC have revealed they are separately investigating yet another area within the financial services sector: 529 college savings plans. The state-sponsored...