Here's a quick way to gain some insight into how the securities industry came to its current lowly state: Type mutual fund market timing into your favorite search engine. Given the spate of scandals plaguing the industry, you might expect to see a...

If my recent experience in placing a wirehouse broker at a new firm is any indication, the ripples from the securities industry scandals are starting to be felt in places that the regulators haven't even begun to examine yet. The broker I'm...

Let the finger pointing begin. As the mutual fund scandal kicks into high gear, brokers are starting to unveil their plans for fighting regulators' charges of fraud against them. And if the legal documents filed by some former Pru employees are...

In most years the tax code is a must read in the worst sense of the phrase: advisors feel compelled to bone up only because it's pretty much an obligation to do so. This year, this is doubly true. Last year's relatively exciting tax overhaul...

In November, Charles Schwab & Co. disclosed instances of late trading and market timing in its Excelsior Funds, operated by its U.S. Trust unit. Not only did the news mark Schwab's first public implication in the mutual fund mess, it also trained...

Coming off a sustained period in which new customers were painfully hard to come by, it would stand to reason that financial advisors would have learned a thing or two about expanding relationships with existing customers. But, according to my...

Smith Barney is altering its compensation system for 2004, with the main goal being to simplify its payouts and make them more revenue-neutral. The new grid will eliminate certain existing bonuses for assets under management and the higher payout...

Is Getting Leads Getting You Down? Meet Sprintel, the cold-calling machine that can call over a thousand people a day! With a presentation so human-like, they'll never know it's a machine until you tell them. Within minutes, it will begin...

In February, Registered Rep. will introduce a new monthly column, The Ethical Rep, perhaps the first of its kind in the securities industry. A team of more than 30 prominent securities attorneys, law school professors and industry experts will...

It's an article of faith in the wealth management world that there are no cookie-cutter solutions for the affluent. Of course all clients, even those without high-net-worth money, are unique. But wealthy clients, because their needs are so complex...