Nary a day passes without some brokerage firm or another announcing an initiative aimed at attracting wealthy, or very wealthy, customers. With their new private wealth management groups, more sophisticated money management offerings, alternative...
In the wake of numerous Wall Street scandals and the move by wirehouses toward more comprehensive financial planning initiatives (ones that many independents have been hawking for years), independent broker/dealers seem to be gaining more traction...
So, you've got the itch the itch to go out on your own. You're sick of big-company politics, rock-bottom bonuses, demoralizing scandals and miniscule payouts. You've been watching a steady stream of colleagues set up their own shop, and now, it's...
We've all seen the ads. Broker/dealers promising massive payouts in large, bold-print type: 90 percent! 95 percent! Even 100 percent! It's understandable if advisors especially those fleeing wirehouses over pay issues are dazzled by the numbers...
Like a doctor, a financial advisor's first responsibility is to do no harm. But, as in the medical profession, external forces often rear up to challenge a financial professional's commitment to that oath. For advisors, one such force is now...
The Securities Industry Association is projecting 2003 as one of the most profitable years ever for Wall Street although revenues are off steeply from last year. For those of you able to do the math, the profit news is bittersweet because it means...
Almost half of all married couples end up divorced, according to the U.S. Census. But 75 percent of those people jump right back into marriage again. And while your clients would like to believe they got it right the second time around, remind...
Wachovia Securities is in the midst of a mini-purge of former Prudential producers, but the move is not your typical post-merger house cleaning. This one is fueled by the blossoming mutual fund scandals. Specifically, Wachovia is showing to the...
The screaming in your head starts when you decide to switch firms, and the voice always says the same thing: Call your clients! Call your clients now, before it's too late! It's understandable, this compulsion to immediately start in on the most...
The 1906 Monet painting entitled Nympheas was purchased in 1960 at a Sotheby's auction in London for $50,000. That same 35-inch by 35-inch oil on canvas resold at Christie's New York in 1999 for $22.6 million. That's works out to an average annual...
