Prudential Securities is a few months away from the official close of its spinoff to Wachovia Securities, but you would never know that from the way it's recruiting new brokers. The firm is recruiting again and some say it's because it is afraid...

A group of former Robertson Stephens brokers have filed suit in San Francisco against FleetBoston Financial, the parent company of Quick & Reilly, Fleet's brokerage arm. The brokers charge that the firm violated their employment rights when it...

When I or any of our writers talk to brokers, the question we get asked the most is, How are other brokers surviving? Obviously, it's a sign of these grinding times: After three years of a bear market, many investment advisors are wondering if it...

Like many of his clients these days, Don Dion doesn't have much patience with funds that have underperformed their benchmarks. Dion, president of Dion Money Management, a registered investment advisor in Williamstown, Mass., affiliated with...

For small independent financial advisors, it's getting tougher to make a living. At least, that's one way to interpret a survey by FP Transitions, a Portland, Ore.-based consulting firm. Its annual survey of independent advisors found that of all...

Sonny Bloch, once a pioneer of financial talk radio, turned out to be a crook and sullied the image of investing shows. Irwin Bloch was perhaps the biggest financial radio success and failure of the past two decades. A lounge-singer-turned...

When I travel around the country on speaking engagements, I hear more and more stories of investors who have vowed to abandon stocks forever. I also hear tales of frustration from registered reps who are having a hard time persuading them that...

Among the myths circulating in the registered rep community, one stands out in its absurdity: If you avoid being served with a regulator's complaint, can't do anything to you. To many people, myself included, the act of hiding from (or ignoring)...

The number 1040 carries positive associations for few people. But financial advisors can be exceptions to this rule. Client tax returns are a trove of information that, when properly analyzed, can help advisors expand the range of services they...

The Bureau of Public Debt estimates that 55 million Americans have more than $196 billion in savings bonds, with billions more added each year. Much of this money is earmarked for educational expenses. Indeed, a survey released late last year by...