When New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer finalizes his $1.4 billion conflict-of-interest suit, the settlement might be the end of one chapter in the legal saga, but it's almost certainly the beginning of another, equally perilous one. Spitzer...
Wachovia's pending acquisition of Prudential Securities is a good news/bad news story for Pru brokers. First the good: As the closing of the transaction approaches, the most seasoned of Pru's brokers may be in the catbird seat. With demand for...
Let's face it: In general, high-net-worth clients are a picky lot. Studies have shown that HNW individuals are dissatisfied with the performance of their portfolios and with those who have advised them. That dissatisfaction is an open invitation...
It ain't rocket science. Stocks with high betas a measure of volatility are going to move further on the upside and fall deeper on the downside. Some patient investors (remember them?) know that high-beta issues and funds that focus on them have...
For the past several years, separately managed accounts have been among the fastest growing investment vehicles. But the bear market caught up with SMAs in 2002, when assets in managed accounts dropped by $20 billion to $752 billion. The SMA...
In their proposed form, President Bush's new savings plans would dramatically alter the financial planning landscape. It's too early to predict the ultimate fate of these proposals; many pundits doubt that the plans will get passed in anything...
If it ain't broke, why fix it? It's a frequently invoked reason for not adding managed accounts to an advisory practice. Unfortunately, that axiom does not allow for shades of brokenness, for the possibility that an advisory business might descend...
