Initial public offerings are lessons in onomatopoeia for a company's founders: goes the stock immediately after the offering; Hee Hee! go the founders when they start counting their money. All too often, though, these sounds are followed by a as...

A few years ago, two longtime clients, both owners of their own businesses, announced they were splitting up. But each wanted to retain Koprowski, director of financial planning at Delessert Financial Services in Waltham, Mass., as financial...

It's not news that mixing family and business can be messy, but advisors might be surprised to know the extent to which family-owned businesses need their services. According to Boston-based Family Firm Institute, a nonprofit trade group for...

By 2020, approximately one out of six Americans will be 65 or older, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, Westlake Village, Calif. Statistics show that roughly one-third of those men and one-half of those women will...

For Susan Hirshman, it was one of those unfortunate intersections where family dynamics and financial planning meet. About six years ago, a recently widowed client asked her son to step in and help handle her portfolio. But, when the son suggested...

Perhaps the hardest words an advisor has to speak are these: I don't know. Sure, they have the advantage of making an advisor look confident and ethical enough to speak the truth, but they also leave the speaker feeling inadequate. Experience is...

For most families, the arrival of children marks the happiest stage of life, but unfortunately, the feelings of unadulterated bliss tend to be very short-lived. If diapers, late-night feedings, babysitters and countless trips to the doctor are not...

When Brian, a successful young North Carolina businessman, notified the planned giving department at a mid-size Southern university that he had irrevocably named them as the remainder beneficiary on his $1 million charitable remainder unitrust...

According to a recent Securities Industry Association survey, only 10 percent of investors view the financial services industry in a favorable light, but that isn't necessarily bad news for financial advisors. In fact, for those who can convince...

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...