If you run a registered investment advisory (or work for an RIA as an investment advisor representative) and haven’t been paid a visit by the SEC in a while, here is a fun fact to know and tell: Forty percent of RIAs examined in 2006...

The first of this month marked the four-year anniversary of the publication of the Goldman Sachs report that popularized BRIC, the acronym for emerging markets Brazil, Russia, India and China. That report, entitled ``Dreaming With BRICs: The Path...

The financial advisory business has run into a major talent crunch. There just aren’t enough good people to fill the seats available, according to Moss Adams’ 2007 annual report on compensation and staffing in the advisory industry.

Thanks to the Internal Revenue Service for its help to the estate-planning and charitable-giving community, by publishing sample charitable lead annuity trusts (CLATs). This is a welcome benefit for us, because unlike charitable remainder trusts ...

A partial interest in property left by a decedent to a surviving spouse, such as an income interest, can lead to a credit for tax on prior transfer (CTPT) in the estate of the surviving spouse. Understanding the role that partial interests play in...

During Leona Helmsley's lifetime, the real estate mogul and hotel magnate was reviled for allegedly saying only the little people pay taxes, then going to jail for failing to do so, much to the glee of the New York tabloids. After Leona's death...

New York's Lincoln Center, about to engage in a costly renovation of its symphony space, is refusing to assure the family of Avery Fisher that the auditorium will continue to bear Fisher's name despite the fact that Fisher donated $10.5 million in...

David T. Leibell and Daniel L. Daniels, partners in the Stamford, Conn., office of Cummings & Lockwood LLC, report: Private Letter Ruling 200733007 (issued Aug. 17, 2007) provides a road map on how to establish a qualified testamentary charitable...

To stop donors from abusing charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) by taking deductions when charities couldn't actually expect to receive anything, the Internal Revenue Service created both the 5 percent exhaustion and the 10 percent remainder rules...

The curious thing about a bubble is, when it bursts, you can't believe people actually behaved the way they did. (Remember, in the late 1990s, backing up the truck and buying the QQQQ for clients? Nah, not you.) Consider what a sweet temptation...