Wealth Planning

A controversial economist says government attempts to increase home ownership are at the root of the sub-prime mortgage mess.

Water utilities, toll roads and airports are steady revenue generators, despite a slowing economic climate.

You might think that Bank of America, the nation's largest consumer bank, could pose a formidable threat to Wall Street's retail brokerage powerhouses. After all, it has a veritable army of affluent clients to whom it could offer financial advice...

How a flexible tool, the charitable remainder trust, helped one wealthy man honor his daughter's memory

It has been a cruel year for a lot of wirehouse advisors, with the sub-prime and ARS messes eroding client confidence in their firms. But times are good for registered investment adviser (RIA) firms. In fact, there is new evidence out there that...

With life expectancies going up, insurance premiums are coming down. Since 2000, term-insurance premiums have dropped by more than 4 percent a year, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade group.

Oftentimes, estate planners and elder law attorneys are faced with the challenge of trying to protect an aging client who is gradually descending into dementia or becoming emotionally needy, making him vulnerable to unscrupulous caregivers...

Socially responsible investing (SRI), however one defines it, has been getting serious traction from investors in recent years. But do you, or your clients, really know where those SRI dollars are going? It’s a question worth asking.

Practitioners are well-aware that lifetime gifts are more tax-efficient than transfers at death. But during the past seven years there's been a possibility that the estate tax might be permanently repealed, so it's been out of vogue for...