Wealth Planning

A lot of JPMorgan Chase employees are going to be in search of new digs very soon. The firm is expected to shed itself of 4,000 of its own staff about half of whom will be replaced by incoming Bear Stearns employees. But not all of Bear's ranks...

When it Began, the credit crisis had little to do with retail brokerage. After all, the fixed income departments were the ones who made the bad mortgage bets that have since unraveled, resulting in a pileup of more than $200 billion dollars in...

The Internal Revenue Service released Notice 2008-13 on Jan. 2, 2008, to provide interim guidance on the application of tax preparer return penalties put in place by The Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007.

Want some insurance with that managed account? Or how about wrapped around your target-date mutual fund? A number of companies are rolling out new hybrid products that wrap a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit around such managed investment...

Say you just hired a writer to pen an investment book or article called “Hitting Retirement Gold,” and are planning to slap your own name on it. After all, there is an entire cottage industry of ghostwriters that pen such investment...

The ongoing debate about who owns client relationships has yet to be won. Last week, the comment period closed on a proposed SEC amendment to existing client-privacy rules, which would suggest that, ultimately, broker/dealers own the client...

Here's a little news that might interest you: Sometimes it pays to litigate against the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA, formerly NASD), rather than settle. In fact, when a firm or rep decides to settle with FINRA rather than go to...

Expect wealthy clients not only to ask about investing in companies whose processes are green and socially responsible, but also about companies whose very missions provide an environmental or social return in addition to a financial profit

Regardless of where you work, or what kind of practice you have, the last nine or 10 months have probably been tough on you and your clients. Of course, some firms have fared better than others, so what better time than now to hear what clients...