Wealth Planning

Wall Street's titans made a terrible mess with their bets on the sub-prime mortgage market, and now they're paying for it dearly. Most of the major U.S. banks and brokerage firms recorded massive write-downs of sub-prime and CDO (collateralized...

Are you targeting the affluent? Are you interested in acquiring clients with larger pools of assets? Of course you are. Every financial advisor is aiming for larger client accounts these days, and in particular, they are trying to capture a piece...

We all know what a lousy third-quarter Merrill Lynch had it reported the worst loss in its 93-year history (a $2.3 billion net loss along with a staggering $8.4 billion in bond write-downs). As a result, CEO Stan O'Neal was forced into retirement...

One would think a client's collection of 50 cars, let alone 50 Corvettes, would be hard for a team of financial advisors and estate planners to ignore.

Financial Advisors may discuss charitable giving with clients for the same reason that most people choose to give in the first place: It's the right thing to do. But you can use that discussion to clean up your client's portfolio and simplify your...

If you are like most advisors, you usually approach client meetings in one of two ways: If the market is up, you underscore the recent growth in the client's assets, and the progress made toward the achievement of his or her financial goals. If...