As we head into the final weeks of this tumultuous year, it's obvious that only parts of the Street are rebounding.

Sure, the Dow passed 10,000 last month, but consider the mixed bag from recent earnings announcements in our industry.

Wells Fargo, which took over Wachovia in 2008, reported record third-quarter profit, almost doubling from a year earlier to $3.24 billion. JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs each reported profits of more than $3 billion for the third quarter. Goldman's third-quarter profit of more than $3.19 billion, triple from the year-ago period, came amid a firestorm of outrage over its plan to pay hefty bonuses to employees.

Meanwhile, Bank of America Corp., which now includes Merrill Lynch, posted a $1 billion loss. And BofA is being lambasted by critics and scrutinized by Congress and regulators over its controversial acquisition of Merrill. In the third quarter, BofA's global wealth and investment management unit, of which Merrill is a part, posted a net income of $271 million, up from $80 million in the same time period last year. Merrill alone increased its net income 9% to $310 million, while the other divisions in the unit didn't fare as well.

And Morgan Stanley reported its first profit in a year, surpassing analysts' estimates. Its global wealth management unit, which owns 51% of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture, recorded a pretax profit of $280 million on $3 billion of revenue.

Clearly, some players are up while others are down. And as the firms in this industry make their way back from the economic abyss of the past year or so, uncertainty is still a factor for financial advisors.

The companies in the retail brokerage business are jockeying for dominance. As a result, both Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and UBS have decided to create "complex manager" structures. In "Back on the Front Lines" on page 21, associate editor Helen Kearney relates the frustration of branch managers who now find that they must become producers of big books of business again. See what industry experts and officials at these firms say about this move.

Also tackling the topic of complex managers in an opinion piece is recruiter Bill Willis. In the Corporate Culture column on page 59, Willis writes that there are some advantages to returning to the front lines. "Unlike their non-producing colleagues, competent producing branch managers are almost never fired," he says. But he predicts that these managers who also run a book will face new challenges.

In our cover story this month on how to help philanthropy-minded clients, writer Lauren Barack talked to some large donors and their advisors. Speaking with Helen LaKelly Hunt, the heir to the H.L. Hunt oil fortune, and her advisor, Katherine Ellis Nixon, Barack discovered how they kept Hunt's charitable giving on track during the downturn. Many non-profit organizations dependent on wealthy patrons had been reporting dramatic declines in donations. But Hunt, with the aid of Nixon, devised ways to continue her giving.

Keeping the complexities of how clients conduct charitable giving, this month' estate planning column on page 63 covers new ground. Lawyers Robert Darwell and Michael Barbanell Landres discuss the considerations and tax problems an advisor must deal with in "Donating An Art Collection Can Be A Challenge." Darwell and Landres, a partner and associate, respectively, with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, point out that although charitable donations of artwork may give rise to substantial tax benefits, such clients should be aware that the IRS doesn't treat all donations the same.

Finally, in this month's Case Study on page 57, investment advisor Michael Bois relates how he convinced a retired couple to accept risk again after their diversified portfolio lost millions in the market meltdown. In setting up a risk budget, he helped these clients overcome their aversion to risk in the wake of a disastrous loss. Read "Explaining Risk to Clients" to get a step-by-step guide to how Bois handled this situation.

This is an issue which gives you both many examples of problems that arise when handling wealthy clients as well as what is developing in our industry. So sit back and take it all in.