Alternative investments

Clients often dream of retiring overseas for a change of scenery and lifestyle. Here’s what a handful of advisors have to say about some of the most popular overseas retirement destinations among their clients.

As risk has dialed up in today's uncertain climate, there has been a growing trend of mutual funds embracing the flexibility and creativity of various options strategies to dampen volatility and garner better returns.

Alternatives juggernaut Blackstone joined the likes of other fellow private investment firms The Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) last month as the asset management practice continues its revolutionary switch in business focus out of institutional coffers and into the retail investment space.

For the third year in a row, Financial Planning and the Foundation for Financial Planning jointly present the Pro Bono Awards to recognize both individual advisors and teams of planners who provide exceptional free planning help to those who could not afford it.

The wealth management business is receiving good grades, with a major caveat: Try harder, because things won't get easier.

After a strong response to our summer reading list for advisors, we decided to expand it. Here are the 20 books that financial advisors said -- via Twitter, LinkedIn, emails and phone calls -- were crucial to their practices.

A run-down of the stories in this issue, which focuses on global strategy and taking advantage of emerging markets.

Mark Tibergien, CEO of Pershing Advisor Solutions, wants to custody more client assets. Here's what he's offering in return.

Wheaton Wealth Partners reaches out to clients by "mind mapping" their emotional priorities first, then developing a plan and a portfolio.

Asset management mergers and acquisitions are on the rise and all signs are pointing to another healthy year for deal activity.

One service provider is looking to take advantage of the migration of hedge funds into the mutual funds space by offering its hedge fund clients its Investment Company Compliance Services offering.

Hedge funds have beaten the FDIC in a series of legal disputes over the assets of bankrupt holding companies, exposing a serious flaw in the regulator's system for recovering value from failed institutions.

Blackstone Group, the world’s biggest manager of alternative assets, is starting a mutual fund that will invest in hedge funds, part of an industrywide push to attract assets from individual investors.

Bloomfield, Mich.-based Flexible Plan Investments has launched The Gold Bullion Strategy Fund (QGLDX), which the firm is touting as the industry’s first gold bullion fund offered to retail investors through a mutual fund product

Investment pitches by entrepreneurs and hedge funds may get a higher public profile on television, through social media and even at sporting events following the lifting of an 80-year-old rule by U.S. securities regulators.

Greenwich, Conn.-based AQR Capital Management is currently prepping to launch another alternative mutual fund to add to its growing family.

It looks like Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company will have its day in court come January 2014 to defend itself against a mutual fund lawsuit.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has put alternative mutual funds on notice after ruling in favor of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by upholding its recent amendments to Rule 4.5 that will require mutual funds that bet on gold, oil or other commodities to register as commodity pool operators.

In investors' epic search for yield, one strategy in particular has risen to the top this year: loan participation mutual funds and ETFs.

Non-traditional investment allocations in defined contribution plans, while commonplace in defined benefit pension portfolios, are a rare sight in today's retirement plan lineup.