Ann Marsh

Seeking confidential access to brokers looking to make a transition, Securities America has signed a new agreement with online company Join A Firm that will cover costs for its branches to maintain profiles on the recruit-matching site.

The SEC has obtained a $1.1 million settlement from Portland, Ore., based planner Christopher Keil Hicks and two of his companies on charges they failed to disclose a revenue-sharing agreement and other conflicts with his clients.

Independent planning firm RMR Wealth Builders of Teaneck, N.J., has left its long-time independent broker-dealer, the Cetera company, for Innovation Equity Partners Financial in Tampa, Fla.

In an effort to leverage its increasing scale while maintaining the independence of each of its four B-Ds, Cetera Financial Group is rebranding each of those companies with new names that all begin with Cetera.

"We have many advisor who are choosing to build their practices around women," says Joan Khoury, LPL's chief marketing officer. "When they do this, we are empowering them to have all this turnkey info for their women investors."

A new online company, FutureAdvisor, aims to break open the market for sophisticated financial advice and make that service available not only to the wealthy, but to all investors. Launched in 2010, the Seattle-based startup says it already analyzes $4 billion in assets for its users and, today, it announced $5 million in new venture capital funding. …

LPL is determined to help advisors up their games in order to be able to serve clients who are generating new wealth or coming into possession of it.

In a new survey, the CFP Board revealed just how pervasive the financial abuse of seniors has come to be. At the same time, the board is seeking new standards to help seniors - and all consumers - better understand which self-described financial advisors are truly out to serve their best interests.

In the first of what the SEC hopes will be many more such awards, a whistleblower has received $50,000 for his or her help in stopping a multi-million dollar fraud. More money may be forthcoming for the individual if other, related cases move forward. The first award comes about a year after the whistleblower program began operating.

In a surprise move, incoming National Association of Personal Financial Advisors Chairman, Ron Rhoades, said that because of a compliance violation by his firm he will not be assuming the helm of the advocacy group on September 1 as anticipated.

How might the world have been different if, starting 10 years ago, every would-be home buyer had access to a free and independent tool that showed them - in highly personalized and granular detail - precisely what they could and could not have afforded to buy? Would there have been a real estate crash at all?

At four years and counting, the low-yield environment for bond looks likely to continue well beyond 2012 and has caused many investors to sit on the sidelines and miss out on additional income.

For some clients, it might make a lot of sense for planners to hedge large corrections by treating market volatility as an asset class to protect them from excessive downside risk.

Birmingham, Ala.-based advisor group Bridgeworth Financial, with nearly $1 billion in AUM, has left Lincoln Financial to join the country's largest independent B-D, LPL Financial, in a move that demonstrates the benefits of scale.

In an uncertain market, many wealthy clients are fearful of giving away liquid assets to reduce the size of their estates. An alternative is to give a home to the next generation using a lease-back strategy.

In the ongoing consolidation of the independent B-D space, insurer AIG's acquisition of Woodbury Financial Services brings the smaller firm in from the cold where it has become increasingly challenging to survive without a larger parent company.

LPL Financial reported second quarter net income of $39.5 million, down $6 million compared to $45.5 million in the same quarter of 2011. Net revenues for the second quarter of 2012 increased 1.5% to $907 million, from $894.0 million in the prior year period.

Advisors trying to persuade prospects about the benefits of planning can point to a new study of household financial decision-makers that shows those who have taken the time to put together a plan feel more confident and report more success managing savings and investments.

If anyone needs proof of the importance of revisiting their estate plans annually, the case of the high-net-worth Tweten family on the West Coast should supply it.

Many CPAs are passive in nature and afraid to ask clients to pay them extra for financial advice. Yet, often they are better positioned even than planners to suggest tax-efficient investment strategies.