Ann Marsh

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.

In a study of 1,025 independent RIAs, Schwab found that a client retention level of 97% helped to drive client referrals and to produce record levels of AUM and revenues last year.

When LPL Financial sought to improve its highly successful Model Wealth Portfolio platform, its advisors made a couple of requests: make it easier for us to select securities and to rebalance our client portfolios.

LPL is continuing to fuel the rapid growth of its Model Wealth Portfolios platform, with a range of new offerings now available for consumers with as little as $25,000 to invest. Overall, this platform grew by almost 73% this year as of March 31 over last year to $8.7 billion.

Although overall activity in the annuity market has been down over the past 13 months, inflows in May increased by slightly more than 1% to $7.5 billion from $7.4 billion in April, according to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.

Serving clients from the world of venture capital poses special challenges for planners. Much like entrepreneurs, VC general partners bring risky and highly concentrated investments that cry out for diversification.

Hundreds of delinquent medium-sized RIAs must register with their respective states by today’s SEC deadline or face the prospect of being de-registered as early as Sept. 1.

Hundreds of medium-size RIAs are procrastinating and face the specter of de-registration by the SEC if they do not file for state registration by Thursday.

Gurudeo “Buddy” Persaud believed the earth’s gravitational forces impacts stock prices and that, under the influence of the moon, people tend to feel more dejected and sell off securities. In return, the SEC charged him with fraud.

The CFP Board permanently revoked the right of William B. Smith of Grafton, Mass., to use the CFP designation after investigating allegations that he fraudulently used $1.2 million in client’s money for his own benefit and moved $25,000 from another client to his own account.

James E. Putman, the founder and former CEO of an Appleton, Wis., investment firm, was disciplined by the CFP Board for allegedly accepting $1.24 million in kickbacks for steering clients’ money into dubious investments.