Donald Jay Korn

Since peaking at $1,900 per ounce in September 2011, the price of gold has dropped nearly 22%, to last Friday’s close. Labeling himself an “inveterate contrarian,” John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer, suggests that a near-term bounce might be in order.

As the overall financial advisory business picks up, “more than eight in 10 advisors want to spend more time attracting new clients,” Pershing discovered, “and nearly as many believe that they could grow faster if they had better time management tools or processes.”

Several estate planning products were built to address concerns about paying federal estate tax. However, the tax law passed earlier this year may have made these products moot. Advisors need to react before angry clients start calling.

If the long-term care market is “broken,” why are some experts calling this year the year to buy the product?

Financial advisors with clients who have been awarded pension rights in a divorce should follow up to see if the proper procedures to claim those rights have been followed; if not, advisors should urge immediate action.

When looking to spread the word about mutual funds and other investment strategies to Generation Y Investors, financial services firms should consider new media, according to Cambridge, Mass.-based consulting firm Cogent Research.

Amid the 31 initial public offerings that took place in the first quarter, one key theme emerged: a new hunt for yield, according to a new report from Renaissance Capital.

If clients are looking to invest in a better residence or a vacation home, now is the time.

Why do so many people handle their own investments, rather than use an advisor? A bad experience? Cost concerns? Neither of the above, according to a new survey for the Deloitte Center for Financial Services.

“The primary reason for the drop-off in fines was because there were no auction rate securities cases in 2012,” said Brian Rubin, partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan.

Insiders’ knowledge of a company’s advertising expenditures is a strong information advantage when it comes to trading.

Among the many provisions of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, Coverdell education savings account tax benefits were made permanent. Thus, ESAs have caught up with 529 plans, which were awarded permanent tax preferences in the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Does this mean ESAs can play a vital in clients’ education planning?

Participants in 401(k) plans are making better decisions, according to a new report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Improved plan “wellness” was especially evident in the fourth quarter of last year, a period that not-so-coincidentally also is the health care open enrollment period for most employees.

Eight mutual fund companies have been named Best In Group, winning the 2013 Lipper Fund Awards for the U.S., with TIAA-CREF and Delaware Management Company collecting the top group awards.

After hiring 3,597 full-time agents last year, New York Life is raising the ante, with a goal of adding 3,700 reps in 2013. Among the new hires, more than half are expected to be women or individuals who represent the “cultural markets,” as the company put it, referring specifically to the African-American, Chinese, Hispanic, Korean, South Asian, and Vietnamese communities.

More advisors say tax deferral will become increasingly important in annuity sales. In a recent poll by the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), 28% of advisors expect tax deferral to take on greater importance in the next five years, a “notable increase” from 20% of advisors expressing this opinion in 2011.

Assets held in 529 college savings plans increased 16.7% last year as the largest state plans continued to attract the bulk of assets.

Among the provisions of the new tax law is the introduction of in-plan Roth conversions for participants of employer-sponsored retirement plans. This provision may be especially valuable to high-income clients, according to Thomson Reuters.

Investors who trade frequently are upbeat about recent results, and that enthusiasm may translate into opportunities for advisors.

Gone are the glorious higher-yielding days of 2011.