Donna M. Mitchell

What is the difference between elite practices and other firms? One hint: Seminars are not what they used to be. Here’s an interactive slideshow detailing seven marketing tips that will boost your firm’s profile and assets under management.

A formerly well-connected, Seattle-area financial advisor and former chairman of advisory software developer Tamarac Inc., now finds himself at the center of a federal fraud and money laundering investigation after FBI agents raided his home several weeks ago.

LVW Advisors will also be a member of New York-based Focus Financial Partners network of firms.

The Investment Management Consultants Association appointed Elizabeth Piper-Bach, CFP, as chair of its 2012 board of directors. She leads a slate of four new officers and four new board members for the new term.

Financial advisors are in huge demand among insurance companies that create the broad array of insured retirement income products. But if product creators want to succeed with that group, they need to get a few ground rules clear, a panel of financial advisors said during the Insured Retirement Institute’s annual conference on Tuesday.

Top economists who spoke here at the Insured Retirement Institute annual conference told attendees to brace for fundamental paradigm shifts as they wait for global and domestic economies to stabilize.

Financial advisors are going play a bigger role in how the annuity industry gets it products to customers, according to industry officials presenting at the Insured Retirement Institute's 2011 annual conference. But consumers will be leading the charge.

Financial Planning senior editor Donna Mitchell says financial advisors are particularly skilled at helping their clients define how their financial lives are -- and should be -- structured. If only they were able to do the same for their practices.

Now that the Department of Labor is back at the drawing board trying to determine what should constitute a fiduciary under 1975 ERISA amendments, the industry wants to make at least one point clear: investors should have good choices, regardless of the business model their advisors use.

Last week’s deal between The Colony Group and Focus Financial Partners is just the latest in what’s turned out to be a very busy merger and acquisition period for registered independent advisor firms. Here's a look at this year's five-largest deals:

While it’s still unclear as to whether The Colony Group and Focus Financial Partners union announced last week is the largest merger by assets under management completed in the RIA space so far this year, one thing is certain: the deal is sophisticated and accomplishes strategic and financial goals for both firms at the same time.

The Colony Group has agreed to turn a stake equaling 40% to 70% of its earnings over to Focus Financial Partners, but it is holding on to its independence and plans for aggressive growth.

Investment advisor advocates are breathing easier after the Department of Labor announced Monday that it has pulled its current proposal on the definition of a fiduciary off the table. The agency will take up the issue in early 2012 and repropose a fiduciary definition after more industry input.

The Financial Planning Association kicks off its annual conference, Experience 2011 Thursday and industry professionals are sure to walk away with boomers and transformation on their minds.

A hearing before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services Tuesday allowed representatives from across the financial advisory industry to air their views about whether a new self-regulatory organization is necessary to oversee advisors and broker-dealers and, if it is, how it should be constructed.

Investment advisors could eventually have a national self-regulatory organization akin to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority soon, if draft legislation introduced by an Alabama Congressman becomes law. But it will not come without a fight.

Opportunities are certain to be abundant for Sallie Krawcheck, the former president of global wealth and investment management at Bank of America Merrill Lynch who was shown the door in a Tuesday evening management shakeup. But can the same be said for the advisors left behind?

Last year, BNY Mellon Wealth Management was on an ambitious push to expand its network of financial advisors. Whether Robert Kelly’s surprise resignation late Wednesday will derail that momentum remains unclear at this point.

It was not long ago that the term alternative investments prompted images of exotic venture capital, private equity and hedge fund investment strategies frequented almost exclusively by very wealthy households and institutional investors.

When managing investors’ financial lives through a major storm like Hurricane Irene, keeping in touch and relying on a network of offices was key to helping advisors and their clients pull through.