Larry Barrett

A majority of high and ultra high net worth Baby Boomers who claim to have made their fortunes on their own don't think it's important to leave an inheritance to their children and -- even among those who don't intend to stiff their offspring -- many haven't even begun to organize their affairs for an efficient transfer of their wealth when they die.

Raymond James Financial had no trouble topping analysts' second-quarter sales and earnings estimates Wednesday, posting a profit of $80.9 million, or 64 cents a share, on sales of $852 million.

U.S. CFOs are more optimistic about the U.S. economy than they've been in years but they're equally concerned about a spike in inflation as companies jack up prices to bankroll their expansion plans.

The popularity of hedge funds, particularly among institutional investors, propelled total assets under management to a record $2 trillion in the first quarter, according the latest report from Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc.

After years of incredible growth in sales, earnings and market cap, Google's first-quarter earnings miss and spike in operating expenses has unnerved some analysts and investors.

The largest McDonald's franchisee and Latin American quick-service juggernaut went public last week and, so far, most everyone is lovin' the company and its stock.

Most financial advisors do an outstanding job of building and maintaining relationships with their wealthiest clients but all too often fail to deliver the full buffet of financial services these highly coveted and well-healed clients want and need.

The combination of a robust U.S. equity market and the proliferation of company-sponsored retirement plans helped push total assets in 401(k) pans over the $3 trillion threshold at close of last year, up 13% from 2009.

Robert Kerzner, president and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global opened the 2011 Retirement Industry Conference with a plea to insurance professionals to familiarize themselves with the tools and sales and marketing techniques required to attract younger investors to their firms and products.

The Web-based analytical tool allows advisors to compare more than 10,000 mutual funds and ETFs in 60 different categories and formats to help them pick and choose the products that will best meet their clients' individual investment needs.

Small business owners first crippled by the economic downturn and then further encumbered by a tight lending environment in its aftermath are set to hire more workers, make more capital investments and are reducing their retirement savings targets this year as they set their sights on growth and expansion.

FINRA fined Jefferies & Co. $1.5 million, ordered the investment bank to repay $425,000 in ill-gotten commissions and fees and suspended a pair of its brokers for failing to disclose additional compensation to institutional clients and other conflicts of interest related to shady sales of auction rate securities between August 2007 and March 2008.

In the wake of the Great Recession, deep-pocketed investors are hedging their bets more than ever not only with the type of investments they're making but also with the advisors they're counting on to show them the money.

They love him. They loathe him. The Great Recession is over. There's still no sign of the recession's end. Things are only getting better. Things couldn't get worse. That basically sums up the mixed sentiment of most of the financial advisors polled earlier this year by investment management firm Brinker Capital to get a sense of how they feel President Obama and his administration navigated and managed -- or not -- the U.S. economy and government fiscal policy last year and what to expect in 2011.

Whether it's a case of the comparatively small number of "haves" simply socking away a lot more money or a jump in smaller contributions by a larger group of middle class investors, Americans' total retirement investment assets surged to more than $17.5 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2010, up 9.1% for the year.

It's not exactly cats and dogs living together, but a new white paper from Sanctuary Wealth Services surmises that independent advisors and wirehouse brokers could definitely learn a lot from each other when it comes to attracting and retaining clients and would do well to learn from each other's mistakes in the future.

A survey of 15 top U.S. banks and credit unions found when it comes to mobile payments, most are content to sit on the sidelines and see how this emerging technology platform plays out rather than take a leadership role that companies from other industries have quickly assumed.

While most of the U.S. continues to endure sluggish or retreating housing prices and foreclosures still remain a persistent blight on the economic landscape, ultra high net worth individuals continue to fork over huge sums to garner real estate in most of the world's most exclusive enclaves.

Standard & Poor's said that U.S. corporate dividend increases surged up 27.8% in the first quarter of this year.

Nelson Roberts Investment Advisors this week closed its first RIA acquisition, picking up San Francisco Bay Area-based Sylvan H. Kline Jr. Inc. to bring its total assets under management to more than $275 million.