Larry Barrett

Between the SEC's broad and unspecific recommendations to safeguard shareholders from unscrupulous advisors and the Department of Labor's recent attempts to redefine the conditions under which a financial advisor becomes a fiduciary, the financial advisors and broker-dealers providing the guidance and products investors need for retirement are huddling up to decide which regulations and rule changes they should support in the face of looming legislation.

Retail customers are switching banks and shopping competitors in greater numbers these days but, according to a survey by J.D. Power and Associates, their reasons for jumping ship have little if anything to do with interest rates or service fees.

A pair of prominent financial news agencies are teaming up with public relations and marketing firm Cognito to host a pair of soup-to-nuts events that will delve into what financial services professionals want and need to know about using social media in their practices.

While the middle class is usually cited as the prime beneficiary whenever Congress ratchets up tax reform rhetoric, talk of possibly eliminating the deferral of taxes on income generated from annuities has financial advisors and their middle-class clients on edge.

It took awhile, but financial institutions of all sizes have finally realized that investing in a full-service website complete with interactive marketing and registration functionality is critical to expanding their client base and increasing their total assets under management.

Financial advisors are turning their backs on traditional wirehouses, bank brokerages and independent broker-dealers at rapid pace, according to a new report from Charles Schwab, opting instead for a hybrid model that allows them to serve as both an RIA and a registered rep and expand their pool of potential clients.

A new survey of high-net-worth investors with more than $2 million in investable assets found that most expect to at least triple their net worth in the next decade, a sure sign that the affluent expect the market's recent momentum to continue for the foreseeable future.

To help financial advisors and firms jumpstart their social media endeavors without running afoul of FINRA regulations, LIMRA and social middleware firm Socialware this week rolled out "Insight: Advisor Series," a new social media training program specifically designed to help guide them through the potential legal and cultural landmines presented by social networking sites and platforms.

After years of absorbing one punishing body blow after another as the market continued its free fall, affluent investors are finally starting to regain their confidence and invest accordingly, according to a new survey from Spectrem Group

Vanilla as they may be, annuities still represent the lifeblood of many investors' portfolios because they deliver a steady, predictable income throughout retirement.

A Florida retiree who gave her Wachovia broker a second chance "to do a better job" with her IRA investments has filed claim against Wells Fargo after suffering losses, again.

A report released by Pershing suggests that while most wirehouses and independent broker-dealers recognize that their core advisors are aging and will soon need to be replaced, few have done much in the past three years to address the problem.

Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly important to wealth managers and their clients, but a new survey released by Advisors Trusted Advisor makes it clear that old-fashioned word of mouth is still the most powerful marketing tool for financial advisors and their firms.

Some advisors at Bank of America Merrill Lynch's U.S. Trust unit this week received an ultimatum from on high, demanding they sign a new agreement that would effectively sideline them for up to eight months if and when they decide to leave the firm or else risk losing not only their 2010 bonuses but their jobs, too.

Roth IRA conversions soared up four-fold in 2010 for the Boston-based company from a year earlier primarily as a result of its investors seeking out and finding the educational information they need to help minimize their tax obligations in retirement.

Financial advisors at U.S. banks raked in an average of $27,809 in commission and fees in December, up modestly from an average of $27,418 in November thanks mainly to widening spreads between fixed annuities and certificate of deposit rates.

The app, which can be downloaded for free from Apple's App Store, is the firm's first foray into the mobile applications arena and the cornerstone of its nascent WealthCentral Mobile strategy.

National Financial, Fidelity Investments' clearing arm, signed or re-signed a total of 60 broker-dealer firms last year, bringing its total assets to more than $465 billion and a client total of more than 300 firms.

The sudden departure this week of Deborah McWhinney raises concerning questions for brokers, advisors, customers and the firm's executive management team as it embarks on a search for her replacement and, more important, its strategy for the highly coveted mass-affluent market.

Mobile apps and smartphones are all the rage on Main Street, but only a small minority of investors and traders are using them for their portfolios.