Margarida Correia

The majority of advisors (53%) said they measure performance based on longer-term goals, while they feel clients are focused on the short term. Clients are also more pessimistic about the markets yet they feel their own portfolios will do relatively well.

Annuity sales top $231 billion in 2011, driven by robust sales of variable annuities.

Shoe leather isn’t always enough to build a book of business, particularly for young advisors starting out. Doug Leonzi, No. 22 on BIC’s Top 50 Bank Rep list, reflects on the importance of a senior advisor who crossed his path.

Investors are much savvier about retirement planning than commonly thought, at least when it comes to target-date funds, according to a research note from investment management company Vanguard.

Associated Banc-Corp announced yesterday that it hired Tim Henke as an associate financial consultant at its wholly owned broker-dealer Associated Investment Services.

Mutual funds started February with a roar but ended the month with a whimper.

Banks looking to boost their profits are missing the boat on a big opportunity: marketing investment and insurance products to mass-affluent households.

PrimeVest Financial Services gained 273 advisors in 2011, lifting its total registered representative force to more than 1,600, the firm announced today.

PrimeVest Financial Services gained 273 advisors in 2011, lifting its total registered representative force to more than 1,600, the firm announced today.

Bank of America has added a new investment offering to its Merrill Edge program for mass-affluent investors.

After a strong start in February, domestic stock mutual funds saw cash outflows of $322 million in the most recent weekly statistics.

Bank of America has added a new investment offering to its Merrill Edge program for mass-affluent investors. The new offering — called Merrill Edge Select Portfolios — provides customers with access to actively managed, diversified portfolios and is aimed at the “middle class and the emerging affluent investor,” the bank said. The minimum investment is $20,000.

Investors have not yet fully recovered their faith in long-term U.S. mutual funds, but the cash outflow in January was not nearly as bad as the previous month.

HNW clients are price sensitive, but advisors have made their case as the economy comes out of the financial crisis.

Large banks have done a good job of capturing the investments of young banking clients, but they haven’t had the same success with their older—and wealthier—customers, according to a new report from Aite Group.

After a decade refining their advice services, Fidelity, Schwab, E*Trade and other online brokerage firms are now rubbing up against traditional financial advisors, according to a new report from Cerulli Associates.

That amounts to two-thirds of the value gained in the past year. And was driven by interest in and appreciation of...domestic stocks.

Whether or not you work for a best practice firm, it pays to manage your book to maximize its value.

Fidelity Investments reported strong sales growth last year of defined contribution plans to small and midsized employers in 2011.

Investors continued to steer money into stock mutual funds in February, though with much less enthusiasm. According to statistics released today by the Investment Company Institute, investors placed an estimated $1.04 billion into equity funds during the week ended Wednesday, Feb. 15, less than half the $3.64 billion they poured into the funds a week earlier.