Paula Vasan

The average person checks their phone every 6.5 minutes, according to a recent study by Nokia, and with dozens of apps on the average smartphone, it’s certainly easy to spend your days distracted by Angry Birds and Instagram. Financial advisors, however, pinpoint these smartphone apps as essential in helping to make their businesses and lives more efficient. …

On the morning after the demise of the Defense of Marriage Act, Vikki Lenhart of Hart & Patterson Financial Services conducted a financial assessment for one of her same-sex clients and realized they are entitled to $36,000 in additional Social Security income.

Gen Y planners foresee RIAs booming and perceive fundamental flaws within the wirehouse model. They see advisors making big mistakes with next generation clients. They have fears about the future of the industry along with some ideas on how society should change to create a more financially secure world.

In order for advisors to stand their ground to direct providers like Fidelity, Schwab and ETrade, they must not lose sight of younger and low to middle market investors, says Bing Waldert, director at Cerulli Associates.

Women in the United States account for about 47% of the workforce, compared to roughly 29.6% in 1950, according to data from the U.S. Labor Force. No doubt about it, female influence in the workforce is growing. Yet, the gender divide among advisors at the some of the largest firms is pretty striking.

LPL Financial hired an ex-SEC official as its new general counsel as the firm continues to restructure its management team.

LPL Financial, the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer, has reached $50 billion in total RIA assets under custody, doubling its year-ago total.

The looming stats are everywhere when it comes to the future of the advisory business, despite being a fast-growing industry. Here's how one advisor is trying to ensure a brighter outlook.

Industry influencers and independent investment advisors congregated in Palm Beach. Fla., last week for TD Ameritrade's Elite Advisor and Fiduciary Leadership summits to discuss how to strengthen advisor practices and navigate a turbulent regulatory environment.

In an exclusive interview, Skip Schweiss, managing director of advisor advocacy at TD Ameritrade Institutional, spoke about the tensions, dangers and future outlook of the fiduciary standard being debated in Washington -- and how the decision might drastically alter the advisory landscape.

A Connecticut advisory firm has developed a new approach to help financial planners solve client problems more quickly and efficiently. The activity is aimed at strengthening internal communications across service units, exchanging institutional knowledge, supporting business strategy and day-to-day management initiatives, and developing personnel skills.

The future of a uniform fiduciary standard regulating the broker-dealer and RIA space is unlikely, according to Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America.

Happiness is a choice, according to Shawn Achor, author of "The Happiness Advantage", and for advisors, it may be a key to increased productivity and client satisfaction.

Advisors who don't prepare their firms for demographic changes, regulatory uncertainty, and succession planning are setting themselves, and their firms, up for failuae.

Industry leaders will gather in Palm Beach, Fla., for TD Ameritrade's advisor conference to discuss wealth management trends and the future of financial advice regulation.

From not giving up your audit too soon to wise words from Pershing's Mark Tibergien on creating a human capital strategy, here are some of the smartest things we learned at this year's INSITE conference.

A slew of recent regulatory shifts is keeping examiners busy -- and advisors must know how to react when they get a call from FINRA or the SEC.

A focus on advisor fees and compensation is all well and good -- particularly among the next-generation of investors -- but advisors say that focus can sometimes be misguided.

Advisors must adapt their thinking and shed their stereotypes about today's "modern family" if they want to attract more high-net-worth clients.

Market challenges and opportunities; Yoga on the beach, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. These are just some of the activities and topics set to be presented, discussed, tweeted, and analyzed at Pershing's three-day INSITE 2013 conference in Hollywood, Fla., that begins Wednesday. The Twitter-verse is already buzzing.