Ruthie Ackerman

With regulatory reform bringing a wave of changes to defined contribution plans, advisors need to be even more conversant in the ins and outs of legislative requirements and other complexities. Which is why BlackRock is beefing up its commitment to advisors who work with these retirement plans.

In business, as in life, we need to remember five principles, says Bruce Weinstein, The Ethics Guy: Do no harm, make things better, respect others, be fair and be loving.

The long term price of oil should be between $85 to $90 per barrel, but BlackRock’s Dan J. Rice said it could hit $120 per barrel or higher this year, which could mean a slow down in the world economy.

While 2009 saw the world economy come close to imploding, 2011 growth, while not stellar, will begin to recover, said Craig Alexander, senior vice president and chief economist at TD Bank Group, on Friday at the TD Ameritrade Institutional national conference in San Diego, California.

The financial advisory industry is overwhelmingly dominated by men, but women at the TD Ameritrade Institutional national conference in San Diego, California made their presence known at a women’s leadership roundtable on Friday.

“Something has gone very wrong in Washington,” said Tom Giachetti of Stark & Stark Attorneys at Law. “You cannot catch criminals through more regulation. Investment advisors will be burdened with more costs and it’s not protecting the investing public. This is a knee jerk reaction to Bernie Madoff.”

“This has been a stealth bull market,” said Jeremy Siegel, professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, in his luncheon keynote presentation at the TD Ameritrade Institutional national conference in San Diego, California on Thursday.

The company plans to unveil more cash management services and will launch a mobile app specifically designed for the iPad this year.

T. Rowe Price Group announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Friday as assets under management soared on inflows, particularly to target-date retirement portfolios.

As social media continues to grow in importance in the advisor community, linkedFA, a social media site for financial professionals announced on Tuesday it completed an acquisition of AdvisorConnect, an online networking community for independent financial advisors.

The big takeaway from Wilmington Trust’s 2011-2017 capital markets forecast briefing on Tuesday in New York City is that the global economy is continuing to recover slowly, with real estate and employment under pressure.

Large capitalization stocks are likely to outperform small cap stocks over the next decade, according to BNY Mellon Beta Management.

The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors introduced NAPFA Genesis, a networking group that will provide an outlet for young planning professionals to share best practices.

A greater number of U.S. households are at risk of falling short of money in retirement because of the housing and financial crisis, according to a report by EBRI.

On Wednesday The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund and the Association of Small Foundations announced a new white paper titled “The Best of Both Worlds: Using Private Foundations and Donor-Advised Funds” to inform donors and advisors about how these two giving vehicles complement each other.

At Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management’s Capital Market Outlook breakfast in New York City on Wednesday, Larry Adam announced a positive outlook for equities, anticipating that the S&P 500 would reach 1400 by the end of 2011. The only thing that could derail Adam’s positive outlook would be a lack of confidence.

SEI released a global study on Tuesday that found that while institutional investors’ confidence in hedge funds is growing, there is a larger expectation of transparency and risk management from managers.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management announced on Tuesday that it will now offer its private banking clients Cash Management Access Accounts that will allow them to manage banking and self-directed investments in one place.

The Charles Schwab Corporation announced on Tuesday that fourth quarter revenues soared 14% year-over-year and December net new assets grew to more than $11 billion, the highest level in 23 months.

Men and women have distinct approaches to financial management, according to a new survey from Charles Schwab.