Ruthie Ackerman

Gen X and Y job seekers have values that align with the financial services profession, they just don’t know it.

A majority of employees are looking for more guidance from their employers regarding their workplace retirement plans and their retirement goals, according to a white paper and study released Monday by the ING Retirement Research Institute.

Despite the fact investor interest in emerging markets seemed to decline during the first quarter, Emerging Global Advisors announced its assets under management soared as investors looked for more precise exposures to emerging market opportunities.

An increasing number of advisor teams are transitioning to the fully independent registered investment advisor model from independent broker dealers, according to a Charles Schwab Advisor Services survey, which found a 45% increase in 2010 compared to 2009.

Investors are looking to invest internationally in 2011 and beyond, a sign that positive sentiment in emerging markets is growing, according to a survey by Franklin Templeton.

Bank life insurance sales soared to a record high in 2010, although sales declined sharply in the fourth quarter, the first quarter over quarter decrease in seven quarters, according to the fourth quarter 2010 Kehrer-LIMRA Life Report.

Mintel released data indicating men and women are about equally as likely to have a self-directed investment account, with 30% of women saying they have one versus 36% of men. Among women who report a household income of more than $75,000, 46% say they are self-directed investors.

Women and men bought less life insurance in 2010 than they did in 2004, but the decline of women’s ownership is smaller than the decline of men's, according to a life insurance study released by LIMRA on Wednesday.

The retirement conundrum of how much money is enough is an ongoing battle that impacts both men and women, but one area where men seem to be winning out is retirement confidence, according to EBRI’s 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey released last week.

While corporations, consumers and governments are trying to get back on their feet following the global recession, continued volatility is pushing investors, especially high-net-worth investors, to pour their money into alternatives, which allow for broader diversification, said Gurinder Ahluwalia, president of Genworth Financial Wealth Management, at a media roundtable on diversification and new asset classes in New York City on Tuesday.

The most critical component of any advisor/client relationship is communication, but it seems clear from an MFS Investment Management survey released on Monday that advisors and investors are speaking a different language.

Merrill Lynch launched a mobile brokerage apps for iPhone, iPad, and BlackBerry devices, which will allow Merrill Lynch and Merrill Edge clients to access their investments 24/7 from anywhere.

As exchange-traded funds have gained in popularity, confusion has grown over how to pick the ETF right for investor portfolios. Now Charles Schwab has stepped up to fill in the gap.

Social media has become an inescapable force, but many in the financial services industry are still holding back from using it.

Since the recession, institutions have had difficulties garnering trust, with 75% of those surveyed in a recent Capco/Tower study saying their trust in large institutions decreased after 2008. Making matters worse, 25% of financial advisors and wealth managers are leaving their firms and going independent, taking trusted client relationships with them, said Alvi Abuaf of FIS in a breakfast session at the ABA Wealth Management Conference Tuesday.

Sixty percent to 80% of all interpersonal communication is non-verbal, which means everything financial advisors do is meaningful, said Joe Navarro, author of “Louder Than Words” in his luncheon speech at the ABA Wealth Management Conference.

As they say: The more things change, the more they stay the same. That goes for the American Bankers Association Wealth Management Conference in Miami.

Developing talent should be as important to executives as developing strategy.

“We have now been in recovery longer than we were in a recession,” David Kelly said at the opening session of the ABA Wealth Management Conference. “We are moving from recovery to expansion and the numbers are telling us that the economy and the stock market are getting better.”

LIMRA released a list of its top 20 writers of overall total annuities, variable annuities and fixed annuities for 2010.