Steve Garmhausen

Investors have mostly been focused on fast-growing companies that may not be of the highest intrinsic value, but now it’s quality dividend payers’ turn.

More than half of fee-based financial advisors plan to sell their businesses prior to retirement, according to Tiburon Strategic Advisors, in Tiburon, Calif. That means there is ample opportunity for other firms to quickly add scale through acquisitions. Here are six critical pieces of information every advisor or firm needs to know before making any deals.

Investing in the railroad industry has traditionally been seen as a way to play economic recoveries. But a research note from Standard & Poor’s suggests railroads may be a good bet even in this uncertain economy.

Missing the 10 best days of stock market performance over many years can hurt your portfolio’s performance -- and the only way to make sure that doesn’t happen is to stay invested for the long haul. But one investment firm's research found there's a tremendous flaw in this strategy.

Looking for a silver lining amid all the market gloom? How about a Roth IRA conversion that can help you and your clients "rightsize" their tax bills.

With the market and economy turbulent, fund managers are steering away from equities and toward the safe haven of cash.

Sell-side analysts' refusal to admit there wrong after they've gone out on a limb -- only to find their initial opinions were incorrect -- has exposed clients and the markets as a whole to more losses for years, according to a new study.

Breaking through the growth barrier is a concept that's all too familiar to most advisory firms at one point or another in their development. The principals have founded the business, then scratched and clawed to get it to the point of viability. But at some point, even though the firm may have gathered a respectable amount of assets, the growth just seems to plateau. Here are eight tips to help get your firm over the hump:

The fact that both fixed and variable annuities posted sales increases in June wasn’t quite as rare as summer snow, but it was enough to raise eyebrows among industry watchers.

Insurance continued to be a bright spot for banks in the first quarter, as guarantees lured customers and banks ramped up their sales efforts.

With its eye on the small and midsized defined contribution markets, BlackRock, Inc., has broadened its lineup of index mutual funds for defined contribution plans.

Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. has opened a new office in Red Bank, N.J., giving the three-year-old brokerage firm a presence in 12 states.

Exchange-traded-fund assets are on the rise, and price appreciation has little to do with it, according to an analysis by Standard & Poor’s.

Companies that pay dividends, and in many cases are raising them, are attracting strong attention amid an otherwise unappetizing market. But a healthy dividend doesn’t necessarily mean the company issuing it is in the best shape, says Standard & Poor’s equity analyst Todd Rosenbluth.

It’s a good time to be an emerging markets bond ETF. Powered by investor demand for exposure to debt from places like Brazil and China, funds from Van Eck Global, Wisdom Tree and elsewhere have gathered assets at a crisp pace.

Unit investment trusts have their pros and cons but lately investors have been seeing a decided upside in a dividend strategy portfolio.

A combination of factors, from falling gas prices to ample corporate cash, could goose the economy’s growth this year, even if most predictions are far more tepid, said Bob Froehlich, executive vice president and chief investment strategist for wealth management at The Hartford.

Financial planners become successful through a fierce commitment to building their practices. But too few principals proactively plan for when -- and how -- they will one move on. To avoid being unprepared when the time comes, here's an interactive slideshow outlining some of the key steps in the succession planning process.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has a message for investors considering lesser-understood investments as an alternative to traditional fixed-income and equity investments: caveat emptor.

Jeanie Wyatt didn’t plan to start a family office business within her wealth management firm -- but fate seemed to take her hand. Today, South Texas Money Management has a new, wholly owned family-office subsidiary that has gathered $150 million in assets.