Practice

Why do some wealth management firms experience explosive growth while others plod along at a more leisurely pace? To answer this question, Fidelity recently invited senior executives from nine firms that manage $1 billion or more to join us for a full-day discussion of what’s driving growth.

Last year, 36% of all participants in 401(k) retirement plans at Vanguard invested their plan assets in a professionally managed investment option, more than doubled from 17% at the end of 2007, according to the Valley Forge, Penn.-based firm.

Buyer beware! The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority today issued an investor alert regarding the burgeoning alternative mutual fund asset class.

A $1 million producer has jumped from Morgan Stanley to Raymond James in Columbus, Ga.

The 12 largest bank broker dealers boosted their revenue by 8% to more than $1.5 billion in 2012, marking the fourth consecutive annual increase.

With the passing of Dodd-Frank, the SEC is paving the the way to adopt a uniform fiduciary standard for broker/dealers and investment advisors. Barry Glassman of Glassman Wealth says that there's no feasible way for brokers to uphold the same fiduciary standard to which RIA are held. He writes, "for them to come under the fiduciary standard as it currently exists, their businesses would have to split up into so many micro pieces that it would be disastrous for them." But the alternative, as it is being proposed, is for the very meaning of the fiduciary standard to change.

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.

Most planners do a lot more than select investments. So how do you measure the value of providing financial planning?

RidgeWorth Investments is beefing up its sales team with the addition of Christopher Danos, Scott Goldberg and Mallory Carr.