Practice

As we see Washington posturing over the fiscal cliff, we are right to wonder where the Statesmen (and women) are. But what to do from an advisor’s perspective?

Financial advisors often handle getting their clients’ affairs in order in case they die, but when it comes to succession planning for their own practices, that is often another matter entirely.

President Obama met with congressional leaders at the White House on Friday to negotiate over the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the looming problem of the so-called “fiscal cliff,” with the leaders agreeing that the meeting had been constructive.

Three years ago, Shannon Ryan of Manhattan Beach, Calif., left a position training and overseeing advisors with Ameriprise to return to full-time planning herself. The veteran of a successful planning practice years earlier on the East Coast, Ryan realized that her neighbors in California knew her mainly as the mother to two young daughters.

Greenspan said, "If we get out of this with a moderate recession, I would say that the price is very cheap."

More than half (55%) of Americans age 53 – 65 say they plan to continue working full-time as long as their health permits, up from 51% last year.

Tom Hoenig, a FDIC board member, reiterated his doubts that too big to fail has been eliminated, and offered his prescriptions for strengthening the system.

More than a thousand financial planners from around the country descended on Chicago for the Schwab Impact conference. The event gave them a chance for them to gain market intelligence, schmooze with peers, shop for new technology, check out new investing products and learn a few smarter ways to run their business.

Reaching multi-million dollar success as a female financial advisor is all about carving your own path. That is what four multi-million dollar female financial advisors said at the Women Advisors Forum in Newport Beach, Calif., on Thursday.

When it comes to talking about retirement, eldercare, and inheritance, parents may be from Mars while their grown children might as well be living on Neptune.