Practice

A new arbitration decision holds a lesson for financial advisors: Be careful when you leap.

If you want to attract new clients, spend time talking about the benefits that people will have by working with you. Too many advisors talk mostly about their process. The problem with that is people don't care about your process.

More than four in 10 investors (41%) view themselves as "very inexperienced" with investing, up from 27% last year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil and criminal charges against a Pennsylvania man accused of defrauding elderly investors by issuing phony account statements inflating the value of his clients' accounts, and then pilfering funds from another client in a repayment scheme.

When it comes to practice management, experienced advisors want to learn more about three subjects: engaging centers of influence, pricing, and measuring and building client loyalty. At least, that's what Genworth Financial Wealth Management has heard from advisors attending its Mastery practice management workshops for independent advisors

Members of Generation Y are fundamentally less trusting, more inclined to do their own research and more insistent on mobile technologies for everything - including their financial planning and investing. This is according to a new white paper that urges planners to get to know Gen Y better by comparing it to the two generations that preceded it: Generation X and the Baby Boomers.

As the trend toward independence continues, the opportunities raise questions from those advisors who are considering making the move. Shirl Penney of Dynasty Financial has created a helpful list of frequently asked question (and answers) for advisors who are thinking about going independent.

Finding the right financial planner can be a confusing process. To simplify the search, the SEC has released a new bulletin that contains tips for finding one. It also contains a list of questions consumers should ask planners - and that all planners should be prepared to answer.

If Congress does not act and the current estate tax law expires, 14.7 million U.S. households could have a tax liability according to a report released by LIMRA, a worldwide association of insurance and financial services companies, on Tuesday.

After working under one of the most successful advisors in the financial planning industry, Matthew Halloran took time, studied, read, and reviewed all of the top financial advisors he worked with over the years and found ten things are the keys to being a top advisor.