Practice

When Congress threatened to cap the interchange fees that banks collect on debit card transactions, the industry argued that such a move would force it to kill off its own debit rewards programs. As it turns out, the demise of those programs might inconvenience consumers but it is unlikely to deal banks much of a financial blow.

Nearly 10 million adult children over the age of 50 care for their aging parents, at an average cost of $324,044 in lost wages and Social Security benefits for women and $283,716 for men, according to a new study from MetLife, the National Alliance for Caregiving and New York Medical College.

As an advisor, are you the equivalent of an “economic good” or a “free good?” Advisors who want to succeed in the future must make sure they are an “economic good” type of advisor and not a “free good” advisor.

Farrah Fawcett, dying from cancer, floated in and out of consciousness and needed a full-time nurse when Ryan O’Neal interceded to appease NBC and make sure a documentary about Fawcett’s struggle with cancer aired in time for the May sweeps period. At least, that’s the picture painted in a recent New York Times article.

As an advisor, your website is your most important piece of Internet real estate. It’s the first stop for people who want to learn more about you. In fact, it's likely that your website now makes more first impressions than you do. As such, it plays a significant role in shaping people’s opinion of your practice and your services so it's crucial to do it right.

A survey of 1,009 adults by Edward Jones on their retirement savings found good news and bad news. While 15% said their portfolios have recovered from the economic downturn, up from 12% in April 2010, 25% are not saving for retirement, up from 16% a year ago.

The Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 that Janus Capital Group is not liable for false statements in a prospectus for the Janus Investment Fund made at the time of the 2003 market-timing scandal.

Fixnetix said it had developed a microchip that achieves "wire-to-wire" execution of trading instructions in less than one microsecond.

Executing a trade isn’t easy. Broker-dealers have to figure out where to trade, when to trade and how much to trade in a way that will minimize their total costs.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon's scolding of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had broad support among bankers reeling from a re-defeat on the Durbin amendment and renewed anxieties about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. With "300 rules coming," as Dimon lamented, there are plenty of things for bankers to hate.