Practice

Insurance companies and investment firms offering retirement services to companies large and small are learning that attention to detail, an improved communication with plan sponsors and, indirectly, plan participants can dramatically improve their customer retention and satisfaction rates.

The MICG Investment Management of Newport News, Va., and barred its chief executive and majority owner, Jeffrey A. Martinovich, from the securities industry.The move, signaled in February and announced Thursday, follows what the independent regulator of brokers said was misuse of a hedge fund, for personal enrichment of Martinovich and general enrichment of the company.

Lincoln Financial Group is recommending that workers use the 2% reduction in Social Security tax as additional retirement savings. It joins the company of The Hartford and ING which have made similar recommendations.

Every few years we begin to see headlines proclaiming the latest “New Retirement.” I have to admit there have been so many versions over the past 20 years that I sometimes get confused as whether they’re talking about the “new retirement,” the “new, new retirement,” or the “newest, new retirement.”

The financial advisor’s equivalent of the real estate agent’s “location, location, location” mantra is “communication, communication, communication.” Given the events in the Middle East, you have a perfect opportunity to communicate with your clients, deepen your relationship with them and position yourself as a thought leader with the investing public through a timely, well-written update letter.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority expelled MICG Investment Management of Newport News, Va., and barred its chief executive and majority owner, Jeffrey A. Martinovich, from the securities industry.

According to PIMCO, consultants said that active management makes the most sense for all asset classes, except large-cap U.S. equities.

Financial advisors who want to keep their high-net-worth clients happy and in the fold would be well advised to keep their mobile phones close at hand, according to a new survey conducted by Chicago-based affluent investor consultant Spectrem Group.

About nine months after it floated the idea, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has just asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve a rule change to establish a new registration category and qualification exam for certain operations personnel to be called operations professionals.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has not found any major abuses from its targeted examinations of broker-dealers that were either placement agents or worked with such agents to obtain business from municipalities and public pension funds, market sources said Tuesday.