Practice

The fund business looks like it’s back.

Initiative aims to loosen up credit to small businesses for expansion, job creation and improve local banks' liquidity.

According to a poll of 41 individuals with more than $5 million of investable assets conducted by SEI, 68% admitted that emotions get in the way of making the best choices, while 17% said instinct guides them most.

Operating in a small city can present challenges but also quite a few growth opportunities for a financial planning firm. So says Cheryl Holland, a registered financial advisor and president of Abacus Planning Group, Inc. in Columbia, S.C.

Rule-making body wants the SEC to make changes to prevent potential conflict of interest in municipal securities trading.

What’s a wirehouse advisor to do in this uncomfortable situation? And there’s more on the fiduciary standard.

Women want a quality relationship with their advisors that involves interpersonal, relationship-driven factors. What does that translate into in your practice? It starts by listening.

MassMutual’s retirement services division is launching an interactive seminar series for participants on Feb. 23 called RetireSmart. The first session, on “Understanding What’s Driving the Economy,” will be presented by the firm’s Chief Economist Jerry Webman.

For the second year in a row, enforcement actions set a record, jumping 21% last year, to 2,724, an increase industry representatives attributed to a persistently heightened focus on capital and safety and soundness standards in the wake of the financial crisis.

"We're no closer to an end game than we were before the report," one panelist said Thursday. "Maybe even further away."