Practice

Assets in defined contribution plans flowed to target-date and international equity funds in 2012, according to a new tracking tool launched by the Defined Contribution Solutions group at Northern Trust.

DCIO sponsors take heed.

When advisors are asked to describe their compensation on the FPA website, they can choose to check one of four options: fee-only, commission-only, a combination of fee and commission, or salary. But as one prominent advisor recently learned, those options are dangerously limited, given the industry’s often complex business models -- and the answers that planners select can contain minefields for the advisors, their firms and their clients.

Driven by difficult market conditions and higher levels of anxiety among investors, the question of whether or not advisors are "stealing" client has been coming up more frequently in the past few years. The overall growth rate for advisory practices has been stagnant for a decade, which is pushing sales management to scrutinize who is growing and why.

PIMCO is teaming up retirement technology platform providers Aria Retirement Solutions and insurer Transamerica Advisors Life Insurance Company to market retirement income products to asset-based fee-only Registered Investment Advisors.

Communicating what you can do for prospective clients is much more effective if you talk about what changes they want to see rather than what activities you will do for them.

Seven financial advisors had their right to use the Certified Financial Planning certification marks permanently revoked in March as part of a series of public disciplinary actions announced by the CFP Board this week.

Financial institutions should develop distinct service offerings for young investors that speak to them at their life stage.

A strong majority of advisors (86%) said they had acquired more clients than they lost in 2012, according to a new advisor survey from Russell Investments, with nearly a half saying they had brought on more than 10 households. And 87% said they were "optimistic" about acquiring new clients in 2013.

Advisors must embrace the latest trends and advancements, or risk falling behind. Check out five best practices for the advisor of the future (and the present.)