Portfolio

As competition for talent increases, the best way for RIA firms to hold onto top-tier employees is to make it worth their while. Schwab's 2014 RIA Benchmarking Study highlights three major steps toward building a good compensation plan.

The broker-dealer giant has acquired a 51% interest in electronic services firm Docupace Technologies.

"Any effort to put broker-dealers and advisors into the same box is probably not going to work," says a former deputy director of the SEC's Division of Investment Management.

Two former advisors from Fifth Third Private Bank are joining LPL's broker-dealer and custodial platforms as an independent hybrid firm, StreamSong Advisors.

3 things every spouse must know about Social Security; Top retirement expense is your home; Financial simplicity should be a retirement priority

Thanks to a continued economic recovery, strong equity market performance, rising real estate values and record domestic oil production, wealth growth rates in the U.S. strongly outpaced global averages.

As clients near retirement, many are eager to address their future cash-flow needs. Based on our reporting, here are some of the best ways advisors can help clients generate income in retirement.

The payouts may be substantial, but don’t let the dividends from foreign equities and funds shrink because of tax withholding.

Sales and advice should be separated by law, because there’s a clear difference between true "fiduciary" practices and those of the brokerage industry, Fiduciary Institute says.

"We want to focus on what advisors can do to prepare for the next generation or two," says NAPFA chair Robert Gerstemeier.