Practice

Microsoft Outlook moved down to second place — overtaken by Redtail — in the CRM software category for advisors this year. It was the first time in the history of Financial Planning’s annual tech survey that Outlook was not in first place.

BATS Europe is confronting “system issues.” The pan-European trading venue operated by BATS Global Markets went down at 9:36 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time.

If it looks too good to be true, it is. That appears to be the stance that will be taken by the SEC when it comes to investigating the fraudulent activities of hedge fund advisors as evidenced by its recent enforcement action against three separate firms and six individuals.

Financial Planning columnist Bob Veres says advisors need to understand what could happen if FINRA becomes their regulator.

Tablets have fundamentally changed the way financial advisors do their work and there’s every reason to believe they will continue to be the dominant tool of choice in the advisory community for years to come.

Ahead of the Department of Labor’s anticipated proposal to redefine fiduciary responsibility, expected sometime in 2012, 55 House Republicans sent a letter asking for more careful consideration of the effects on consumer choice before any new rule is proposed.

Neuberger Berman has placed Fayad Abbasi, an analyst at the center of a federal insider-trading probe, on paid leave.

Since the financial crisis and Great Recession, 401(k) plans have undergone dramatic shifts. To foster diversification and greater participation, 51% of participants in Fidelity Investments' 401(k) plans are in automatically enrolled plans, up from 16% five years ago, and 73% of the plans use target-date funds as the default, up from 11% in 2006.

From Dodd-Frank to new taxes on professional services, lawmakers are increasingly making and suggesting changes that could dramatically impact planners and their clients. The planning community hasn't sat idle amid all this rule-making. In fact, the Financial Planning Association and its regional chapters have gotten more politically active than they've been in the past.

Since the financial crisis and Great Recession, 401(k) plans have undergone dramatic shifts. To foster diversification and greater participation, 51% of participants in Fidelity Investments' 401(k) plans are in automatically enrolled plans, up from 16% five years ago, and 73% of the plans use target-date funds as the default, up from 11% in 2006. In the past year, 64% of sponsors changed their investment lineup-up dramatically from 20% in 2008.