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Before putting a bow on 2011, advisors and their clients should take the time to nail down these four key aspects of their finances to ensure financial planning success in 2012, according to M&I, a part of the BMO Financial Group. Everyone wants to save money and prepare themselves and their families for the future. But that can only happen if clients establish well-defined goals and take the necessary steps to put advisors’ strategic advice to work. Here are the Top 4 end-of-year financial planning tasks every client needs to complete:

The new Department of Labor 401(k) fee disclosure rules that go into effect on April 1 will radically shake up the industry, according to Tom Gonnella, senior vice president of corporate development at Lincoln Trust, who gave six predictions for the defined contribution industry in 2102.

Bank of the West has hired senior marketing executive Brian Katz to head up the Wealth Management Group’s newly created Banking and Sales Strategy unit.

NEW YORK—The United States will not fall back into another recession, Benjamin Pace, U.S. chief investment officer, Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, told a press briefing Tuesday.

Holdings of cash, deposits and money market fund shares accounted for 5.9% of nonfinancial corporate assets in the third quarter. That was higher than at any other point in more than 50 years. Yet companies still keep borrowing.

NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Börse stepped up their proposal to divest assets in their derivatives businesses, in their effort to win clearance from European regulators for their merger.

Cloud computing, software-as-a-service and Big Data cited by Fidelity’s technology portfolio managers as the high-tech trends to watch.

U.S. stocks fell Monday after Moody's Investors Service said last week's European fiscal pact will not deter it from reconsidering the credit ratings of all European Union nations.

“For stocks, it is hardly likely to be smooth sailing from here, but conditions have certainly improved since the wild market swings that we saw over the summer.” – Bob Doll, Chief Equity Strategist for Fundamental Equities, BlackRock, blackrock.com

Fresh off of meeting its 2011 Merrill Edge financial solutions advisor hiring goals, Bank of America has announced it plans to add more than 160 hires in Arizona and Southern California in the coming year.