Michael Simonds, recently named as one of On Wall Street magazine’s Top Branch Managers of the Year, is leaving Morgan Stanley Smith Barney to join Merrill Lynch as an associate director, according to a source familiar with the move.
Simonds, 40, was a complex manager in New York City for MSSB, where he supervised 150 advisors with $12 billion in assets under management. Simonds, an 18-year veteran of MSSB, was a financial advisor for seven years before becoming a manager.
Merrill, BMO and Schwab are among many firms helping clients take out security-backed loans against market gains to avoid capital gains tax hits.
Despite looming concerns, only 32% of retirees said they work with a financial advisor, according to Schroders' 2026 U.S. Retirement Survey.
The Uniform Partition of Heirs' Property Act helps families avoid forced property sales in at least 24 states, according to a study sponsored by JPMorgan Chase.
Firms with big recruiting loan balances are often the ones with the most success hiring advisors from industry rivals. But the numbers also suggest they're offering increasingly generous deals.
Financial planners who joined the Transparent Advisor Movement's first "Flat Fridays" meetup touched on the difficulty of explaining the industry to consumers.
The Securities and Exchange Commission rescinded a policy Monday requiring defendants in settled enforcement actions not to publicly deny the SEC's allegations.
