Practice

The ­Securities and Exchange Commission would violate the Tower Amendment and the principles of federalism if it applies its proposed rules on asset-backed securities to municipal bonds, 14 market groups warned this week.

The optimal combination of high corporate bond yields and budding investment returns for defined benefit plans was not evident in this year’s third quarter, as pensions’ worldwide saw an “offset of strong investment returns” due to the decline in yields, Towers Watson said.

Top executives want to reassure lawmakers that foreclosure alternatives are paramount.

Risks can be mitigated by utilizing stronger data security programs, Ernst & Young report says.

Use of the advice service that Bank of America Merrill Lynch Retirement & Benefit Plan Services offers 401(k) plan sponsors for free increased 23% year-to-date since September 2009.

But IRS Commissioner says the investigation isn’t over and the closed cases so far have averaged more than $200,000 in tax collections per case.

Only one in five advisors are increasing the amount of time they spend talking to clients in the wake of the economic meltdown, said Gregory Salsbury, in the closing session at the Financial Behavior in Retirement Summit in Chicago on Monday. And that's a mistake.

Steve Luckenbach, a wholesaler for Jackson National Life with 24 years’ experience under his belt, says that over that time he’s seen some advisors excel and others fail, but not for reasons you’d think.

One critical theme running through the third annual Financial Behavior in Retirement Summit in Chicago focused on how life planning is critical for advisors that want to help clients plan for retirement.

Rick Kahler of the Kahler Financial Group said at the Financial Behavior in Retirement Summit in Chicago on Monday that when planners discuss money with clients, they have to be careful because when they hit a “fear trigger,” clients may get overwhelmed and shut down without the planner realizing it.