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The "do it yourself" investor crowd is not exactly new. But now it has a newfound source of power. A new tool on the market from Motif Investing makes it easier than ever for individual investors to create their own ETF-like investment funds. The timing is what makes this tool potentially troubling for established mutual fund and ETF companies. Combined with an overall mistrust of the financial industry and a general populist empowerment (social media, anyone?), it could become the next disruptive change.

Southern California-based Beacon Pointe Wealth Advisors has another notch on its belt.

It’s extremely tax inefficient to pay off a mortgage using retirement funds

The 50 largest asset managers accounted for more than US$38 trillion in assets under management at the end of 2012. This is a full US$4 trillion more than the year before, even as the biggest firms in the industry continue to enlarge, according to The Cerulli Report: Global Markets 2013.

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. will pay $39 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought on behalf of women employees at its Merrill Lynch unit, according to court filings.

With heavyweights like Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) throwing its hat into the managed futures mutual fund ring, interest from both investors and asset management in this investment vehicle appears to be rising.

Stocks, bonds and gold are not all that glitters for clients' retirement portfolios.

Your clients can’t afford debt in retirement, which means they can’t afford to retire until their debt is paid off.

Simple approaches to help near-retirees avoid an income shortfall.

Bloomberg -- Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman said there’s almost no chance of another financial crisis like the one that endangered his firm five years ago.

Help wanted: Must have proven leadership ability, strong sales skills and big ideas.

As the mutual fund universe becomes more crowded and the strategies offered to investors become more complex, fund managers are under pressure to further differentiate themselves and their brands from the competition.

The country’s 20th-largest independent broker has a new name and a new pitch to independent advisors.

Investcorp's U.S.-based Hedge Fund business announced that Elena Ranguelova has come on board as Head of Credit and Equity Strategies.

FINRA is scaling back on "supersized" fines.

Financial planners can get their clients thinking seriously about their retirement by having them incorporate activities and budget-savvy thinking into their current lives.

Bloomberg -- A year ago, when opposition from the asset-management industry killed her plan to make money-market mutual funds safer, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro looked to Timothy Geithner, then the Treasury Secretary, to tackle “one of the pieces of unfinished business from the financial crisis.”

Options have been used in asset management for several decades, but due to current market conditions asset managers' interest has been renewed in this strategy. With bonds in a bear market and an equity market meandering horizontally, these managers are embracing options as a way to generate income while protecting against the downside.

Building a successful fund requires a distinguishable brand, an effective marketing strategy, and a commitment to distribution support.

Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch has capped off the summer with a round of hires from Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.