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IFP reports dramatic increases in revenue, financial advisors joining the firm’s network and client AUM.

Bradley Fisher will be taking over as managing director and leader of the Family Office Advisory Practice.

The coming year is shaping up to be a fresh start for alternative mutual fund shop Pyxis Capital.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 14.76 points to 12,962.81 Monday as investors reacted to a flurry of mixed economic reports at home and abroad.

Chicago-based RIA HighTower has lured away HSW Advisors, a three-man team overseeing more than $1.4 billion for 50 clients, from Merrill Lynch’s private banking and investment group.

Jackson National Life Insurance Company, a purveyor of variable annuities, is looking to offer its advisors and their retail clients access to alternative investments.

Russell Investments has introduced a series of indexes designed to allow fund managers to control volatility in their portfolios.

A new investment management shop has opened in Palm Beach, Fla., dubbed Crest Investment Partners LLC.

Nasdaq OMX and risk analytics developer Axioma have launched a family of indexes that will give investors exposure to commodity spot prices, through the use of stocks.

For many planners with high-net-worth minimums for their clients, target-date funds don’t make sense for a variety of reasons. But in the right circumstances, they can be helpful tools.

Wasatch Funds has launched what it touts as “one of the few no-load open-end mutual funds focused exclusively on frontier and smaller emerging market countries,” including Africa and Southeast Asia.

PrimeVest Financial Services gained 273 advisors in 2011, lifting its total registered representative force to more than 1,600, the firm announced today.

The top concern was over the quality and selection of investment options in traditional plans, with over half of RIAs surveyed naming this as their chief issue.

PrimeVest Financial Services gained 273 advisors in 2011, lifting its total registered representative force to more than 1,600, the firm announced today.

State Street Corporation has appointed Dick Taggart to the post of head of Middle Office Outsourcing Operations across North America for the company’s investment manager services business.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to issue for public comment a proposed auditing standard on related-party transactions, and to amend standards on significant unusual transactions and auditors of broker-dealers.

An arbitration panel shot down a claimant’s request for up to $2.9 million for allegedly botched investments tied to private placements and Ponzi schemes last week, and instead ordered her to pay almost $136,000 in costs and expert witness fees.

There’s a lot of investor and advisor interest in alternative investments as a means to hedge against market volatility and to diversify a portfolio (all while boosting returns). Steve Hammers, chief investment officer and portfolio manager of the Compass EMP Alternative Strategies Fund, spoke to Financial Planning about how to design and evaluate an alternatives strategy:

Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, the investment advisor to Wells Fargo Advantage Funds, has rolled out a fund that will invest in a wide range of alternative investments.

Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. has rolled out the Westwood Short Duration High Yield Fund, which will bet on non-investment grade debt with expected maturities of three years or less.