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Breaking through the growth barrier is a concept that's all too familiar to most advisory firms at one point or another in their development. The principals have founded the business, then scratched and clawed to get it to the point of viability. But at some point, even though the firm may have gathered a respectable amount of assets, the growth just seems to plateau. Here are eight tips to help get your firm over the hump:

Hiring staff to help streamline processes and handle the workload can lead to huge growth for financial advisors who are willing to take the plunge, says Chad Olivier, founder of The Olivier Group, a financial advisory firm in Baton Rouge, La.

Jefferies Group named Thomas Fetzer as the new managing director of its global industrials group where he'll be responsible for coverage of capital goods clients across German and throughout Central Europe.

Broadridge has named Stefanie Shelley, a longtime financial services marketing veteran, chief marketing officer. Shelley had been a marketing consultant for the firm since August 2010.

Hedge funds have been holding their own amid the severe market swings of the past week, with the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Core Hedge Fund Index declining only -3.66% month-to-date through Aug. 14. By comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -11.58% in that time, and the S&P 500 declined -13.18%.

A former managing director of the Nasdaq Stock Market was sentenced today to 42 months in prison by a federal judge in Virginia.

Five years from now, the median account balance of a defined contribution plan assets will reach $150,000, up from $100,000 today.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has upheld an administrative judge's ruling that a mutual fund trader must pay more than $200,000 in penalties for accepting gifts from broker-dealers to steer trades their way. The regulator didn't buy the trader's excuse that the mutual funds weren't harmed.

During the first trading session after Standard & Poor's downgraded its rating of U.S. debt from AAA to AA+, investors got out of stocks and parked their money in ... U.S. Treasury bonds.

It is ironic that Standard & Poor's, one of the three major credit rating agencies at the heart of the financial crisis, would downgrade the United States' credit rating from triple-A to AA+. After all, S&P should have properly assessed the asset-backed housing securities that led to the Great Recession not as investment-grade but what they actually were. Junk.

Effective Sept. 30,Michael Kiley will become chief executive officer of Security Benefit Corp. He replaces Howard Fricke, who has been serving as interim president and CEO since February 2010 and was previously president and CEO of the firm from 1988 to 2000 and chairman from 1996 to 2006.

As the financial markets hit investors with gale-force gyrations last week, most advisers are telling their clients to drop anchor.

It is ironic that Standard & Poor’s, one of the three major credit rating agencies at the heart of the financial crisis, would downgrade the United States’ credit rating from triple-A to AA+. After all, S&P should have properly assessed the asset-backed housing securities that led to the Great Recession not as investment-grade but what they actually were. Junk.

Donald Johnson, 57, was sentenced for engaging in insider trading on multiple occasions based on material, non-public information he obtained in his capacity as a Nasdaq executive. Johnson also was ordered to forfeit $755,066.

As trading opens on another nervous week on Wall Street, mainstream investors are casting their votes on prospects by racing out of mutual funds that invest in stocks long-term.

For banks, the supervisory grade known as a "Camels" score is a critical and confidential yardstick of strength. But for many in the public, it is a riddle too tantalizing to ignore.

Lots of banks are under immense pressure to grow. None of them are expected to accomplish that with loans, interchange fees or much else anytime soon. Deal-minded Wall Streeters forcefully and repeatedly offer this answer: buy somebody else, or sell. But the Dodd-Frank Act makes that an especially painful option to consider for midsize banks like First Horizon National Corp., USAA Federal Savings, Rabobank and New York Community Bancorp.

Since I’m such a big proponent of using free publicity versus paid advertising as a business growth strategy, advisors often ask me if it ever makes sense to advertise. In a word, yes.

There’s more bad news for the economy and the stock market after a report from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan found that their Consumer Confidence Index in early August plunged to its lowest point since May of 1980.