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After years of absorbing one punishing body blow after another as the market continued its free fall, affluent investors are finally starting to regain their confidence and invest accordingly, according to a new survey from Spectrem Group

Vanilla as they may be, annuities still represent the lifeblood of many investors' portfolios because they deliver a steady, predictable income throughout retirement.

More than half say they’ll buy stocks in 2011

Customer relationship management is more than just an industry buzzword. In fact, for advisors it can be the difference between a profitable business and a really profitable business.

The average balance reached $71,500 at the end of 2010.

Equity funds net $6.42 billion, with the bulk going to domestic stock funds.

Two state-specific municipal bond portfolios managed by BlackRock Inc. were slated to be closed to investors effective Wednesday, a day after the firm began liquidating the funds' investments, according to a Feb. 18 addendum to the funds' prospectuses.

For all the budget woes of state and local governments, banks see them as good clients. Most market experts say there are plenty of investment-grade municipalities to court.

How you assess the banking industry's health from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s latest earnings report may depend on which page you turn to.

Americans held $15.6 trillion in retirement assets at the end of the third quarter of 2009, according to the ICI, but as we emerge from the Great Recession, advisors and investors want to know what they need to do to retain and grow assets from here.

Fidelity Investments reported Wednesday that the average 401(k) account balance held with it hit a 10-year high of $71,500 at the end of 2010. For participants who continuously contributed to their 401(k) the average balance increased to $183,100 from $59,100 a decade ago.

Dodd-Frank contains a series of ambitious deadlines requiring regulators to complete 170 or so new rules by July. But it's become clear the agencies are going to miss many targets.

The St. Louis brokerage company continues to its slow-but-steady growth with new addition in Connecticut.

A study of million-dollar producers conducted by Peak Advisor Alliance indicated that 10 key activities accounted for approximately 75% of their average week. Steve Sanduski, the author of our new blog, “The Prosperous Advisor,” examines these activities and why they are so critical.

This comes shortly after seven other FA’s joined MSSB.

A Florida retiree who gave her Wachovia broker a second chance "to do a better job" with her IRA investments has filed claim against Wells Fargo after suffering losses, again.

Curian Capital found that 62% of advisors say that improving efficiency and overall time management is a major goal for the coming year.

In a survey of affluent U.S. investors, HSBC Securities reported a growing interest in overseas investing, and an opportunity for advisers to provide more information.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rose 5.6 points this month to 70.4, up from 64.8 in January.

Just as the market volatility of the last few years has been challenging for investors, it’s also been challenging for advisors. In addition to the higher level of effort required to keep nervous and frustrated clients on the books, high volatility in client accounts makes it harder to be confident of fee-based revenue and therefore confident of a practice’s overall financial health.