Financial planning

Focus on being the leader people want to follow and on having the right people in the right job, doing the right work.

Summit Financial, based in Westlake Village, Calif., is a primarily fee-based RIA offering clients investment management, insurance and retirement planning, says Triad, which offers advisory firms both a broker-dealer and a fee-based RIA multi-custodial platform.

New rules would bog down independent advisors in 'busywork' without producing enforcement gains, Brian Hamburger argues.

Savant's latest deal exemplifies a growing M&A trend: Larger RIAs buying smaller advisory firms, often in the same geographic region.

Agents tout that these products offer 8% guaranteed returns, but this 8% is not a yield but an income rider; Plus, how the Supreme Court just improved your clients' retirement.

While the wirehouse picked up a team producing $4 million, it also lost advisors who oversaw a combined $165 million in AUM to Steward Partners, an independent firm affiliated with Raymond James Financial Services.

Experts cite challenges in building and prosecuting cases involving elder financial abuse, suggesting advisors need policies and procedures to spot and report issues as they arise.

The wealth division has $700 million in assets under management, according to its latest Form ADV, and only 20 employees performing 'investment advisory functions.'

With a strategy to directly target institutional investors, Trizic, a digital wealth management technology startup, has attracted $3 million in seed funding.

Three bank breakaways join two former colleagues who started the independent firm Standard Investment Advisors last year.

A review of year-to-date trading activity of U.S. diversified equity mutual funds spots trends that advisors and clients can use to identify the biggest sector movements.

Clients are advised to avoid using a break-even analysis when deciding on when to start collecting their Social Security retirement benefits; Plus, why you shouldn't rollover a late spouse's IRA into your own.

Top equity market investments in real estate over the past five years.

A former H. Beck advisor joins Securities America after 27 years with the firm to explore some of the industry's latest technological advances.

A long-term strategy turns taxed-interest income into lower-taxed capital gains.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that could have far-reaching implications for how long a retirement plan participant has to sue an employer for breach of fiduciary duty in a 401(k) plan.

Nearing the top 1% of total U.S. households, the Obama family holds roughly $1.25 million in Treasury notes and bills.

As we step into the second quarter of this year, think about stepping out of your comfort zone to boost your business. Here are six suggestions to help you do that.

Even taxpayers with professional help can make significant mistakes. See the three failures that tripped up one taxpayer.

A look at the best comp for the $400,000 producers across the wirehouse and regional broker-dealers.