Financial planning

Investing directly in private companies is becoming increasingly popular with wealthy families.

Do other planners or professional colleagues know your ideal client profile? You may be missing out on business if they don’t know who to refer to you, says new solo advisor Dave Grant.

Former U.S. Senate aides Michael Piwowar and Kara M. Stein won confirmation as members of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The current SEC chairman Mary Jo White was also confirmed to a full term that expires June 5, 2019.

Some technology challenges come even after you've made your software decisions. Recently, new soloist Dave Grant has been struggling with his CRM system.

Brokers who hold investors’ assets will have to file quarterly reports attesting to compliance with measures toprotect customer money and securities under rules adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

A new poll indicates that more men than women may be willing to hire women as their financial planners.

Mike Boosel of Baird turned a part-time teaching gig, helping seniors learn about retirement planning, into a lucrative source of clients.

LPL Financial Holdings reported the strongest quarter in the company’s nearly three years as a public company, with net revenues topping $1 billion for the first time. LPL’s board of directors also announced the company’s quarterly dividend would be raised 40% to 19 cents per share.

While the regulatory reform effort is likely to continue on its current path if Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve Board's vice chairman, is tapped to lead the central bank, the future is decidedly murkier if Larry Summers wins the post.

"Videos often get judged immediately by viewers, and let's be honest -- personal finance videos are not the coolest things to watch," says Dave Grant. Here are some tips to help improve your video marketing.

Questions about the future of online advice have intensified since Bloomberg LP, the multibillion-dollar data, information and media giant, said last week that it was shutting down its own online wealth management offering, BloombergBlack.

Several major trends continued in the second quarter: strengthening credit quality, continued debt reduction and a focus on cutting costs.

Once you've identified the risks and opportunities among your female client base, it's time to take action to better serve female clients. Here are four key strategies to consider.

The new portfolio management and research tool is aimed at advisors in both Raymond James' employee and independent channels.

For any number of reasons, clients sometimes want to prevent their inheritors from draining their IRA accounts right after they die. LPL Financial is joining a handful of other firms in offering a turnkey product -- a so-called inherited “trusteed IRA” -- for advisors to use in these situations.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will issue two concept releases next month, one seeking public comment on whether to develop a best execution rule and another requesting input on enhancing post-trade data reporting and developing standards for collecting and disseminating pre-trade information.

The Treasury Department said it expects to borrow $209 billion in the third quarter and end with a $95 billion cash balance.

Equities continue their climb, notching gains of 15.7% so far this year, as measured by the S&P 500. This comes after a 13% gain last year. Against that backdrop, we asked Morningstar to rank the top mutual funds in the U.S. for the past 12 months. We limited it to open-end funds that have at least $100 million in assets and that have been in business for at least five years.

Older clients create three major challenges for advisors. If planners aren't analyzing their client base and preparing response strategies, they risk jeopardizing the future of their business.

The U.S. economic expansion is “two-speed,” favoring those who are already well-off financially, said Vincent Reinhart, the chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley.