Financial planning

A new FINRA rule aims to make information on brokers’ disciplinary actions more available and searchable.

A pair of Supreme Court rulings Wednesday will bring major changes for advisors who work with same-sex couples. What will this mean for your practice?

Claiming the next generation of clients and standing out from the crowd are very much on advisors’ minds, but they’re still grappling with how to deal with those two critical issues.

In order for advisors to stand their ground to direct providers like Fidelity, Schwab and ETrade, they must not lose sight of younger and low to middle market investors, says Bing Waldert, director at Cerulli Associates.

Direxion has launched two leveraged exchange-traded funds that track Japanese equity market performance.

Following a bearish May, investor confidence shot up in June, according to the State Street Global Investor Confidence Index released Tuesday.

More than one in four Baby Boomers and Gen Xers who otherwise would have had adequate retirement income are projected to run out of money if rates remain as they are.

Who are the most productive top program managers? Here’s a ranking of our top program managers by production per advisor. How do you stack up?

Check out a new look at our top bank program managers list, reshuffled and ranked by percentage increase in team production.

“It's a pretty big issue for us,” said Daniel Sibears, FINRA executive vice president for member regulation. “There are many dozens of complaints where there's been [a] compromise of customer information, particularly information that is needed to get into online accounts and to execute transactions and move money.”

Thirty eight percent of fund firms across the country said that they will increase technology-related costs while a total of 17% of respondents said they expected no change in whether their firm's technology costs would rise or decline for the rest of this year.

Exchange-traded fund investors pumped in some $84 billion of assets into equity ETFs while fixed income funds brought in $30 billion through May 31, according to data from State Street Global Investors.

Advisors needs and wants are moving targets and mutual fund wholesalers must constantly adjust to if they want to hit the bullseye.

The tax-exempt market took another beating Monday as the 10-year yield rose to a 24-month high and traders said demand for municipal bonds was still deteriorating.

Government policy is becoming a more prominent topic of conversation between financial advisors and their clients, according to a recent study as well as anecdotal reports -- and remarks by the Federal Reserve chairman last week on the future of the Fed’s stimulus policy have spurred even more discussions about government policy.

The recent notification from FINRA, that the regulator will spot-check social media communications of its members, underscores how crucial it is for firms to have a robust social media policy in place. Here are 11 issues to consider in crafting an effective social media policy.

Here’s a sampling of bank reps who were recently promoted or moved to new organizations to assume roles of greater responsibility.

To stay competitive in attracting the next generation of clients, advisors will need a strong digital presence. Social media is a big part of that, says UBS advisor Mitch Slater.

FINRA's social media spot check notification last week shouldn't come as a terrible surprise to the industry. The announcement underscores the need for firms to thoughtfully develop clear policies to supervise and manage usage, content and engagement.

Thinking of working for a family office? First look under the hood – and into the mirror.