Financial planning

Not all trusts are created equal, especially when it comes to protection in a divorce.

They call it the “January Effect.” Whether it’s the by-product of those Wall Street guys reinvesting their year-end bonuses or individual investors jumping back into the market after selling for year-end tax reasons, the Dow Jones Industrial Average historically gets a nice little (and sometimes huge) bump during the first month of the year. This January was no exception. The Dow rallied up 415.35 points, or 3.4%, in January – the best January percentage gain since 1997. But for some stocks, the year didn’t get off to a very auspicious start. Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time left this year to rebound. Here’s an interactive slide show highlighting the 5 worst-performing Dow component stocks for January 2012:

They call it the “January Effect.” Whether it’s the by-product of those Wall Street guys reinvesting their legendary year-end bonuses or individual investors jumping back into the market after selling for year-end tax reasons, the Dow Jones Industrial Average historically gets a nice little (and sometimes huge) bump during the first month of the year. This January was no exception. The Dow rallied up 415.35 points, or 3.4%, this January – the best January percentage gain since 1997. Here’s an interactive slide show highlighting the 5 best-performing Dow component stocks for January 2012:

The assets of the nation’s mutual funds were flat in December, gaining $12.3 billion.

University of Chicago Professor Emeritus Marvin Zonis points out that several nations representing more than half of the world's GDP by purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita could see a change atop their governments this year. This potentially massive shift in geo-political leadership will almost certainly impact economies, investments and investors around the globe. Here’s an interactive slide show featuring 10 countries and elections that Wall Street needs to be paying attention to this year: Source: World Bank/Professor Emeritus Marvin Zonis, University of Chicago

Direxion Funds said it is is making modifications to its line of “buy and hold” alternative strategies, effective February 1, 2012.

For bank reps looking to advance their careers, there’s no better news than a promotion or a job offer that’s too good to refuse. Here’s a sampling of bank reps who were either promoted or moved to new institutions to assume roles of greater responsibility from Jan. 11 to Jan. 24 of this year.

The number and complexity of corporate events persist, even three years after the 2008 financial crisis. Here's a rundown, from Wolters Kluwers Financial Services.

Even as the company sets out on a second round of cost-cutting in Project New BAC, chief executive officer Brian Moynihan said the company considers Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management one of its core businesses – and will increase efforts to build it up.

It’s the end of the week, you’re online and you’re just looking for something to make you laugh for a couple minutes. Well, you’ve come to the right place. Yes, the links have been pilfered straight from YouTube and you may have seen one or two of these before. But at least now they're all in one convenient location and also include links to some relevant news to help justify (sort of) all the guffaws. Without further adieu, here are five videos that should make any financial advisor chuckle.

Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management business saw its 2011 fourth quarter net income decline 22% compared to the fourth quarter of 2010 as lower transactional activity offset higher net interest income and asset management fees.

Exchange-traded funds are like stocks. And mutual funds. Except they're not. Here's a glossary on how ETFs really operate.

Cowen Group said it agreed to acquire Algorithmic Trading Management, a provider of customized code for executing trades electronically.

In recent years, the federal government has created an AMT “patch” to help exempt millions of Americans from getting caught. But planners should note that lawmakers haven’t moved to create a patch for 2012.

Here’s what Investment Technology Group thinks will happen in the coming year, with modest re-interpretation.

It's time to think about accelerating clients’ income for 2012 in anticipation of higher taxes for 2013 and beyond, according to the founder of one of the nation’s largest RIAs.

Spending on hardware, software and communications all is expected to grow by more than 5% this year, in the latest Gartner forecasts. Is this the year that not just trading firms, but companies of all stripes get bullish on technology spending, again? Here's a snapshot look at the consulting firm's prognostication.

Equity funds saw outflows of $9.4 billion for the week of Jan. 4, 2012, according to numbers released by the Investment Company Institute.

How investors go about making decisions in uncertain and volatile markets can have long-lasting implications, especially when bias and emotion enter in. The field of behavioral finance has shown that human beings can’t be presumed to take the most logical, rational approach to investing. So if not logic, just what is affecting our decisions? A recent report from Robert W. Baird & Co.’s Private Wealth Management Research team outlines psychological and social factors that affect how we make financial decisions. Be aware of these factors to help you avoid some psychological pitfalls that regularly affect professional and amateur investors alike. Source: Robert W. Baird & Co.’s Private Wealth Management Research

A date is set for the exchange-traded equivalent of the world's largest mutual fund to get going.