Financial planning

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.

Cetera Financial Group has agreed to buy Genworth Financial Investment Services, an independent broker-dealer with almost 2,000 independent advisors specializing in integrating wealth management services with tax and accounting services.

The operators of the Chicago Board Options Exchange said its futures exchange achieved record volume in 2011, based on its fear index.

You never know what to expect. But events of 2011 gave plenty of clues for what lies ahead in 2012, as trading firms and exchanges speed up and beef up.

Nearly two years after a UBS wealth manager was found dead in her bathtub on New Year’s Eve, a New York court official has filed a wrongful death suit accusing the late Shele Danishefsky Covlin’s estranged husband, a former stock trader, of strangling his wife.

Planners should pay close attention to a new U.S. tax statute that will take effect in the 2012 tax year that experts say could make it difficult for their clients to keep their American citizenship and their foreign-based assets at the same time.

Sometimes it just isn’t your year. And 2011 wasn't the greatest of years for some of the world's most iconic companies, particularly for tech firms such as Cisco Systems and HP that have delivered massive returns to shareholders for years. However, comparing these select 30 stocks’ performance against one another over a one-year period is hardly a comprehensive or “fair” method to evaluate each company’s long- or short-term prospects. For the year, the Dow is up just over 6%. They say success has a million fathers but failure is an orphan. Here’s hoping you or your clients were holding a large position in these Dow stocks this year. Also see: The 10 Best-Performing Dow Stocks of 2011

Only 30 stocks comprise the world’s most closely watched index – the Dow Jones Industrial Average – and its daily, weekly, monthly and annual gains (or losses) serve as a very handy – albeit simplistic – snapshot of investor sentiment and a decent barometer of how the U.S. and world economies are fairing. Of course, comparing these select 30 stocks’ performance against one another over a one-year period is hardly a comprehensive or “fair” method to evaluate each company’s long- or short-term prospects. There are far too many factors – good and bad – that influence any stock’s performance over a 52-week period. And to merely be a member of this exclusive group probably means the company is doing – or has been doing – something right for quite some time. Saying that, everybody loves a winner and if you or your clients held any of these top-performing Dow component stocks in their portfolios this year, there’s a pretty good chance they did quite well for themselves in 2011. For the year, the Dow is up just over 6%. Here’s an interactive slideshow featuring the 10 Best-Performing Dow component stocks of 2011. Also see: The 10 Worst-Performing Dow Stocks of 2011