Financial planning

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

Americans, particularly Baby Boomers, are more nervous about and unprepared for their retirement today than at any time in history. Survey after survey has found that people are delaying their retirements, planning to work during their retirement and scaling back expectations for their golden years. Here are 12 not-so-cheery facts that Baby Boomers and their financial advisors need to appreciate and address in the coming year to ensure they're properly prepared for the retirement they've always envisioned.

The nation’s estimated 17,600 bank advisors are as diverse as the U.S. itself. Here are 12 who were profiled in our magazine this year, each with different investment philosophies, market niches, and business development approaches. Their interests, too, are just as varied, making each producer stand out on many levels.

The time for watching and waiting is over. Twitter is a culture phenomenon and more and more financial advisors are setting up Twitter profiles and testing the waters to connect with existing clients, promote their services to potential new clients and share industry news and insight with their peers. Whether you are new to Twitter or seasoned vet, here are 10 tips provided by TJ Gilsenan, Web-Savvy Advisor, to help financial advisors get the most out of the platform:

Here are a dozen gifts (plus one) which could ruin your holiday spirit -- and pocketbook -- if FINRA decides you have crossed the line and been too generous.

Before putting a bow on 2011, advisors and their clients should take the time to nail down these four key aspects of their finances to ensure financial planning success in 2012, according to M&I, a part of the BMO Financial Group. Everyone wants to save money and prepare themselves and their families for the future. But that can only happen if clients establish well-defined goals and take the necessary steps to put advisors’ strategic advice to work. Here are the Top 4 end-of-year financial planning tasks every client needs to complete:

UBS zeroes in on five events that will happen in the upcoming year, five that may and five that won’t.

Shrinking margins in the independent broker-dealer space have prompted another independent broker-dealer, Seattle-based Pacific West Financial Group, to close its doors.

The latest "safe haven" for investors appears to be, once again, gold. But this time, the avenue they’re taking to get the bullion into their portfolios is the exchange-traded fund.

Here are this year’s best bank-based financial advisors and the secrets to their success.

With the holidays fast approaching, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management has come up with a holiday wish list for its "true love,” the financial markets. For the most part, the Deutsche Bank crew doesn’t believe they’re dreaming and predicts most of these wishes will come true 2012. Do you? Here’s an interactive slideshow counting down the 12 wishes they and most wealth managers are hoping for in the New Year.

2011 is winding to a close and financial planners and their clients are already making adjustments to their portfolios and plotting the strategies they intend to deploy to increase their wealth and buffer their retirement savings. To this end, the Financial Planning Association of San Francisco has offered up its Top 12 Financial Planning Strategies for 2012. Take a gander at this interactive slideshow detailing the best tactics for you and your clients next year.

Your clients can have homeowners' insurance that monitors for leaks or fires - and even file claims on their behalf.

The average price tag for a data breach now is $7.2 million. How are you supposed to value the loss when your crown jewels – trading algorithms – get put on data sticks or uploaded to remote servers, as happened to Goldman Sachs? Or you have to face down billions in verified losses, because you couldn’t control “unauthorized trading,” as occurred to UBS? And if you're a financial advisor or smaller advisory firm, how do you safeguard data while also taking advantage of social media and mobile devices to service your clients? The National Security Agency has begun providing Wall Street banks with intelligence on foreign hackers, a sign that financial sabotage from abroad is imminent, if not already in progress, in the estimation of Booz Allen Hamilton. Here are the Top 10 Financial Services Cyber Security Trends to act on in 2012 and recommendations on what to do about them, from senior vice president Bill Wansley.