Investments

Regulators took the wirehouses to task for not having policies directing advisors to consider clients' best interests.

Funds in areas including bitcoin, technology and clean energy were especially successful.

The number of financial advisors at America's biggest bank dropped slightly from last quarter but was still up from last year.

An airline's 401(k) fund used BlackRock as its asset manager. The case could open the floodgates.

Edward Jones stood accused of not properly supervising advisors who were charging clients commissions for mutual funds and then moving the fund shares over to fee-generating accounts.

Industry experts say the new team of 25 investment specialists seems designed to tackle the more esoteric aspects of working with wealthy clients and leave asset gathering and relationship management to advisors.

If there's one thing we should have learned by now, it's that the constant state of change in our industry is driven by advances in technology.

But even as many firms' tech budgets are likely to increase, experts say carefully spending that money to increase efficiency will be paramount to maintaining a nimble tech stack.

Wealthy clients and other accredited investors should consider drilling deductions, opportunity zones and 1031 exchanges in 2025, an expert says.

In December, the BlackRock Investment Institute stated that giving bitcoin a 1% to 2% weighting would produce a similar share of profile risk as the so-called Magnificent Seven technology stocks in a standard 60/40 portfolio.

The tax-efficient, low-cost funds may have an even greater advantage over traditional mutual funds due to the IRS's lack of a definition for "substantially identical" securities.

The SEC should amend the regulation in order to help workers who can't afford to wait for an IPO to access the value of their equity.

High-yield cash opportunities, alternative investments, ETFs and short term bonds received renewed interest.

The iShares Bitcoin Trust (ticker IBIT) smashed industry records in its launch year of 2024.

Experts say the playing field has fundamentally changed as fractional ownership and other paths to access make alternative investments increasingly available.

More than five dozen stories from the past year reflect an era of building controversy and pushback amid ongoing efforts to remove barriers and promote careers.

From trending independence to the rise in AI in wealth management, these stories and series dove deep on issues of utmost importance to financial advisors in 2024.

Trump returns to the White House promising both deregulation and tariffs, the Fed considers whether to keep dropping interest rates or not and markets, which hit new highs in 2024, are watching it all closely in the new year.

The Federal Open Market Committee cut the fed funds target again in December but signaled fewer cuts in 2025. There was some dissent. The markets are watching to see if the Federal Reserve pauses its easing cycle in January. Brian Rehling, head of global fixed-income strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, recaps and parses the previous day's FOMC meeting and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.

The battle over ESG investing is spreading in the Midwest, with the recent passage of an Ohio law and a decision by the Indiana Public Retirement System.