Practice management

Three former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney advisors have taken their business to Stifel Nicolaus to start an office in Madison, Connecticut.

With a new head of research on board, Lipper announced a new set of initiatives for the second half of 2012 that involves building out research and analytical tools.

As the Republican convention kicks into high gear this week, don't expect the headliners to spend much time discussing the Dodd-Frank Act, much less its specific parts.

More than 75% feel confident they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement, even though nearly 40% of Baby Boomers and about two-thirds of Gen Xers have less than $100,000 in retirement savings.

One of the most important things any advisor can do to for his or her clients is to help them understand what underperformance really means, according to Steve Atkinson, "The Advisors' Coach."

TD Ameritrade survey finds that 60 percent of Generation X and Generation Y make regular, automatic contributions to their retirement savings compared to just 46% of non-retired baby boomers.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro may have lost the first round in her push to reform the $2.6 billion money market mutual fund industry, but the fight has only just begun.

GoldenTree Asset Management LP, a money manager overseeing $15.9 billion in assets, hired Daniel Ornstein from Morgan Stanley to co-head its trading business.

Janney Montgomery Scott continues to flex its recruitment muscles, drawing another high producing team from wirehouse competitor UBS.

Noelle Maloney, who was second in command of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's troubled internal watchdog office, has left the agency.

"We have many advisor who are choosing to build their practices around women," says Joan Khoury, LPL's chief marketing officer. "When they do this, we are empowering them to have all this turnkey info for their women investors."

Authenticity is a critical component of being a successful financial advisor. Unfortunately, not all advisors fit that description, according to Steve Sanduski, "The Prosperous Advisor."

Plan participants who pick their own mix of investment options are generally exposed to greater risk due to reduced diversification, according to The Principal.

ICI President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens said the "exhaustive record" before the SEC did not support the changes that it was proposing.

Merrill Lynch is expected to head into a New York court Friday and hammer out a settlement that could potentially affect the deferred compensation of thousands of financial advisors that have left the firm since its 2008 combination with Bank of America.

Trust funds are typically plump with assets to manage. Now, RIAs may be able to keep those asset management fees, after trusts are funded, without having to disrupt back office operations.

Here is the text of the statement by Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro on money market mutual fund reform.

Mary Schapiro, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, canceled a vote on a proposal to tighten money-market fund rules amid opposition from fellow commissioners and a lobbying campaign by fund companies.

The SEC rolled out its first whistle-blower award on Tuesday, a $50,000 payment to an anonymous informant who helped bring down a Ponzi scheme. So far, the government has recovered $150,000.

A dozen luminaries of the financial world, including former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, have signed a petition calling on lawmakers and regulatory authorities to expand the scope of fiduciary responsibilities to encompass more segments of the investment advisory industry.