Practice management

Marketing expert Marie Swift says financial advisors who embrace videos, podcasts, recorded multimedia presentations and live online meetings can connect and build rapport with clients in a fraction of the time and more cost effectively than ever before.

A year ago, the firm’s more than 4,000 advisors in the United States had to manually submit each post in advance for review. Now, Raymond James Financials has automated the compliance and publishing process, to speed up communications with customers.

One problem advisors face when deciding to break away from a large firm and start their own RIA: timing. How soon is too soon to make the move? Can it be done without a very large book of business?

Less than half -- 45% -- of Generation X and Y investors plan to contribute to Individual Retirement Account accounts for the 2011 tax year, according to survey results from T. Rowe Price.

A boost in United States and global equity markets led in January to a 1.7% increase in the funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan, according to a newly released report from BNY Mellon Asset Management.

The Department of Justice announced that it filed a notice with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss its antitrust lawsuit regarding the potential merger of Deutsche Boerse AG and NYSE Euronext.

The global effort by the U.S. government to catch American tax cheats intensified this week as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom agreed to support a broad new U.S. law requiring foreign financial institutions to disclose information about the foreign bank accounts of U.S. citizens.

Only 20 years ago, more than half of all American workers said they were on track to retire before they reached the age of 65. Today, only about 23% of Americans say they’ll be able to retire by that age. Here are the seven largest obstacles standing between your clients and an early retirement.

Steve Sanduski, The Prosperous Advisor, says too many advisors are stuck in a pattern that’s keeping them from making new connections and reaching their full potential. Here are five tips to help break that cycle.

Fifth Third Bank continues to build its high-net-worth service offering with two internal promotions.

At the end of last year’s fourth quarter, the average 401(k) balance was up almost 8% from the prior quarter, to $69,100. Fidelity Investments president of workplace investing, James M. MacDonald, called these results “encouraging.”

A recent MFS Investment Management survey reveals that the past few years of economic uncertainty continue to take their toll on younger investors’ confidence in their retirement plans.

The vast majority of executives responsible for 401(k) plans at their companies are feeling less confident that employees are financially prepared for retirement, according to a survey by Deloitte.

Rothstein Kass expects that new hire Nancy H. Schultz will be able to parlay her 25 years of financial planning experience and her extensive network of contacts in the region to take advantage of growing demand for single-family practices on the West Coast.

UBS is expanding its compliance database to include information on environmental and social risks, which will be applied to companies, prospective sourcing partners and investment clients to ferret out controversy that could impact the bank's reputation and financial performance.

Succession planning is on a lot of advisors' minds right now. But it's not only owners who need to prepare for succession — employees also need to get ready. Financial Planning talked to Deena Katz, chairwoman of Evensky & Katz and associate professor of personal financial planning at Texas Tech, about her thoughts on this topic.

Wall Street's own watchdog filed a complaint against Charles Schwab Corp., accusing the online brokerage giant of requiring customers to waive their rights to pursue certain legal action against the firm, a violation of industry rules.

Authority details its top concerns in a letter directed to the industry’s compliance officers.

Keith Johnson is expected to enhance Curian’s practice management platform with new advisor-facing educational content, sales and marketing presentations, tools and resources.

NYSE Euronext said it would focus on its “standalone strategy,’’ while Deutsche Boerse declared this a ‘black day’ after the European Commission prohibited the merger of the two exchange operators.