Practice management

The U.S. retirement market is projected to grow to nearly $22 trillion by 2016. That represents a 38% increase from an estimated $16 trillion mark for the end of 2011, due mostly to continuing market recovery.

Custom target-date funds are beginning to proliferate at the expense of their off-the-shelf counterparts. That’s due to plan sponsors wanting to have greater control over what’s in a fund and have access to a wider array of investments to put in them.

The former UBS trader accused of unauthorized deals that cost the Swiss bank $2.3 billion pleaded not guilty to four fraud and false accounting charges in a London court.

Marketing expert Marie Swift says forward-thinking financial advisors are incorporating social media into their marketing plans. Are you doing enough online to remain competitive?

Alex Murguia, managing principal of McLean Asset Management and CEO and founder of inStream Solutions, believes advisors should be aware of major changes underway in the planning profession—and should take proactive steps to safeguard their practices. Financial Planning talked to Murguia about his views on the outlook for RIA businesses.

UBS Americas Wealth Management said it hired at least 14 veteran Merrill Lynch brokers who in total managed more than $2 billion in client assets at Merrill.

The firm promoted Kevin Rogers to managing director and family wealth advisor to head up the specialty team.

Retirement can be daunting — but having sound financial advice makes Americans feel like they have a better handle on it, according to a survey by Franklin Templeton.

FINRA issues an alert warning investors to guard against a two-step process where “fraudsters” gain access to their email accounts and then instruct the firms involved to transfer money out of their brokerage accounts.

The SEC said a trader based in Latvia broke into online brokerage accounts of customers at large U.S. broker-dealers and manipulated prices in more than 100 New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market securities.

Financial planning, when it’s done right, requires a lot of different skill sets. So what exactly are firms looking for when it’s time to bring someone new aboard? Here's what the people who actually make the personnel decisions had to say.

Participants in defined contribution retirement plans want direction—and even prompts—from their employers when it comes to saving for retirement. That’s one of the findings from a survey by State Street Global Advisors, the asset management business of State Street Corp.

Financial planning, when it’s done right, requires a lot of different skill sets. So what exactly are firms looking for when it’s time to bring someone new aboard? Rather than rely on some think tank or consulting firm, Financial Planning queried principals at more than 50 advisory firms to find out from the people who actually make the personnel decisions what qualities they value the most. Turns out, many of these attributes aren’t found on candidates’ resumes. Here’s an interactive slide show featuring the Top 10 traits advisory firms want to see from a prospective new hire.

A study by Ameriprise Financial and Harris Interactive found that men outpace women in planning for the financial aspects of retirement at a ratio of 77% to 72%. However, women are more likely to say they have thought about what they would like to do during retirement.

The vast majority of U.S. households — regardless of demographic and financial characteristics — overwhelmingly support preserving the nation’s current tax incentives to encourage retirement savings.

Merrill Lynch agreed to pay a $1 million fine for failing to arbitrate disputes with employees about retention bonuses related to its 2009 merger with Bank of America Corp., the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said.

State Street Corporation said its exchange-traded fund service, Total ETF, will use cloud-based technology to fully automate the development and management of a fund from basket creation through to trade processing and settlement.

The wealth management industry is adjusting to clients who increasingly expect that they should have anytime, anywhere access to their account information via mobile applications, according to a new study.

Reports focused on Gen X and multi-age workers reveal varied confidence levels when it comes to planning a retirement strategy.

Electronic alpha capture is poised to become a major workflow tool for every portfolio manager and broker-dealer to help prioritize insights gleaned from incoming data and options, a new report from Tabb Group indicates.