Practice management

The SEC is now requiring alternative investment fund managers to provide a lot more details on their operations.

The SEC has ordered FINRA to improve the way it handles documents submitted during SEC inspections. The order, issued Thursday as part of an administrative settlement between the two organizations, comes after the disclosure that the director of FINRA’s Kansas City Office in 2008 ordered the minutes of three meetings dating back to 2006 and 2007 to be altered hours before they were they were provided to the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office.

Vanguard has filed with the SEC to offer the Vanguard Target 2060 Retirement Fund for those currently 18 to 20 years old, and early next year will merge the Vanguard Target Retirement 2005 Fund and the Vanguard Target Retirement Income Fund, as their allocations have become nearly identical.

Financial advisors are constantly on the lookout for new and more engaging and effective ways to market their services to prospective clients. Here’s a compilation of all the latest and most effective marketing tips, techniques and first-hand accounts you and your firm will need to raise your profile and increase your assets under management.

A “network connectivity issue” involving a next-generation trading system from Nasdaq OMX Group took down the $1.2 trillion Australian Securities Exchange for four hours Thursday.

Social media evangelists argue that the popularity of the new medium reflects a profound shift in the way investors scout for financial advice, making online social channels too important for advisors to ignore.

Tweets are 'static content' in the eyes of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, which operates a network of 18,000 financial advisors.

Getting started in social media is a lot like getting started in investing. It pays to have a plan. If you are like most advisors, you’re probably just getting started. For you less is more. Here are seven broad components to include in your social media plan:

Getting started in social media is a lot like getting started in investing. It pays to have a plan. And, much like investment planning, TJ Gilsenan, the Web Savvy Advisor, says social media planning involves assessing where you are now, determining where you want to go and establishing a plan to get there.

To be well prepared for succession, owners of financial planning practices should make sure employees are able to advance their careers within the firms. Firm owners should also learn how to manage Generation Y workers, because they’re going to be key to keeping practices alive.

Charles River Development has officially launched a new data management platform that will help fund managers integrate reference, issuer, benchmark-index and pricing data into their front- and middle-office applications.

Financial planners have several tools they can use to steer clients away from destructive behavior, said industry experts at a conference in New York on Tuesday.

Announcing changes that will likely affect wealth managers helping clients with tax planning, the IRS said that many tax benefits for the 2012 tax year will increase due to inflation adjustments. Investors will be able to contribute an additional $500 to their 401(k), for a total of $17,000 for those under 50 and $22,500 for those 50 or older.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is warning financial firms that following the spirit of the law is just as important as the letter of the law.

The Department of Labor issued new regulations that aim to broaden access to personalized investment advice for workers engaged in retirement savings plans.

The leading provider of software for 250,000 finance professionals, Emerging Information Systems, announced today that it expects to be acquired by Zywave, a provider of on-demand software for the insurance industry.

Deutsche Boerse said its derivatives exchange, Eurex, completed the re-location of its matching engines to a single data center. The Eurex trading and clearing infrastructure is now located in a Frankfurt data center operated by Equinix. In July, Deutsche Boerse moved its Xetra electronic stock trading market to the same data center.Eurex and Equinix had already been offering a co-location service in that International Business Exchange, since 2006. …

Putnam Investments is addressing the need for customized retirement income withdrawal strategies through the launch of the Putnam Retirement Income Lifestyle Funds, a suite of three income-oriented mutual funds, and a Retirement Income Analysis Tool.

Get ready to connect with far-flung colleagues: The FPA’s much-awaited new social networking site is live and picking up speed. Several thousand members worldwide are already connecting online, forming groups and developing their own self-directed platforms within the 24,000 member-strong organization.

"Simple Truths" From a Man Who Isn't an Academic