Practice management

Planners can prove their worth if they find ways to lessen the chance that their clients will not outlive their retirement funds. David Blanchett, director of consulting and investment research for the Retirement Plan consulting Group of Unified Trust in Lexington, Ken., on Friday detailed how planners can implement sustainable withdrawal strategies so that retirement income works for their clients.

With an increasing number of countries now banning commissions for planners, many practitioners impacted by the changes are finding fee-only services actually benefit their businesses -- if they structure fees to match their strengths, according to panelists at FPA's annual conference in San Diego.

“The referral whisperer,” aka Michael Brizz, held a group of 100 financial planners rapt today in San Diego when he insisted that “there are literally thousands of referrals in your client database today. Clearly the opportunity is huge.”

Long-term-care insurance is not a very popular product. It can require many years of expensive premium payments, and any care that is provided may not occur until very late in life. While the easy choice may be to not buy insurance, that may not be the best choice.

The Financial Planning Association, anxious to build its cache of student chapters at colleges across the country, set aside time at the organization’s annual conference in San Diego this week to instruct young attendees how to start their own chapters.

“It’s hard to approach someone" — a prospective employer, for example — and say, ‘I want to be an owner,’” confessed Brett Spencer, a 23-year-old masters student in financial planning from Texas Tech University.

Raymond James & Associates has hired a four-member financial advisor team that was previously producing more than $3.6 million in annual fees and commissions at Robert W. Baird & Co.

First-time attendees of the FPA Experience 2011 annual conference were eager to learn about new events this year centered around the concept of "communities" -- groups of planners of similar ages or specialties. The communities are meant to help attendees glean the most appropriate information for their practices and to better network with their peers.

Upping the ante in advisory firms’ technology integration battles, TD Ameritrade is touting an “open platform” as a differentiator ahead of an October launch of its Salesforce product for advisors.

Crime lore has it that when the prolific stick-up artist Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he glibly responded, "Because that's where the money is." And in the 21st century, Sutton's maxim is alive and well in the cyber realm.

An accountant with a New York accounting firm that handles smaller broker-dealers is warning advisors who work at such firms that if their employer is a clearing organization, they should pay attention to how well it is planning for a continuation of business under new rule changes being mulled by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A recent survey by Putnam Investments disclosed that American households are on track to replace only about 64% of their current income in retirement -- significantly less than the 75% of income that most financial professionals recommend. To help address this discrepancy, the money management firm is rolling out a tool it says will give employers and their advisors a way to help boost employees’ retirement savings.

Citi Private Bank has hired Daniel Batista from JPMorgan Chase & Co. as a managing director and ultra high net worth banker.

The Financial Planning Association kicks off its annual conference, Experience 2011 Thursday and industry professionals are sure to walk away with boomers and transformation on their minds.

Investment Technology Group said it is adding Japanese stocks to its POSIT dark pool. The agency broker and financial technology developer said it expected strong demand for its "liquidity aggregation" platform in Japan, following launches in Hong Kong and Australia.

Recent market volatility has put risk management and the work of chief risk officers at the forefront of fund management, according to Joseph A. Carrier, chief risk officer at Legg Mason.

A hearing before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services Tuesday allowed representatives from across the financial advisory industry to air their views about whether a new self-regulatory organization is necessary to oversee advisors and broker-dealers and, if it is, how it should be constructed.

Whether analyzing a trade before you make it or processing it afterward, Deutsche Bank says there’s an app for that.

The transmission of market data messages hit a new peak of 6.1 million messages a second Monday, as financial markets whipsawed in reaction to "news and rumors about the debt crisis in the Euro zone,'' Exegy said Tuesday.

Retirement programs for public employees are under siege, with numerous state and local employers either undertaking or considering massive restructuring of their benefit plans. The constraint comes as state budgets constrict and asset values drop.