Practice management

The website of the Morningstar firm went down for an undisclosed period Tuesday, the same afternoon an earthquake rattled the East Coast from a site near Mineral, Virginia.

More than half of fee-based financial advisors plan to sell their businesses prior to retirement, according to Tiburon Strategic Advisors, in Tiburon, Calif. That means there is ample opportunity for other firms to quickly add scale through acquisitions. Here are six critical pieces of information every advisor or firm needs to know before making any deals.

Broker-dealers don’t have to track every message sent through social media -- only ones that relate to business purposes. And unscripted interactions? They can be reported after they occur.

The most highly attacked operating system in mobile computing is Android, from Google, according to a security technology unit of chipmaker Intel.

You’ve worked long and hard and now you’ve finally been quoted in the Wall Street Journal or had a bylined article published in the local newspaper. Perhaps you’ve just done a radio or television interview. Now what?

Women who are in the middle of a transition -- whether it be a divorce, the death of a spouse, or the inheritance of a large sum of money -- often need specialized financial advice, but many of them may not know where to go, says Kimberly Howard, founder and owner of KJH Financial Services in Needham, Mass.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the creation of an interim inspection program related to audits of brokers and dealers.

SS&C Technologies Holdings said it agreed to acquire an Irish supplier of administrative services for investment funds.

Almost three years after Bernard Madoff’s fraudulent investment scheme was discovered, the unprecedented crime still holds some key lessons for financial advisors, according to investigative journalist Diana B. Henriques.

In light of the recent market volatility, a new report from Fidelity Investments analyzing the performance of 401(k) balances between Oct. 1, 2008 and June 30, 2011 is quite telling -- giving a testimonial to the value of sticking with the stock market even amid the worst declines.

Looking for a silver lining amid all the market gloom? How about a Roth IRA conversion that can help you and your clients "rightsize" their tax bills.

From minding procedure to the minds of digital criminals, here is a diverse collection of books to pick from. Kick back with (and learn from) one, wherever you are under the sun.

Exchanges around the world should discourage market participants from gcreating excessive low-qualityh messages that can clog trading networks, two trade groups representing automated trading firms said this week.

Socialware, the Austin, Texas-based firm that helps mutual fund, brokerage and other financial services firms track their social media communications and stay in compliance with company and industry regulations, has secured another $7 million in funding.

Middle-income Baby Boomers, those earning between $30,000 and $74,000 are vastly underserved in terms of preparing for retirement, according to a new report from the Insured Retirement Institute, “Middle-Income Boomers and Retirement: Tapping the Significant and Underserved Middle-Income Market.”

Social networking? Everyone's doing it. Particularly your next generation of fund customers. You will want to reach them, as they walk and talk through the Internet.

The Retirement Income Industry Association this week announced that Duncan Williams, a graduate instructor in the personal financial planning division at Texas Tech University, and his advisor, Michael Finke, an associate professor and coordinator at the university, will receive the first Academic Thought Leadership Award at the association's Fall Conference & Awards Gala in Boston in October.

African-American financial advisors just need to look at The Washington Group, headed by managing partner Leo Tucker, to appreciate the realities and the upside potential of their chosen careers.

A senior employee known as an aggressive workaholic, but who seems stressed, yet rarely takes vacations, declines promotions, and zealously protects his business unit from outside scrutiny while personally handling choice vendors may be up to something devious.

Thomson Reuters said it began providing high-speed information and trading services to foreign currency trading firms, from its London data centers.