Practice management

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed requiring financial firms to report in real-time either short sale transactions or positions as part of an initiative to increase disclosure on the popular practice

A group of motivated financial planners in Massachusetts are using their skills to help people in need – cancer patients at Boston’s esteemed Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Wells Fargo failed to promptly send prospectuses to certain mutual fund customers and update records for representatives employed by the firm, FINRA said.

Here’s a sad truth—you can spend your days absorbing knowledge and becoming very intelligent, but if you don’t do anything with that knowledge, you’re no better off than somebody else who sat around eating popcorn and watching reruns of Fantasy Island.

The rich will be getting even richer over the next decade and the pool of investors formerly identified as merely affluent will soon make the leap to millionaire status, creating plenty of growth opportunities for wealth managers and investment firms in the U.S. and abroad.

While the entire financial services industry simultaneously bemoans and braces for more oversight and regulation, advisors out in the field have to do a better job of understanding and articulating the difference between independence and objectivity when it comes to dispensing investment advice to existing and prospective clients, according to a new research report released this week by SEI.

Fidelity Investments announced that its ultra-high-net-worth program for independent RIAs has reached almost $2 billion in assets in just the first six months since its launch in October 2010.

Most broker-dealers and compliance departments are terrified of social media, but advisors cannot afford to be, Matthew Halloran a practice management coach at Peak Advisor Alliance said during the company’s Excell Meeting.

Ninety percent of advisors generate business through referrals, but only 10% to 15% of advisors ask for referrals. What are the secrets to improving those percentages?

In the perpetual race to keep advisors well equipped, efficient and loyal, Cetera Financial Group has just launched a technology platform for its investment adviser representatives.

The royal wedding, eliminating the notorious mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks--this is going to be a week to remember forever. But I also wonder whether it might represent another milestone.

The U.S. economy, while not poised to grow as rapidly as emerging nations and saddled with a $1.4 trillion a year deficit, has the fundamentals in place and “the resiliency and strength” to reclaim its position as the leading economy of the world, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told attendees at the Investment Company Institute’s General Membership Meeting here Wednesday.

Marty Gruenberg, the No. 2 at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is expected to be nominated shortly as the agency's chairman, according to several sources.

Advisers want technology that will give them a comprehensive view of a household’s assets so that they can rebalance and deliver goals-based guidance more effectively. On Thursday, Fiserv, Inc., of Brookfield, Wis., announced a plan to deliver such a solution.

As trusted and respected advisors, clients often look to us for guidance. Successfully handling those situations where there is no financial solution requires us to recognize two things: First, our role changes, and second, a different skill set is required to preserve and strengthen the client relationship.

We have heard of firms winning employee loyalty by paying them more, but never—until we spoke to the principal at Colorado West Investments—by paying them less. At the Montrose, Colo.-based wealth management firm, that is what Kevin Sanderford ended up doing to rationalize the firm’s compensation plan. After the awful downturn in 2008, Sanderford had to lower compensation for his practice manager, who also had a series 7 license. She was not drawing a huge salary—indeed,…

The timing of such a nomination could not be better for the president, who is now flush with political capital after the death of Osama bin Laden.

Banks continued to ease lending standards over the first quarter due in part to increased competition and a less uncertain economic outlook, a Fed survey found Monday.

Emotions are mixed near the site of Sept. 11.

Baird announced on Monday that it added a team of four to its Portland, Oregon wealth management office.