Practice management

Firm opens second branch since launching in December as part of aggressive growth strategy.

Independent financial advisers are warning the Securities and Exchange Commission that the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s proposed changes to Rule G-23 contain loopholes that would allow dealer-financial advisers to switch roles and become underwriters in the same muni transactions.

FDIC chairman Sheila Bair received not one but two standing ovations from the ICBA, a week after she was heckled by members of the industry's other main trade group.

New advisor hires from Bank of America Merrill Lynch this month are part of the firm’s national expansion plans.New advisor hires from Bank of America Merrill Lynch this month are part of the firm’s national expansion plans.

The new Naples, Fla.-based advisors join HighTower after the firm added four BofA Merrill Lynch advisors in Portland, Maine.

A federal judge in Dallas ruled against a $21 million settlement between Securities America and class action plaintiffs.

More investigation as to how a uniform fiduciary standard would affect consumers and the market is needed, a group of House lawmakers said in a letter to the SEC.

By following six simple steps, advisors can improve their writing and marketing communications.

Financial advisors spend too much time “running their practices like practices instead of like businesses,” says David B. Loeper, CEO of Wealthcare Capital Management, a Richmond, Va. a firm that provides services to advisors. And doing so decreases the number of clients they can serve and the overall value of the business, he says.

People are living longer, working to an older age and largely underestimating how much money they'll really need to afford the retirement they've always envisioned.

The most critical component of any advisor/client relationship is communication, but it seems clear from an MFS Investment Management survey released on Monday that advisors and investors are speaking a different language.

Securities and Exchange Commission officials are urging market participants to provide their views about the muni industry and how it can be improved, after the SEC was forced by budget cuts to suspend a series of field hearings that were to be held around the country.

This is according to a survey of nearly 24 large financial firms by Hearts & Wallets.

In the latest indicator that perhaps the worst of the economic malaise is behind us, a new report released on Wednesday by Spectrem Group finds that the number of U.S. households with a net worth of more than $1 million, excluding their primary residence, jumped 8% to more than 8.4 million households in 2010.

Parents may need to worry less that they’ll promote dependency, study finds.

Two top Obama administration officials said Tuesday that the government-sponsored enterprises would not be exempted from a pending proposal to help standardize mortgages sold into the secondary market.

Americans are not very confident at all that they will be able to retire, a Country Financial survey of 3,000 Americans finds.

Despite all the dire warnings from financial advisors, relatives and the federal government, most Americans still aren't saving anywhere near enough money to afford the dignified retirement they all claim is so important to them and, worse, most don't even have any idea exactly how much they'll need even if they were to begin saving today for their golden years.

Advisors hate it when ancillary tasks eat up too much of their time, because it robs them of the most enjoyable part of doing their jobs—working directly with clients!

Even three years can increase income by 38%