Practice management

A survey by PNC Wealth Management found that the recession has created a rift between wealthy couples on how they view personal finances, as well as plan and discuss money.

Advisors help plan their clients’ futures day in and day out, but when it comes to their own planning, too often it is a case of the cobbler’s kids not having new shoes.

The 29th Annual National Investment Company Service Association Conference & Expo opens Monday, with NICSA president Theresa Hammacher launching two assessments of the state of the fund industry.

As a House Judiciary Committee panel meets Monday to hold a hearing on public pensions and the need for state bankruptcy protection, pension and muni bond experts are opposing a recently introduced bill that would prohibit them from issuing tax-exempt bonds unless they subject their pension plans to federal oversight and regulation.

Two deputies were named in the FDIC's Office of Complex Financial Institutions, while three staff positions were announced in the Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection.

Initiative aims to loosen up credit to small businesses for expansion, job creation and improve local banks' liquidity.

According to a poll of 41 individuals with more than $5 million of investable assets conducted by SEI, 68% admitted that emotions get in the way of making the best choices, while 17% said instinct guides them most.

Operating in a small city can present challenges but also quite a few growth opportunities for a financial planning firm. So says Cheryl Holland, a registered financial advisor and president of Abacus Planning Group, Inc. in Columbia, S.C.

Rule-making body wants the SEC to make changes to prevent potential conflict of interest in municipal securities trading.

What’s a wirehouse advisor to do in this uncomfortable situation? And there’s more on the fiduciary standard.

Women want a quality relationship with their advisors that involves interpersonal, relationship-driven factors. What does that translate into in your practice? It starts by listening.

For the second year in a row, enforcement actions set a record, jumping 21% last year, to 2,724, an increase industry representatives attributed to a persistently heightened focus on capital and safety and soundness standards in the wake of the financial crisis.

"We're no closer to an end game than we were before the report," one panelist said Thursday. "Maybe even further away."

Having attended hundreds of practice management and motivational sessions at various conferences over the years, it has become clear to me that most of our roadblocks to business and personal success are (get ready to wince) self-created.

A former broker for RBC Capital Markets is set to pay $1.7 million to RBC Capital Markets and his request for $37.8 million in compensatory damages has been denied.

House panel members on Wednesday opposed federal bailouts for municipal governments and were reluctant to provide states with bankruptcy protection, but they seemed to support requiring improved public pension fund disclosure.

Although saving for retirement is critical for women - they live longer and make less money than men - women save 40% less than men, according to a new research study by LIMRA.

With regulatory reform bringing a wave of changes to defined contribution plans, advisors need to be even more conversant in the ins and outs of legislative requirements and other complexities. Which is why BlackRock is beefing up its commitment to advisors who work with these retirement plans.

New survey finds that small business owners are more optimistic about their economic future than they've been since early 2004.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Panel ordered Citigroup to pay $6.4 million to a group of investors including investment banking executive D. Theodore Berghorst for municipal arbitrage trust fund losses.