Practice management

Less than two weeks after Illinois lawmakers broke through decades of gridlock and passed a bill to bolster the worst-funded U.S. state pension system, taxpayers are already seeing the benefits.

Activist investor Carl Icahn’s attempt to get Apple Inc. to return money to shareholders was criticized by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest U.S. public pension.

Rules, as they say, are made to be broken. Yet as financial planning has grown as a profession, collective thinking has coalesced around a few solid pieces of advice. A panel at the Morningstar Investment Conference on Friday set out to debunk some of those rules and establish new guidelines. Here are a few of the biggest myths they tackled.

Additional guidance from the SEC should provide some clarity to how the proposed trading restrictions under its new municipal advisor registration rule apply to municipal issuers, a securities industry official said.

The Volcker Rule may finally be out, but the process of understanding the intricacies of the complex regulation that bans the largest banks from making risky trades has only just begun.

Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch agreed to pay about $131 million to settle U.S. regulatory claims it failed to tell investors that hedge fund Magnetar Capital had a role in selecting assets for two 2006 mortgage-backed securities.

Almost half of the advisors in a new FPA study say they don't have a retirement plan; even more fail on business and succession plans.

Former U.S. Senator Judd Gregg is stepping down as the head of Wall Street’s biggest lobbying group, according to people briefed on the discussions.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council on Wednesday issued final guidance aimed at helping, banks, credit unions and other financial institutions manage risks related to social media.

Funds specializing in insurance- linked risks such as catastrophe bonds are benefiting as the $30 trillion pension industry increases bets in a market that hasn’t posted an annual loss.

Investment advisors will play a critical role in helping the nearly 80 million baby boomers and future generations develop a sustainable plan for retirement, a pair of senators said on Wednesday.

Detroit pension officials should consider accepting benefit reductions that fall hardest on retirees collecting the biggest checks, city emergency manager Kevyn Orr said.

Expansion-minded Savant Capital Management has bolstered its presence in the vibrant Chicago metropolitan market, acquiring Paragon Advisors, a $150 million firm in Naperville, Ill.

Looking to expand your team and boost performance? Executive search veterans Kathy Freeman Godfrey and Jeff Warren have a few suggestions.

Paul Volcker said he wasn’t involved with writing the final version of the rule that bears his name, staying abreast of developments from a distance as regulators crafted details of his curbs on trading by banks.

A big LPL practice with $3.7 billion in assets under management is picking up a $300 million Chicago-area firm.

Even as the SEC is contemplating an expansion of fiduciary rules to include broker-dealers who operate in the retail space, some advocates argue that the regulatory interpretation of the responsibilities under a fiduciary standard has strayed from common-law precedent and become dangerously diluted.

A new HighTower project tries to determine whether the aggregated opinions of advisors and staff can offer meaningful insight into portfolio allocations.

“When they come to us for everything, we then truly are their lead advisor,” says Mike Ott, the new head of the unit.

The convicted Ponzi schemer, now serving a 150-year prison sentence, says in an interview with MarketWatch that his defrauded clients should have probed more.