Practice management

It’s common knowledge that Americans aren’t saving enough for retirement. But just how large a deficit is startling.

Assets in defined contribution plans flowed to target-date and international equity funds in 2012, according to a new tracking tool launched by the Defined Contribution Solutions group at Northern Trust.

When advisors are asked to describe their compensation on the FPA website, they can choose to check one of four options: fee-only, commission-only, a combination of fee and commission, or salary. But as one prominent advisor recently learned, those options are dangerously limited, given the industry’s often complex business models -- and the answers that planners select can contain minefields for the advisors, their firms and their clients.

Driven by difficult market conditions and higher levels of anxiety among investors, the question of whether or not advisors are "stealing" client has been coming up more frequently in the past few years. The overall growth rate for advisory practices has been stagnant for a decade, which is pushing sales management to scrutinize who is growing and why.

Communicating what you can do for prospective clients is much more effective if you talk about what changes they want to see rather than what activities you will do for them.

Seven financial advisors had their right to use the Certified Financial Planning certification marks permanently revoked in March as part of a series of public disciplinary actions announced by the CFP Board this week.

Financial institutions should develop distinct service offerings for young investors that speak to them at their life stage.

A strong majority of advisors (86%) said they had acquired more clients than they lost in 2012, according to a new advisor survey from Russell Investments, with nearly a half saying they had brought on more than 10 households. And 87% said they were "optimistic" about acquiring new clients in 2013.

Advisors must embrace the latest trends and advancements, or risk falling behind. Check out five best practices for the advisor of the future (and the present.)

"The bottom-line is to protect investors from advisors who may not have their best interest,” says Jack Waymire, the founder of Paladin Research and Registry. “We’re providing them the process to find out about the advisors they’re thinking of hiring – with a focus on certification, ethics, business practices, and services provided.”

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that regulators are making steady progress on a number of critical rules under the Dodd-Frank Act, predicting that several final rules will be released in the coming months.

The House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday approved a slew of bills that would slow the pace of regulatory proceedings to expand advisors' fiduciary responsibilities and relax registration requirements, among other measures.

A targeted examination letter probes firms for detailed information on their social media use as the regulator grows more serious about enforcement.

Raymond James announced Wednesday it hired Claire Friedrichs as first vice president of investments.

One source of an advisor's referability isn’t the advisor at all; it’s their support staff – be it client assistants, receptionists, para-planners, and other associates. Bill Cates says how your staff represents you can be a limiting factor in your referability. Check out some of his thoughts and ideas to help ensure all the members of your team make a positive contribution to your ability to generate referrals

The Securities and Exchange Commission would like to hear from advisors. That was the resounding message of a speech delivered Tuesday by Norm Champ, the director of the SEC's Division of Investment Management, the unit of the commission that oversees federally registered investment advisors.

When the Department of Labor produces its controversial proposal to extend fiduciary responsibilities to certain advisors to retirement plans later this year, the plan will come with a robust economic analysis making the case for new regulations, along with targeted exemptions to the rules, the senior official who is leading the effort said on Tuesday.

Rising markets boosted the number and wealth of high net worth individuals to new highs, according to the World Wealth Report 2013.

More than 60% of high-net-worth clients expressed a high degree of trust in both their wealth managers and their firms, according the World Wealth Report 2013, but a majority prefer to work with a single firm to “manage all of their financial needs."

You’ve set up a Twitter account and you know how to tweet, but how can you convert Twitter followers into prospects and then clients? Marie Swift, the Marketing Maven offers tips for Twitter power users.