Practice management

"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.

The looming stats are everywhere when it comes to the future of the advisory business, despite being a fast-growing industry. Here's how one advisor is trying to ensure a brighter outlook.

Like professional football players, most financial advisors maintain an external persona of confidence, but if advisors are honest with themselves, many insecurities –including avoiding contacting aggressive clients during market collapses, or fearing that they will look weak if they can’t think quickly on their feet when challenged by their clients—linger beneath the surface.

The process of switching to independence does not happen overnight. Here are 10 steps to consider when making the move to the RIA segment from Schwab Advisor Services.

In a keynote address kicking off the Insured Retirement Institute's Government, Legal and Regulatory conference, Atkins, now the CEO of Patomak Global Partners, offered a round critique of the Dodd-Frank Act and the myriad rulemaking proceedings that it set in motion.

Less than a week after landing another Morgan Stanley advisor, Raymond James has lured a Midwestern group with over $240 million in assets under management from Morgan Stanley to its independent-broker dealer.

The executive of Sacramento County in California recently attributed the increase in his county’s pension costs to “investment losses during the recession.”

Advisors may soon see lower fees for liquid alternative asset funds – hedge fund mutual funds – thanks to the push by hedge fund managers to market these plans more aggressively into the defined contribution space, according to panelists at last week's 25th annual Morningstar Investment Conference.

A top official for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority resigned after the agency was informed he was indicted for felony theft and charitable bingo fraud in 1993, the year he joined the agency.

Networking and a hands-on approach to learning about investing, running the family business and entrepreneurship are the best ways to attract and retain next generation clients, according to the head of one of the industry’s most successful and longest-running Next Gen programs.