Practice management

Schwab’s CEO Walt Bettinger sent clients a letter apologizing for the inconvenience caused by the company’s website outage Tuesday.

Fidelity Investments has rolled out a Windows Phone 8 brokerage app for Windows Phone users to help them manage their investments on the go.

Thousands of Raymond James financial advisors gathered in Dallas this week for the firm's annual national conference -- here's what they picked up.

Thousands of Raymond James financial advisors gathered in Dallas this week for the firm's annual national conference -- here's what they told us they picked up.

A proposed rule requiring advisors to disclose their transition packages when switching firms could change the tone of the conversations in the war for top industry talent.

Barack and Michelle Obama need a better financial strategy. Financial Planning has several suggestions.

Financial services firms and advisors are relying on new technology and enhanced training to to take a more holistic financial planning approach with clients.

Morgan Stanley has hired three advisors from Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, and Wells Fargo who combined for more than $3.2 million in production.

“We have the opportunity to think beyond tweeting and posting about how this will fundamentally change products in this industry,” said Augie Ray, director of social media strategy for Prudential Financial. “It’s not just about getting content out – we certainly have to do that too – but there are a lot of changes coming in the next five years.”

J.P. Morgan Securities announced Wednesday it has added eight advisors to its offices in Boston, New York City, and Florham Park, N.J.

Although client referrals are the single biggest driver of new business, only 20% of advisors ask for referrals systematically. Worse, a majority indicate that they can address referrals only occasionally in client meetings. Matt Matrisian writes that advisors need to focus on reinforcing referral behavior in their client base to generate real growth.

The survey, by Northwestern Mutual, found that three quarters of people prioritize long-term planning over short-term performance, and one-third said “slow and steady wins the race” best describes their approach to future financial goals.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has temporarily withdrawn a controversial proposal to require advisors, brokers and firms to incorporate links to the BrokerCheck database when they post content to social media sites.

Consumer advocate Jennifer Openshaw is launching a new company that offers advisors a platform in which to build social media communities, with some compliance features built in.

An arbitration panel has ordered Wells Fargo to pay Stifel $800,000 in the latest dispute over alleged raiding of former A.G. Edwards advisors.

Fidelity says the new desktop will enable the “anywhere advisor."

Advisors trying to expand their practices need to know how to focus their efforts to get the best returns.

Kasina’s new social media report ranks Vanguard, Sun Life, iShares, Putnam and Franklin Templeton Investments as the top five asset managers for social media practices.

A flood of traffic took down Charles Schwab & Co.’s website late Tuesday.

The addition of four legacy Morgan Keegan advisors in Austin marks renewed hiring momentum, according to the firm’s director of retail.