Practice management

Building (and rebuilding) credibility with clients and with potential referral advocates must be an ongoing commitment. Ken Haman said that he suggests advisors allocate significant time each month to proactively reaching out to existing clients and to “centers of influence” with a thoughtful message about the markets, where we’ve been, what’s currently going on and what is likely to happen next. How can you use proper messaging to grow your book of business?

For many advisors, social media compliance is confusing and scary. The good news, however, is that the regulators are hastening to provide significant clarification and guidance. But what does it all really mean?

Here's what needs to be on your radar this week.

If clients are looking to invest in a better residence or a vacation home, now is the time.

What is at stake for retirees should interest rates rise?

LPL’s retirement plan division, LPL Financial Retirement Partners, launched the Retirement Partners Group to provide members with a unified national identity. RPG members will receive the benefits of a comprehensive branding and marketing effort and the opportunity to network with other top LPL retirement plan advisors.

The Internal Revenue Service has stepped up its examinations in the past year of taxpayers with high adjusted gross incomes, according to newly released IRS figures.

Massachusetts-based financial advisors could soon have to submit to a criminal background check under a proposed reform to the registration process in that state.

Spring is a time of new growth. The buds on trees start to appear, dormant flowers launch their annual makeover, and the grass begins its transition to a beautiful shade of deep green. If only growth in your business was as easy as waiting for warmer weather. Ron Carson asks, as, a financial advisor, are you prepared to grow this year?

See how one high-profile financial advisor is planning for his firm's future.

The House Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee held a hearing this week to discuss possible tax reforms on financial products such as derivatives.

Norm Champ, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management, last week took the first steps in meeting and speaking with members of the Investment Company Institute.

There are great lists out there to tell you as the advisor/owner/founder what you should delegate and to whom, according to Matthew Halloran. Paperwork, compliance, management, asset management, and marketing are things you all will try to delegate, and still you wonder why you are now growing as fast as you would like.

Why do so many people handle their own investments, rather than use an advisor? A bad experience? Cost concerns? Neither of the above, according to a new survey for the Deloitte Center for Financial Services.

It’s tax season, and that usually means a lot of scrambling around to prepare and find ways to cut taxes. We know that many accountants across the nation are tirelessly working to complete these reports by April 15, so we asked advisors what they thought were some common tax mistakes that accountants make.

Anne Copeland, the newly appointed head of Private Wealth Management, anticipates a “good bit of organic growth” from one of the most basic of business activities.

Birds do it. Bees do it. Planners with complementary philosophies should probably do it. Coupling up, in the business sense, can increase income by 32% or more. So, how can you partner more successfully?

NAPFA's Genesis group, for fee-only advisors 33 and younger, this week launched a set of scholarships to help younger advisors develop their professional skills.

For the visually inclined, we've created an infographic to highlight some of the major shifts under way in demographics, technology and global wealth.

To make sure the time and effort you’ve invested in finding the right employee pays off, you need to spend just as much time planning how that employee will be trained as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible, according to productivity expert Chris Kirby.