Wealth management

Here's what advisors need to know to help their clients build affordable and well-diversified portfolios using unit investment trusts.

Advisors trying to persuade prospects about the benefits of planning can point to a new study of household financial decision-makers that shows those who have taken the time to put together a plan feel more confident and report more success managing savings and investments.

Many bank advisors feel they aren’t getting enough referrals from branch employees. What can they do? Here are five tips to get your bank referrals flowing.

If anyone needs proof of the importance of revisiting their estate plans annually, the case of the high-net-worth Tweten family on the West Coast should supply it.

BlackRock Inc.’s Laurence D. Fink, who heads the world’s largest asset manager, said his firm needs to capture a larger share of the deposits that are going into U.S. equity exchange-traded funds.

If a potential breakaway broker of a larger firm were to sit down and think of all the negative considerations in starting his own RIA firm, it would be hard to imagine that any sensible person would venture into that type of quagmire. However, with all these potential risks facing a prospective breakaway broker, there exists an opportunity for the established RIA firm.

In a study of 1,025 independent RIAs, Schwab found that a client retention level of 97% helped to drive client referrals and to produce record levels of AUM and revenues last year.

Eugene M. Lerner has spent his six-decade career in the financial services industry trying to stay ahead of the curve. His decision to leave Morgan Stanley for HighTower speaks to where he thinks the industry is heading in the near future.

Fusion offers practice management and business consulting to independent financial advisors. NFP hopes the deal will increase its margins by next year.

Northern Trust has appointed 12-year company veteran Laura G. Mandel president of the Northern Trust Co. of Delaware.

Here's a closer look at the compensation rankings for top-producing advisors at the nation's leading wirehouses and regional B-Ds. Also see: Ranking the Top-Paying Independent Broker-Dealers Top 40 Financial Advisors Under 40: No. 20 through No. 1 40 Under 40: No. 21 through No. 40 Top 5 Regional Advisors Under 40

These 12 bad brokers not only did harm to their clients' portfolios, but their clients themselves. Check out BrokerCop's "Dirty Dozen" with offenses ranging from mail fraud to murder. Source: BrokerCop Also see: 5 Financial Advisors Caught in the SEC's Crosshairs 7 Ways Bernie Madoff's Scam Forever Changed Advisors' Lives 10 Mind Tricks That Keep Your Clients in the Red

The Raleigh, N.C., company hired Charles Pendergraft, John Zachary Carnes, Cort Meinelschmidt, Chelsea Miller, J. Marshall Culp 3d, and James Beam.

Legacy expert attorneys Danielle and Andy Mayoras say the untimely death and shoddy estate planning efforts of renowned artist Thomas Kinkade serve as a prime example of why clients should update their wills on a regular – and sober – basis.

In an effort to enhance the technology it offers for personal financial advice delivered to the mass market, NestWise LLC, a unit of LPL Financial, will buy Veritat Advisors.

June was a terrific month for the market overall, but these stocks didn't deliver the goods last month.

“The relationship with Orizon will allow us to provide focused, innovative wealth solutions to clients in an increasingly diverse geographic area, which is something our clients have been requesting," said Martin C. Bicknell, Mariner's CEO.

Investors sold in May, but then they didn’t go away. Here’s a closer look at the top-performing S&P 500 stocks in June. Also see: June Swoon: 20 Worst-Performing S&P 500 Stocks 10 Dividend-Paying Stocks Your Clients Will Want in 2012 5 Best-Performing Growth Mutual Funds This Year May Flowers: 10 Best-Performing S&P 500 Stocks May Flounders: 10 Biggest S&P Laggards

Here are five tips to help financial advisors make optimal use of their time during their first sit-downs with retirement plan participants.

When advising clients, advisors normally operate with the "family first" mentality. But what about social responsibility and charitable giving? In a Scorpio Partnership and Kaiser Partner special report on wealth and social responsibility of 250 multi-millionaires with an average wealth of $3.5 million, findings show the majority of clients want to do more to be effective, responsible wealth creators.