Wealth Think

How do advisors know that social media really works? How can an advisor measure the direct impact on his or her practice and bottom line?

Irvin Feld was a rock-and-roll promoter who purchased “The Greatest Show on Earth” in 1967. He created a promotion company to manage the Ringling Bros. Circus, along with Disney on Ice and monster truck shows, but none of his shows have been as eventful as what’s happened between his two children the last few years.

Willie Keeler and Robert Frost knew the importance of “hitting ‘em where they ain’t and A Road Not Taken—Will your clients embrace the same ideas?

I hate mixed messages but it seems there is finally some good news on the employment front. According to the Department of Labor this morning, non-farm payroll employment added 244,000 jobs in April, with the private sector seeing job growth of 268,000. While that figure exceeded expectations, the unemployment rate rose to 9%. Some experts explained that increase to the people who weren’t looking for jobs now resuming their job-hunt. …

Here’s a sad truth—you can spend your days absorbing knowledge and becoming very intelligent, but if you don’t do anything with that knowledge, you’re no better off than somebody else who sat around eating popcorn and watching reruns of Fantasy Island.

The royal wedding, eliminating the notorious mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks--this is going to be a week to remember forever. But I also wonder whether it might represent another milestone.

This week, Ed examines a difficult IRA and also looks at how to handle primary beneficiaries.

As trusted and respected advisors, clients often look to us for guidance. Successfully handling those situations where there is no financial solution requires us to recognize two things: First, our role changes, and second, a different skill set is required to preserve and strengthen the client relationship.

For many advisors, your personal or company website is the core of your web marketing efforts. It's no surprise, then, that advisors are starting to think about how to better utilize their website to both serve their existing clients and develop new business.

We have heard of firms winning employee loyalty by paying them more, but never—until we spoke to the principal at Colorado West Investments—by paying them less. At the Montrose, Colo.-based wealth management firm, that is what Kevin Sanderford ended up doing to rationalize the firm’s compensation plan. After the awful downturn in 2008, Sanderford had to lower compensation for his practice manager, who also had a series 7 license. She was not drawing a huge salary—indeed,…