SAN FRANCISCO — The days when registered investment advisers could remain as cloistered and mysterious to outsiders as a John Grisham-style law firm may be drawing to a close.
WASHINGTON — Those who bet that the U.S. stock market’s fairly steady climb since last summer was too good to last were winners last month.
The financial planning world has been focusing too heavily on the act of accumulating assets, according to an academic speaking at the InvestmentNews Retirement Summit in New York this afternoon.
Advisers who start their own practices after leaving larger firms often find that their biggest obstacle is obtaining affordable health insurance for themselves and their families, observers say.
Seizing an opportunity to exploit the perceived integration problems of Advent Software Inc.’s offerings to financial advisers, 19 technology companies have formed YourSilverBullet.net.
Initial reactions to the proposed changes to the ethical standards for certified financial planners have been favorable, but the other shoe could drop this week.
NEW YORK — Clean energy is increasingly gaining the attention of institutional investors. Last Monday, dozens of top investors managing a total of $4 trillion in assets asked Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the White House to approve stronger climate control policies.
Stock market volatility and worries that more bad news from the housing sector could threaten the U.S. economy’s prospects for a soft landing are likely to make 2007 “a dynamite year” for money fund inflows, a well-known money fund expert said last week.
One of the most pressing issues in the investment industry today is retirement plan fees and expenses. A lot of questions have been raised about them recently, all of which can be answered simply à la college basketball commentator Dick Vitale: “It’s about fiduciary responsibility, baby!”
IRVINE, Calif. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed that firms beef up their disclosure of cash sweep policies. The proposal, part of a little-noticed package of rules floated by the SEC this month, would require broker-dealers to provide a quarterly notice to customers telling them that they can opt out of a default sweep option and choose another vehicle for their cash.
