Robert Reynolds' Great-West Financial agreed to acquire J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services, boosting its profile as a retirement plan record keeper and putting it at No. 2 in the retirement services business by participants nationally.
Hilltop Holdings ups previous offer for SWS Group by 12.6%.
<i>Breakfast with Benjamin:</i> The latest IPO candidate has filed, and its numbers are 'insane.' Plus: Currency traders on their way to extinction, hedge fund managers boost gold bets (mostly), small cap strategies rule, two powerful women on Wall St. could be out of work and an Olympic update.
Renowned behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman says advisers must recognize the cost and futility of betting against the market and trading too much.
CEO says best execution is first order of business; competition for RIA customers remains strong.
The agency is returning to paper statements. Only 6% of workers had signed up for the online version since 2011.
<i>Breakfast with Benjamin:</i> One IPO hoping investors have a short memory. Plus: Bracing for weaker earnings, here comes Fed meeting minutes, bond market opportunities, shoving investors toward behavioral finance and refusing LinkedIn requests.
A high profile equity strategist discusses the stock market's decline and what it means for the long term
<i>Breakfast with Benjamin:</i> An old manufacturer goes high tech and why its earnings still matter. Plus: Emerging-markets stocks bounce as the dollar slides; the stock market's frayed nerves; and a little corporate board turnover can go a long way toward stock performance.
Beacon finds 'client onboarding' has replaced social-media archiving as brokers' biggest technology challenge.
<i>Breakfast with Benjamin:</i> Bank ETFs ride the choppy waves of Yellen-speak. Plus: Still waiting for Treasury yields to spike, new love for intermediate-term bond funds, hot stocks ahead of earnings reports, and even gold bugs are starting to worry about the precious metal's decline
<i>Breakfast with Benjamin:</i> At some point in the first quarter, investors got defensive. So what does that mean now? Plus: It's all about Friday's jobs report, Michael Lewis calls out the stock market for being rigged, Obamacare investing risks and opportunities, and will Janet Yellen spook the market again?
<i>Friday's menu:</i> Where investors go when BRICs crack. Plus: How advisers can &mdash; and should &mdash; deal with male and female clients, mounting sanctions drive Russia toward China for economic help, investor class-action lawsuits spike, and saving money on travel.
Advisers are ratcheting up their scrutiny of Pimco in the wake of a critical report from Morningstar. While few are pulling assets from the bond fund giant, the possibility is rising. <i>(One big fund shop, however, has <a href="http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20140320/FREE/140329987" target="_blank">replaced Pimco</a> as manager of a large fund.)</i>
<i>Breakfast with Benjamin:</i> Markets wake up to China's economic slowdown. Plus: Soros deters British EU exit, an all-ETF retirement portfolio, rethinking cash-rich tech companies, undervalued Wall Street banks, and test your investor profile (for fun).
Niche is attracting more advisers looking to add to their service offerings.
Industrials to consumer spending to drug research look good. Here's why.
Online advisor Personal Capital announces an app for smartwatches.
Investment companies and advisers are experimenting with the games to help them win clients.
