Hollywood and the insurance industry continue to trade blows as celebrities attack companies' business practices.
Financial advisers who have sold certain types of retirement and other benefit plans to small businesses might soon face a wave of lawsuits unless Congress takes action.
Spurred by low interest rates and a White House proposal that would reduce the benefits of a popular estate-planning vehicle, financial advisers are encouraging wealthy clients to take advantage of that vehicle before it's too late.
Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. is pursuing a legal strategy that could give it a leg up in collecting from brokers who owe the firm money on retention packages.
To deal with the “Roth revolution” that starts next year, advisers' best tool may be a crystal ball.
Many firms, including Pimco, Russell Investments and John Hancock, are planning or discussing the addition of guarantees to their mutual funds to provide scared investors with a floor on their investments, but advisers are skeptical about such promises.
When fee-only financial adviser Martha Schilling discovered that an elderly client needed to augment an old long-term-care insurance policy, she was shocked to find that the client's carrier is teetering on the brink of insolvency.
One REIT sponsor attracting attention recently from independent broker-dealers is The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies Inc., which sponsors five publicly traded and non-traded REITs.
$224 million. It's a lot less than $16.7 billion but it could pack far more punch. That's the amount the financial industry spent in the first half of this year to lobby Congress to water down regulations aimed at preventing another financial meltdown. And more money is expected to be on the way.
The SEC and the CFTC today proposed requiring advisers who recommend commodities to adhere to a fiduciary standard as part of a 20-point plan to improve regulation.
Oil prices were up to near $78 a barrel Friday, continuing a weeklong rally amid an unexpected drop in U.S. gasoline inventories.
The federal budget deficit has surged to an all-time high of $1.42 trillion as the recession caused tax revenues to plunge while the government was spending massive amounts to stabilize the U.S. financial system and jump-start the economy.
New US jobless claims drop unexpectedly to 514,000, continuing claims fall below 6 million
After a year in which many investors lost substantial chunks of their wealth, mass affluent individuals are ditching their full-service brokers in favor of independent financial planners at a significant clip, according to a report released today.
While The Charles Schwab Corp. reported a 34% drop in overall earnings for the third quarter, its adviser services business proved to be a bright spot.
There will be no cost of living increase for more than 50 million Social Security recipients next year, the first year without a raise since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975, the government announced Thursday.
With the technological advancements in money management platforms and payroll systems, one has to wonder whether the costs associated with ERISA compliance could be removed from the retirement plan system. If we could safely remove those costs, it's likely we could help employees accumulate between 20% and 30% more money for retirement. So it's worth considering.
The SEC's warning to the Charles Schwab Corp. that <a href= http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091015/FREE/910159992>it could face civil charges</a> over two fixed-income mutual funds may have a direct effect on current and looming legal actions from investors over losses suffered in the funds.
Ex-Detroit Red Wings star Sergei Fedorov is suing his former lawyers, claiming they share responsibility for the loss of millions of dollars invested with another client.
Conseco Inc. said Friday that a subsidiary has reached a reinsurance agreement with Wilton Reassurance Co. covering about 237,000 life insurance policies.
