A federal jury in Minnesota ruled last week that Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America used deceptive materials to market its two-tiered equity-indexed annuities, but declined to assess damages against the company, saying that the plaintiffs suffered no harm.
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.
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.
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.
The mountain of paper advisers create when they sell an insurance policy or annuity contract is about to shrink.
To deal with the “Roth revolution” that starts next year, advisers' best tool may be a crystal ball.
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.
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.
$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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
ProTracker Software Inc. has released an update to its Advantage <a href="//www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080415/REG/147477097/1102/INTechnologyNews03"" target="”_blank”" rel="noopener noreferrer">customer relationship management</a> application. It also introduced Version 5 of its Compliance Manual product.
Financial advisers who have sold certain types of retirement and other benefit plans to small businesses might soon be facing a wave of lawsuits — unless Congress decides to take action soon.
The fierce debate over bonuses for bailed-out executives was revived on Capitol Hill Wednesday as a government watchdog explained how some executives nearly brought down the financial system — then pocketed millions.
The pending rule changes around Roth IRA conversions present a huge business opportunity for financial advisers to have deeper conversations with clients, according to a new survey by Charles Schwab & Co. Inc.
At a recent workshop, advisers told me they are finding that a surprisingly high percentage of their clients are unemployed. Advisers found this out during client reviews, and they said the news surprised them — clients had never called to let them know about their new circumstances.
The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard is an organization that every investor and financial professional should know about.