Note to independent advisers: It's time to measure yourselves against a bigger stick.
In one of my recent OpINion Online columns, I compared wirehouse management to communist regimes before the fall of the Berlin Wall
While getting pilloried in hearings before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, representatives from The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. characterized their firm as a market maker, denied that they had fiduciary status, and displayed apparent bewilderment at the senators' questions about legal or ethical obligations to place clients' interests first.
Take the time to figure it out!
There has been a significant increase in merger-related activity as the equity markets have recovered worldwide.
For better or worse, professionals rely on our society's standard conventions and accepted phrases to offer solace at a wake or funeral
In early November 2007, two investors met in the waiting room of their financial adviser's office. By chance, both Robert, 62, and Sandra, 78, had appointments to discuss their retirement financial plans.
In the old days (pre 2004), firms would sue each other when an Advisor went from one firm to the other.
The investment advice regulation for 401(k) plans recently released by the Labor Department offers more than proposed guidelines for making advice available to retirement plan participants.
One year later, it's clear who's running the show
Less than 4% of all independent advisers have ever had their businesses professionally valued, and less than 10% have any formal, written succession plans in place.
High net worth clients are caught in an internal tug of war
The Biggest Retail Banks have yet to get it right
In a speech at the 2010 Investment Adviser Compliance Forum, Elisse Walter, a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, expressed strong support for the extension of the fiduciary standard for financial professionals, calling it “critical to comprehensive investor protection.”
Over the past decade, increased competition and regulatory change have had a profound effect on the way financial products and services are sold.
