Advisors

There could be a tug of war brewing over which standard financial professionals should follow when they provide advice or sell products such as annuities to individual investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission is unveiling a new regulation, called Regulation Best Interest, which requires broker-dealers and professionals associated with them to keep their clients’ best

Sophia Bera, CEO and founder of Gen Y Planning. When financial advisor Sophia Bera founded her Austin, Texas-based practice in 2013, she decided to work primarily with millennial clients. Bera, then 29, wanted to help her peers navigate their early careers and the thorny financial issues, such as managing student debt and buying a first

Ariel Skelley | DigitalVision | Getty Images For some financial advisors, the person behind the assets is the key to providing the best investment advice possible. That is, awareness of the nuanced differences that distinguish clients helps those advisors construct investment portfolios based on more than, say, a person’s age and how long until they

PeskyMonkey | iStock | Getty Images The bull market in U.S. stocks rolls on. From the trade war between the U.S. and China and the slowdown in global economic growth, to Britain’s messy exit from the European Union and the potential impeachment of President Trump, nothing has dampened the enthusiasm for stocks. The American economy

Find yourself struggling to manage your health-care costs in retirement? You’re not alone. As the cost of health care continues climbing faster than the rate of inflation and an aging population is living longer, many financial advisors are focused on the line item in their retired clients’ budgets more than ever. “It’s a cost we

A senior citizen holds a sign during a rally to protect federal health programs at the 8th Annual Healthy Living Festival on July 15, 2011 in Oakland, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images For most people, signing up for Medicare is a retirement rite of passage. But as they turn 65 and sort through their

Thomas Barwick | DigitalVision | Getty Images The process of recommending life insurance doesn’t have to be rife with conflicts of interest. Insurance has its place in a client’s comprehensive financial plan. For instance, term coverage can protect a young family in the event of a breadwinner’s early demise. Permanent life insurance — which can

A pedestrian passes in front of a Charles Schwab Corp. office building in New York. Gabriella Angotti-Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images Charles Schwab’s proposed acquisition of TD Ameritrade is stirring up worry among financial advisors. Schwab on Monday announced it would acquire TD in a $26 billion all-stock transaction. Together, the firms will serve

Pedestrians pass in front of a Charles Schwab bank branch in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Christopher Dilts | Bloomberg | Getty Images Financial advisors who hold their clients’ assets at TD Ameritrade are about to face a shake-up. Charles Schwab is in talks to purchase TD Ameritrade for $25 billion, and a deal could be announced

Gorodenkoff | iStock | Getty Images Just in the past month, Scott Van Den Berg, president of Century Management Financial Advisors, has added cybersecurity to the firm’s insurance coverage. Now, in the event there is some kind of breach, the insurance company will help send a team to the office, have bitcoin accounts at the

Ariel Skelley | DigitalVision | Getty Images What is a suitable investment for someone? What is in an investor’s best interest? What is the difference between a securities broker and a financial advisor? If you have no idea, you’re not alone. “There is still so much confusion with financial terms,” said Ashley Guerra, chief compliance

Hero Images | Hero Images | Getty Images The registered investment advisor industry may be the perfect playground for private equity investors. It has good growth, high profit margins, consistent cash flow and low capital needs. With roughly 13,000 firms in the industry, it is also highly fragmented, ripe for roll-up, and begging for consolidation.

Kenneth Fisher, founder of Fisher Investments. Jonathan Fickies | Bloomberg | Getty Images Individual investors at Fisher Investments transferred $20 million from the firm the week after the billionaire made lewd comments at a conference, according to a research note from Mercer, an advisor to institutional investors. The development was disclosed on a conference call

Jonnie Miles | Photographer’s Choice | Getty Images There may be no free lunch in the financial services industry, but there is now free trading of stocks, exchange-traded funds and options. Charles Schwab announced on Oct. 2 it would eliminate commissions on those products for retail and registered investment advisor clients on its platform. TD

Witthaya Prasongsin | Moment | Getty Images Irish author James Joyce wrote in his novel “Ulysses” that a genius makes no mistakes. “His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery,” he wrote. Talk about hindsight being 20/20. Joyce’s spin aside, mistakes can indeed be learning experiences — and we all make them, especially

Thomas Barwick | Getty Images Financial advisors and wealth managers counsel others on money matters. Doling out financial advice is their bread and butter. And like doctors who turn to other physicians when they’ve got their own aches and ailments, financial advisors often rely on others’ opinions when planning their own finances. And, in some

kupicoo | E+ | Getty Images The aging army of independent registered investment advisors who have spearheaded the growth of the financial planning profession need to follow their own advice when it comes to their businesses — for their clients’ sake, as well as their own. With the average age of financial advisors somewhere in

The Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System voted on Thursday to fire Fisher Investments, pulling about $522 million from the money manager. The nine-member board of commissioners voted in favor of terminating the relationship with the Camas, Washington-based firm, following lewd comments Ken Fisher had made at an investment conference on Oct. 8. The

Guido Mieth | DigitalVision | Getty Images Raymond James‘ independent registered investment advisors have reason to cheer. The firm announced on Monday that it is eliminating transaction fees for stocks, exchange-traded funds and options in a division serving those professionals. The move was announced on Monday at a conference in Bonita Springs, Florida, for the

Kenneth Fisher, chief executive officer of Fisher Investments, speaks at the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010. Gillianne Tedder | Bloomberg | Getty Images It remains to be seen how long other clients will stick with billionaire money manager Ken Fisher in the wake of off-color and sexist comments