News
The FTSE Group is a world leader in the creation and management of equity, bond and hedge fund indices. Their indices are used for investment analysis, performance measurement and the creation of inde...
XShares Advisors, sponsors of the TDAX, Adelante and HealthShares ETF families, has entered into a strategic partnership with retirement plan services vendor RPG Consultants in order to provide plan s...
In December, the IRS issued a rule stating that any financial instrument linked to a single currency should be treated as debt for federal tax purposes, regardless of whether the instrument is private...
According to a late November SEC filing, PowerShares Capital Management could be gearing up to launch four actively managed exchange-traded funds:• PowerShares Active AlphaQ Fund• PowerShares Active A...
Meanwhile, the median expense ratio of bond ETFs was an extremely competitive 0.20 percent. Compare that figure with the average for bond mutual funds and you’ll see that as a group, bond ETFs are a b...
The vast majority of readers probably remember the February of their primary school years as a time to recall the greatness of George Washington, whose birthday is February 22, and Abraham Lincoln, wh...
With 2008 shaping up to be a year with at least as much market uncertainty as 2007, several trends from last year may offer advisors and investors a taste of what’s ahead. First, according to Lipper, ...
“The broadest, most distinct theme of 2007 has been the record strong inflows into global and emerging-market equity funds,” says Brad Durham, managing director of EPFR Global, which tracks funds with...
The latest annual survey of some 4,000 U.S. households finds 20 percent view the mutual fund industry very favorably, up from 19 percent a year ago, and 57 percent somewhat favorably, unchanged from l...
Vanguard introduced three new index funds in December 2007: Vanguard Mega Cap 300 Index Fund, Vanguard Mega Cap 300 Growth Index Fund, and Vanguard Mega Cap 300 Value Index Fund. The new funds seek to...
Just weeks after the departure of former Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O’Neal, news reports have circulated that Mac Gardner, head of global wealth management for the Americas, is leaving the firm. He had re...
The Securities and Exchange Commission has shared the findings of a RAND Corporation study that compares how different regulatory systems for broker-dealers and investment advisors affect investors. T...
As subprime-related woes continue to disrupt the financial-services industry, financial markets and the broader economy, a Smith Barney team with three advisors and two associates — the La Jolla Group...
It’s a well known that investors love steady returns and hate surprises. With more media scrutiny of Wall Street than ever and news reaching investors at the speed of light, shareholders are quick to ...
Outlook: We believe that the core-funded components of the KRX, the KBW Regional Bank Index, are among the most profitable and best performing components of the KRX. In 2007, these names have outperfo...
Research: What exactly is FOX and what do you do?Benevides: At our core, we are a research and advisory firm that provides service to a broad network of just over 550 entities focused in the family we...
That variation on a John F. Kennedy theme is the heart of financial advisory. Helping clients is indeed what has driven John A. Nersesian — first as a Merrill Lynch financial consultant for 20 years a...
When Janet Schaefer’s father died, the former health care administrator jumped in to help her elderly mother wade through mounds of paperwork. Where were the life insurance policies? Military service ...
Traditionally, financial companies and financial advisors have asked the following question of investors: “What is your tolerance to the variance of returns of risky assets?” This question was particu...
Voices/Columnists
You can capture more assets by adding bigger clients, adding more clients or capturing more assets from the clients you currently have. You can also delegate all the non-sales/non-advice functions so ...
No month shouts “LOVE” like February. If you happen to sell roses, or your last name is Hallmark, you know what I’m talking about. The rest of us have been taught that February is the time to show our...
Baby boomer clients preparing to retire within the next 10 years may soon be faced with a problem regarding their stock holdings. That problem is concentrated stock positions, or owning too much of on...
In 2007, CEG Worldwide undertook an extensive study of 2,094 financial advisors across all three channels — registered investment advisors (19.8 percent of those studied), independent broker-dealer re...
Alexander Shaknovich doesn’t break for lunch. A Harvard-MIT trained cardiologist, his career includes a position as Chief of Interventional Cardiology at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. He i...
The current trouble in global financial markets represents a correction in the overbought U.S. real estate market, but it is a more serious and broadly based problem — which is why it so promptly impa...