Darwin Abrahamson, CEO of Portland-based Invest n Retire, shared his views with Research about the state of the 401(k) market and where it’s headed. ...

As it works on selling its iShares unit, Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has unveiled its ETF Managed Solutions Guide, designed for financial advisors in identifying third-party managers (TPMs) who offer model ETF portfolios...

State Street Global Advisors has just introduced the SPDR Barclays Capital Long Term Credit Bond ETF (LWC). ...

The top-performing floating-rate taxable funds gained from about 8.80 percent to as much as 13.77 percent in the first three months of 2009, according to research conducted by Lipper. ...

Silver, copper and lead funds rose as much as 39 percent in the period. And the Tocqueville Gold Fund (TGLDX) moved up 19 percent....

Lou Harvey, president of Boston-based Dalbar Inc., which provides third-party audits and evaluation services to the financial-services industry, says that more change is coming in the area of retirement plans....

Fidelity Investments says it reopened the Fidelity Diversified International Fund....

St. Louis-based Stifel, Nicolaus & company says it has reached a deal with UBS Financial Services to acquire up to 55 branches and 320 financial advisors from the UBS Wealth Management Americas branch network. ...

LPL Financial, the independent broker-dealer serving some 11,890 independent advisors, has launched a program called ClientsFirst to help FAs attract, convert and retain new clients...

Commonwealth Financial Network highlighted both practical and emotional ways financial advisors can grow their business during the turmoil of 2009 at its recent wealth management symposium....

Heightened uncertainty demands flexibility and resilience....

Diverse approaches to building retirement portfolios share some common elements....

Use the right list and the right script, get down the right sound and hit the right numbers — and it all comes together....

After several years of my “live on the razor’s edge” career, I decided to leave the much-tested financial industry and try something else. Imagine how elated I was, knowing now I would definitely never have to take another test in my life....

The book makes a strong case for developing in-depth market research to determine what excites customers and how to get their attention and their business....

Is Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) a best practice or folly? Once an advisor carefully diversifies a client’s portfolio, is putting it on autopilot the right thing to do? ...

Even today, new money is still coming into people’s lives. There are inheritances, bonuses (some companies are still doing well), and raises....

Stanton Selbst, the man in charge of financial-services training at SmartPros, teaches me a lesson of sorts even before we set up our lunch meeting. ...