Some years ago, during the Great Buying Panic of the 1990s, it occurred to Rob Isbitts that the traditional idea of diversification might not provide the downside protection it was advertised to deliver.

When the mutual fund scandals broke in 2003, some of the most notorious villains were so-called side-by-side managers money managers that ran mutual funds and hedge funds at the same time.

Over the last two months we've covered the ins-and-outs of single premium immediate annuities (SPIAs).

SOME PEOPLE have too much of a good thing: The 2001 tech wreck taught a lot of advisors and their clients that. In fact, no advisor worth his salt would suggest that a bond fund, a small-cap fund and exposure to, say, the 10 industry segments of...

How did you celebrate the New Year? I stayed home and watched TV with my 13-year-old son, which we both enjoyed very much.

Stifel Nicolaus, the quiet St. Louis-based regional, doubled its size in two years with its purchases of Legg Mason's capital markets group in 2005 and now Ryan Beck, Bank Atlantic's brokerage arm, in January.

Variable-annuity sales are booming the National Association for Variable Annuities (NAVA) estimates they will surpass $150 billion for 2006, up 33 percent versus the previous year.

As we begin a new year, one very old but important lesson is worth remembering. While consensus investment views are often correct, the strategies used to implement such views may fall short. During 2006, it was widely believed that inflation...