Many brokerage-industry watchers agree that mergers and acquisitions can be rather tiresome for clients, eroding their confidence in the firms and, often, in the reps, too. Considering the wave of deal-making in the brokerage industry of late, you...
Sports and financial markets have more than a little in common. Just as a sports contest takes several innings or quarters to develop, bulls and bears tug and pull upon an asset's price, and when one side starts to win, a trend is created over...
Cleves Delp, an LPL Financial-affiliated advisor in Maumee, Mo., with $1.5 billion in assets under management, says he's been looking into starting his own RIA. When you cross the billion dollar mark, you kind of have to consider the RIA option...
When it Began, the credit crisis had little to do with retail brokerage. After all, the fixed income departments were the ones who made the bad mortgage bets that have since unraveled, resulting in a pileup of more than $200 billion dollars in...
Alden Cass is a clinical psychologist who specializes in financial-services employees. Below, the Stock Doc speaks. Registered Rep.: In your book, Bullish Thinking, you state there is a problem with depression among financial advisors. Why is that...
Dodge & Cox is not famous for making dramatic contrarian moves. Instead, the company's funds have become popular by following cautious strategies, such as buying securities. But recently Dodge & Cox International Stock announced a change in policy...
Given a choice, most of your clients would rather pay for their kids' college education from accumulated savings or an overabundance of current income (if not a full ride based on the child's expertise at Guitar Hero). But when those sources of...
During the heyday of paper assets, stockbrokers regularly lorded over their commodity-dealing brethren. It wasn't personal, mind you, just the nature of the business. Stock jockeys were making commissions hand over fist, leaving commodities...