It's no secret that sales assistants are the administrative linchpins of many a brokerage office, but never before has their role been so crucial to the smooth operation of their practices.

Like any other rep, Ron Carson, whose $870 million practice rates him as one of America's top brokers, is vulnerable. This is the conclusion he drew from a 2002 incident in which he was hit with a $12 million complaint. He was accused of a garden...

When the scandal craze that has gripped the securities industry first got its kick in the pants two years ago from Eliot Spitzer and his crew, few in the industry recognized how deep it might go. Sure, some nefarious conflicts of interest would be...

Daniel Yasharel learned his most important lesson about the financial advisory business even before he became a full-fledged member of it. It was 1992, and Yasharel was working as an insurance agent. He'd sold a policy to a client who called him...

Freedom has its price, the saying goes, and perhaps nowhere is that price more frequently calculated than in the brokerage industry. Year after year, captive financial advisors, dreaming of independence and of the promises of an untethered...