Advisor news
Financial advisor career news from Willis Consulting
Financial Advisor Compensation Up
Good news regarding financial advisor compensation according to The FA Insight Study of Advisory Firms: People and Pay Compensation Update for 2012, released Tuesday. “Compensation within the financial advisory industry is rising at rates significantly greater than...
FINRA Rule 2111 Clarifies “Suitability” Rule
Financial advisors are to be relieved of some of their burden in interpreting the FINRA Rule 2111 known as the “Suitability Rule” passed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in November of 2010 and effective in June of this year. The Rule outlines the...
Should Financial Advisors Use Hd Video to Contact Clients?
“With 20% of wealthy investors under age 55 planning to change their primary advisor in the next 12 months, tech enhancements may be the difference between acquiring or losing clients” according to the Cisco IBSG Financial Services Practice survey. “Some advisors...
Rule 1041 Sets Limitations for Sales Assistants
Since 1988 FINRA has had a registration category for "Assistant Representatives-Order Processing." FINRA Rule 1041 defines an Assistant Representative-Order Processing as "persons associated with a member who accept unsolicited customer orders for submission for...
Fiscal Cliff or Leap of Faith?
I read with interest and then cheered Eric Pianin’s Nov 30th article on the “game of political chicken” that Democrats and Republicans are engaging in during “negotiations” over ways to avert the fiscal cliff. (Eric Pianin is the Washington Editor at The Fiscal Times...
News Updates for Financial Advisors
Merrill Adds Ten Big Producers - UBS Picks from Merrill - Wells Adds 24 Since August OnWallStreet.com announced this week that Merrill Lynch has hired 10 financial advisors from rival wirehouse firms who managed a total of $1.07 billion in assets and had $7.7 million...
300 Military Veterans Hired by Edward Jones
Transitioning from military to civilian life has proven difficult in the “best of times” for our US military veterans, but Edward Jones has taken a lead in assisting vets by hiring 300 military veterans this year with its new FORCES program. (The 300 are in addition...
Securities Law Expert a “Must” for Fired Financial Advisors
As regulations tighten around Wall Street firms, we’re seeing more financial advisors being terminated for offenses which in the past may have been handled with a simple reprimand. Termination need not be a “career buster,” but certain steps need to be put into action...
RIA Versus Broker Disclosures – Are They Equal?
Two opposing points of view were presented in the October 30th feature article in Advisorone.com by reporter Gil Weinreich, who interviewed Patrick Burns, securities lawyer from Beverly Hills, who represents RIA clients; and veteran recruiter Mark Ezweig, the New...
Broker Bonuses – Should They be Regulated?
Incentive compensation -- those large bonuses used to lure brokers from one firm to another -- should they be disclosed to the broker’s clients? The discussion has been on the table for the past three years; since SEC chairman Mary Schapiro stepped in and expressed...
Wells Fargo’s Abbot Downing Division Caters to “Ultra-Rich”
By merging two of its wealth management units earlier this year the Abbot Downing Wealth Management business was launched. Under President Jim Steiner, the subsidiary, which has a “small firm feel”, caters to ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families with $50...
Big-Firm Recruiting Wars for Financial Advisors Continue
The bidding war among the big wirehouses to recruit financial advisors who manage the assets of the “ultra rich” continues. High-end U.S. brokers are being offered two to three times the commissions and fees they produced in the previous year, a reflection of how...
Wall Street Brokers Say Romney Presidential Win Will Boost Income
According to a poll, OnWallStreet reports that Wall Street Brokers expect their compensation to increase if Mitt Romney wins the Presidential election. A win by Mitt Romney in tomorrow’s U.S. presidential election is more likely to boost Wall Street compensation than...
Wells Fargo FiNet Adds Four New Practices for Independent Financial Advisors
Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network has added four practices. With these financial advisors its independent brokerage arm, FiNet, has over 1,100 owners and financial advisors in more than 540 practices, with over $55.5 billion in assets under management. The new...
New Bankruptcy Rules For Financial Advisors Implemented
The CFP Board of Standards will not subject financial advisors who have declared bankruptcy to disciplinary proceedings. Under the new rules, approved by the Board of Directors, CFP Board will no longer investigate, and the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission will no...
Fidelity Investments Launches App Off Facebook’s Timeline
A new app for Facebook, called FutureTimeline, was launched by Fidelity Investments, the first major financial services firm to utilize Facebook’s feature in this way. Hoping to steer the Facebook generation toward its own website, the app allows users to set...
New Challenge For Financial Advisors — Same Sex Couples
Census data puts the number of same-sex couples living together in 2010 at approximately 620,000. That trend is expected to grow, according to a survey conducted earlier this year by the Financial Planning Association. The survey of 5,500 FPA members found that...
Financial Advisor Compensation Base Evolves from Production to Rolling Averages
How most financial advisors are paid at banks and credit unions has evolved from being based on recent production to being based on at least six months to a year of rolling averages, according to a recent study by Kehrer Saltzman & Associates. When Kenneth Kehrer...
Are Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors Set To Run?
Merrill appears to be intent to grab as many top Morgan Stanley financial advisors as possible, even arming their managers with lists of advisors to target, according to The Wall Street Journal on Oct 2, 2012. (With offers as high as $1. 5 million upfront not...
Advisor Generation Gap – Entitlement Versus “Stuck in the Stone Age”
“The differences between the older and younger generations of advisors just might be hindering the growth of the profession. It’s a known fact that only one fifth of the country’s advisors are under the age of 40 and only 5% under the age of 30. So what’s the problem?...