Registered Rep

So far this year, more “mom-and-pop” broker/dealers are dropping out of the business compared to this time last year, according to new data from the Compliance Department Inc.

How to get the most value for your practice when its time to sell? Put a plan in place to ensure clients will barely notice you are gone.

A new program shorts futures contracts to hedge ETF holdings inside annuity contracts. It’s not cheap, but some say it’s worth it.

In the aftermath of the 2008-2009 market meltdown, investors piled into gold mining issues, Treasury bonds and high-dividend stocks. The dividend play has now become very crowded and the wheels on the mining stock bus are wobbling dangerously but a novel twist in corporate payouts could, in one fell swoop, generate new interest. Gold Resource Corp. (NYSE Amex: GORO), a low-cost bullion producer, recently

Over the last couple years, we’ve written time and again about the mainstreaming of alternative investments with the rise of alternative mutual funds and ETFs.

The branch office manager used to be the highly revered elder statesmen of the industry. No more. Many advisors say the position is increasingly part of a corporate bureaucracy with a mandate to push the agenda of the firm over the interests of the clients.

This report identifies the “best” ETFs and mutual funds based on the quality of their holdings and their costs. As detailed in “A cheap fund is not always a good fund”, there are few funds that have both good holdings and low costs. While there are lots of cheap funds, there are very few with high-quality holdings.

We've all seen the studies – one seems to land on my desk once or twice a week. “Americans are living longer.” “Fewer have defined benefit pensions.” “The value of Social Security is shrinking.” “Boomers don't have enough money to retire comfortably.” “A retirement crisis is looming.”

Active ETFs have been making a big splash lately, especially with the recent launch of PIMCO’s Total Return ETF (ticker: TRXT).

Investors are not happier campers when it comes to their full service brokerage, according to the latest satisfaction study by J.D. Power and Associates.

How do you know if your math is fuzzy or if it all adds up? Will any old math do? That is a question being posed by the Boston Consulting Group in a report released today.

Welcome to the world of the elite. There’s a small cadre of elite new advisors, 2.4% to be exact, who are doing the right activities, the right way and seeing phenomenal results.