MEDIA REVIEWS - September 1-7, 2010

Alas, the September 24 "fiduciary standard forum" in Washington, D.C., created to raise awareness among lawmakers and regulators, is scheduled in conflict with NAPFA's Practice Management & Technology Conference, which means I'll be introducing speakers and serving on panels while Tamar Frankel and Arthur Laby are delivering academic white paper reports on the superiority of the fiduciary standard.

Meanwhile, this is Investment Advisor's broker-dealer of the year issue, with the annual interview of the CEOs of the winning companies. One takeaway: you might be a little surprised at how naive they seem to be about the fiduciary concept and how it works in the real world. Mark Tibergien is hardly naive when he talks about the most important issues to address if you're thinking of merging with another advisor, and Angie Herbers talks about how to address the six most common problems that advisors run into with employees. Further down, you'll find the most relevant articles from the Economist; the future of the Internet, the philanthropic differences between the wealthy and unwealthy, and surprisingly good news from U.S. auto makers.