Inside Information

I think the grief planning column by Amy Florian was the highlight of this issue of the Journal of Financial Planning, although I really liked some of the real world tips in Jon Guyton's column.

Meanwhile, I get the impression that the Journal is having some difficulty attracting high-quality technical articles. Maybe advisors are too busy these days to do independent research. [Read more »] 

What does Colin Powell think of today's political scene? What does Jeremy Siegel think of today's stock market? What do Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles think of the government deficits? Plus a remarkably inspirational speech at the end. [Read more »] 

An economist looks at the chances for growth in 2011 and beyond. [Read more »] 

What impact will the turmoil in Egypt have on U.S. portfolios? [Read more »] 

The highlight of this issue of Financial Advisor is the article about brokers who leave their wirehouse firm--sometimes after years of pre-planning, delivering their resignation and stepping out of their office and into their new firm in the same hour, asking members of their team to join them in a secluded meeting elsewhere in the brokerage offices at the same moment the resignation is being delivered, soliciting clients over the weekend before a temporary restraining order can be filed. It looks almost like an escape from a communist country, where there are armed guards at the border with their guns trained inward...

Meanwhile, Roy Diliberto wonders why so many advisors are trying to structure their practice so as not to have a fiduciary obligation to clients, and Joel Bruckenstein takes us on a tour of a new college planning software tool for your practice. [Read more »] 

Financial Planning magazine is still without a full-time editor, but this is a pretty good issue regardless. You hear about Fidelity's Center for Applied Technology, and both Stephanie Bogan and Deena Katz offer advice on how to narrow your focus and leverage yourself more efficiently. Don Trone offers a checklist for becoming fiduciary compliant, and Dan Moisand brings up a topic that nobody is talking about and everybody is facing: talk radio and certain TV channels are doing everything they can to paint a gloomy picture of America's future and scare older clients out of their wits. Of course, the older clients want to get out of the markets immediately--and how do you, the advisor, handle these requests. It's an interesting question. [Read more »] 

An executive summary and commentary on the SEC's efforts to "harmonize" BD and RIA regulation. [Read more »]