MEDIA REVIEWS - February 1-7, 2010

Either the magazines are getting better or I'm getting mellower in my rating system, because once again I've found a higher-than-usual number of articles to give a "high" relevance rating to. But in this issue of Investment Advisor, some of those uprated articles are more FYI than substance; for example, the insurance industry is suddenly lobbying against fiduciary, when there is no indication the standards would even apply to them. (Can you see the brokerage firms putting them up to it?) The profile of Ben Marks is notable only because this breakaway broker seems to believe that he invented independent, unbiased advice--telling us how little the brokerage community knows about a business model that has been around since the Carter Administration. The article about Ray Sclafani is pretty thin, but he's going to be a columnist in future issues of IA, so it's good to get a quick look at what he thinks.

The more substantive offerings are the cover story insights into the Hispanic world of potential clients, Mark Tibergien's suggestion on how to evaluate and interview prospective new hires, and Angie Herbers recommending that you rethink your compensation structure.