Vanguard Brings Access To ETFs With Launch Of Commission-Free Platform

Thirty-four percent of variable annuity owners cannot remember why they bought them, a new survey finds. But at least one analyst says that is merely a sign that VAs are very versatile, with a number of different uses, and that advisors are trusted and doing a good job.

Allianz will make its annuities available on the Envestnet Insurance Exchange, the second insurer to list its products there. Advisors at banks, broker-dealers, independent insurance agencies and registered investment advisors will be able to research Allianz annuities using the exchange, which is connected to Envestnet’s wealth management platform.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that government regulators have subpoenaed Tesla as they dig into CEO Elon Musk’s recent disclosure about a potential buyout of the electric car maker. The Securities and Exchange Commission subpoena reportedly demands information from each of Tesla’s nine directors. Both Tesla and the SEC declined to comment Wednesday. The SEC’s move heightens the intrigue surrounding Musk’s decision last week to tweet that he had secured funding for a massive buyout.

Over the past five years, the Russell 1000 Growth has returned an annualized six percent in excess of the Russell 1000 Value, and that outcome has Wall Street talking growth stocks in 2018.

We all will be sick or hurt and taken away from business or daily undertakings at some point. We know there’s a risk of permanent disability or inability to act in our own behalf. That’s why we discuss financial reserves, disability insurance, and provisions for long term care as part of financial planning basics.

Outside of a true financial emergency, there’s no need to take 401(k) money out early – but that’s a message not getting through to retirement savers. So, how can advisors step in and save 401(k) cash out takers from themselves?

Financial institutions don’t seem to be taking the threat of cyber-theft as seriously as security experts advise.

Health care costs often wind up undermining the best retirement planning.

just as great quarterbacks like Tom Brady have a coach to rely on and help manage their game plan, great investors do, too

Days before the SEC comment page closed, Industry heavyweights Michael Kitces and Ken Fisher shared their thoughts on the threefold rule proposal containing a fiduciary standard, Regulation Best Interest and Form CRS.

Women have much better investing skills, a new MassMutual survey finds.

Age has little to do with how retail advisors communicate with wholesalers, new research finds. Advisors gravitate either toward technology or traditional face-to-face contact based on the distribution channel in which they sell.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he is considering taking the electric car maker private. Tesla’s stock jumped after Musk made the abrupt announcement in a terse tweet. He said is considering taking the company private at $420 a share and already has secured funding.

Sustany Capital, a venture capital firm exclusively investing in blockchain technologies, today shared the results of a new study that reveals that Millennials are confident in investing in cryptocurrencies.
With media hype surrounding reported overn…

Investors tend to be drawn to hot technology and biotechnology stocks for their growth prospects- not for the cash they return to shareholders. A quick look at Apple’ s performance shows that’s not necessarily the case. Between price appreciation and payouts, Apple stock has delivered a total return of about 170% since March 2012, when it announced plans to…

What’s on your to-do list today? I’ll wager that “building workplace relationships” doesn’t appear on that list — but it’s something that all agency owners and business leaders should be focused on daily.

Bitcoin and blockchain are in the news more and more these days, and clients are likely to ask about them. Here’s a crash course on cryptocurrencies and the technology behind them.

The deadline to comment on Regulation Best Interest, Fiduciary Standard and Form CRS closes on Tuesday, August 7. So far, thousands of comments have poured in from investors, financial professionals and special interest groups.

Wall Street watchers who specialize in the technology sector say social media sites are losing trust with consumers and that’s negatively impacting stock prices.

Given the power of compound interest, the retirement savings gap will continue to widen if women aren’t conscious of and actively planning for retirement.

It’s been a good year for independent advisors. So, what worked in their favor? These five takeaways from the study reveal what went right for advisors in 2018.

The financial world has been trying to understand this tech-savvy, minimalistic generation for years and now, research is finally shedding some light on this elusive group.

The number of RIA merger-and-acquisition deals collapsed compared to the first quarter, which saw a record 49 transactions, an industry tracker reported. The reasons are numerous, but an analyst said the future prospects for M&A remain strong.

Top advisors are able to utilize technology, prefer face-to-face meetings and find ways to put the client first, a new survey found. Those advisors diverge from the rest of their peers in some areas, while in other areas both groups exhibited similarities, the survey found.

In light of the many changes in our markets, technology, and how companies operate since then, SEC staff will host a roundtable this fall to hear from investors, issuers, and other market participants about whether the SEC’s proxy rules should be refined. “The SEC’s rules governing the proxy process are at the center of investor participation in, and influence over,…

Advisors looking to sell out need to pause and consider who they are selling to, say succession planning experts. Scammers are getting their foot in the door by buying books of business and defrauding clients, an outcome that can sully decades of good work.

(Bloomberg) Bitcoin fell for a third day, slipping below $8,000 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a request…

Data shows that 81 percent of advisors use model portfolios at some level, as they look for help in managing client accounts in an environment where fees are sliding downward.

Paid subscribers, which account for about 90 percent of the company’s sales, are more profitable for Spotify than free users. But Spotify reported fewer users of the advertising-supported tier than a quarter ago, which is making investors nervous.

Your clients may be relaxing this summer but their retirement funds should be working hard.

Retirees blame tax complexities and concerns about outliving their money for their reluctance to splurge.

Mount Rushmore features massive 60- foot-tall busts of celebrated presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, each chosen for their respective roles in preserving or expanding the Republic. But if you were to make a Mount Rushmore for presidents based on stock market performance, none of these men would make the…

A survey of employees last year by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that the smaller a company, the less likely workers are to have retirement plans of any kind available to them.

Advisors seeking to match clients with the best annuity benefits need accurate expense-to-benefit ratio tools to help protect them in an era of regulatory pressure. For example, lifetime withdrawal riders allow retirees to receive income for the rest of their lives, but cost extra.

One in three financial advisors recommended permanent life insurance in 2016. By 2018, only one in four recommended the products, according to the 2018 Trends in Investing Survey conducted by the Financial Planning Association.

The EM index is also down 16 percent from its high on Jan. 26, just shy of the 20 percent decline that signals a bear market.   

The traditional assets under management (AUM) model is growing strong even as new fee-based arrangements crop up each month, the report by Cerulli Associates found.

The IMF’s warning comes as President Donald Trump considers a range of further tariffs in his mission to level the playing field for U.S. companies and help American workers.

Non-millionaires expressed growing concerns about investing, with nearly half (47.8 percent) indicating that they did not plan to increase their investment in the coming month, the highest level since July 2017.
The data, the company stated, pointed straight to geopolitics, especially increased angst among investors over global trade issues.

With trade and tariffs in the headlines, should advisors be taking a longer look at the impact of White House decisions on client portfolios, especially in high-profile industries like auto manufacturing and sales – both home and abroad?

MLG Blockchain, a global consulting development and financial solutions firm, and GB Capital Markets LLC, the parent of GB Capital Markets Inc., a FINRA- registered broker-dealer, announced a new strategic collaboration. “I am excited to partner with GB Capital Markets LLC to provide our clients access to seamless compliant fundraising solutions and our…

With less than one month left to weigh in on Regulation Best Interest, investors and interest groups have inspired thousands of consumers to make their opinion known.

Amidst increased buzz over robotics-based advice, machine-learning and artificial intelligence, human advisors may wonder what a future where financial consumers are spoon-fed the moves they need to make to optimize their savings on a 24-7 basis means for them.

It’s official at long last: David Solomon will inherit the crown from Lloyd Blankfein at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

A new Schwab survey finds that nearly 75 percent of registered investment advisors are planning to hire over the next 12 months. Likewise, many firms are offering many more holistic services such as tax prep.

The fact that it’s possible to stay closer to the risk profile of a savings account with the opportunity to earn returns closer to the stock market is what makes IUL appealing as a piece of a broader balanced allocation strategy.

Ever since former President Barack Obama signed Dodd-Frank in 2010, Republicans and some financial firms have sought to repeal the legislation or at least roll it back. But a major overhaul requires 60 votes in the Senate.

Finance professionals are budgeting more and more time each passing year to filling out forms and documenting meetings — all part of compliance demands they say are “ruining” the industry.

33 percent of baby boomers, 32 percent of Gen Xers and 27 percent of millennials say paying off debt is their greatest financial priority now.

The new payment of alimony law means that the payer will no longer be able to reduce 
their taxable income and their taxes, which are almost always paid at a higher rate than that of the alimony receiver.

Envestnet is integrating annuities into its wealth management platform, giving advisors a more complete view of client retirement portfolios. The first insurer is offering annuities on the exchange, which one analysts says will spur others to follow.

A new study shows millennials, a group about 80 million Americans born between 1979 and 2000, are paying more attention to financial planning and goal setting as they save for a home and start families.

“We want your views,” SEC Chairman Jay Clayton says of the SEC’s cross-country roundtable tour to hear from investors.

Summer means vacations and vacations mean slipping off with a good book. We talked to several financial advisors to find out what they are reading for our annual summer reading list.

General Electric was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average this week in a move that signals transition within the company. Some experts say the Dow could withstand some reorganization of its own.

New survey data shows that high-net-worth clients want more personalized service from advisors, not just big returns. These clients want a personal touch that shows some concern and interest in the family’s lives, experts say.

Financial advisors need a new approach with which to engage clients about annuities, and a coalition of 24 insurers and asset managers has banded together to help.

For the first time the market share for managed accounts held by wirehouses dropped below 50 percent last year, from a peak of 71 percent in 2001, according to Cerulli.

A new survey yields revealing thoughts from 300 advisors, RIAs and broker-dealers on financial market challenges and managing client portfolios in a risk-laden market environment.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation Best Interest is drawing heated opposition from an interesting coalition of allies. But Chairman Jay Clayton insists that the agency will not be deterred in its rulemaking efforts.

U.S. market returns have outpaced foreign equities since the 2007-08 economic recession. But that is changing, analysts say, with foreign market performance indices edging ahead in recent months. Many analysts expect that trend to continue.

Millennials and GenXers are going to comprise a much larger piece of the client pie by 2023, according to a new survey. On the flip side, baby boomers and older clients will decline in numbers. Advisors need to learn strategies to appeal to the trending youth, experts say.

Americans can retire abroad for a fraction of the costs needed in the U.S., and many are doing just that. Advisors have an opportunity to be the indispensable partner while helping clients through the retire-abroad process.