Research Magazine August 2012

A Cool Place to Work: How Advisory Firms Are Attracting, Retaining Top Employees

By Ellen Uzelac

How is this for a dream job? Unlimited paid leave. Time off for philanthropy. Friday chair massages. Forward-thinking advisory firms are looking to boost employee buy-in and morale.

UBS Offers Big Help for Small Business

By Jane Wollman Rusoff

The program gives company owners one-on-one strategic financial and business advice and access to UBS senior executives, plus a smorgasbord of other UBS resources. Objective: new job creation.

The Word That Scares Away Your Clients

By Ellen Uzelac

Advisors today are all ginned up about risk. Trouble is—they shouldn’t be.

A Conversation With Yourself

By Robert Tyndall

One of the more charming YouTube videos to go viral recently is an interview 32-year-old filmmaker Jeremiah McDonald held with his 12-year-old self.

What Triggers Referrals?

By Bill Good

The implications of the “change principle” for clients go deeply into your practice, especially into why you get referrals and why some clients get referred to your competitors.

Prediction Time

By Kenneth Silber, Research

Forecasting election outcomes has taken on some of the trappings of a science in recent years.

Pop That Oil Bubble

By Alexei Bayer

The oil market has been in a bubble stage for a decade.

Milevsky’s ‘The 7 Most Important Equations’: Book Review

By Bob Seawright

Let me deal with the necessary disclaimers first: I am a huge fan of Moshe Milevsky, a prolific author and my colleague at Research magazine. That said, Professor Milevsky’s new book is a terrific read.

The Seminar Secret

By Bill Miller

The idea of a seminar is great. Get a large number of people in a room; give one bang up presentation and voilà … you qualify for the grand awards trip.

Vanguard CIO Gus Sauter to Retire

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

Vanguard says Chief Investment Officer Gus Sauter will retire on Dec. 31, when he will be replaced by Tim Buckley.

Buckley on Risks, Bonds & More

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

Big Jump in 401(k) Investors Seeking Diversification

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

One-third of 401(k) plan participants invested their entire account balance in a professionally managed asset allocation and investment option in 2011, up from less than one-tenth in 2005, according to Vanguard.

Indexing Strategically

By Ron DeLegge, ETFguide.com

What if you could index the investment strategies of hedge fund managers?

Following Hedge Honchos

By Ron DeLegge, ETFguide.com

If you’re having trouble tracking all of the handpicked investments from top hedge fund managers, a pair of ETFs will do it for you.

What Do Credit Ratings Tell Us?

By Ron DeLegge, ETFguide.com

Moody’s Investors Service gave its token credit downgrade to a dozen global banks (IXG) including five of the six largest U.S. banks—and financial stocks responded by shooting higher. What’s going on?

Capping AMJ Shares

By Ron DeLegge, ETFguide.com

JPMorgan Chase is capping the maximum number of Alerian MLP Index ETNs (AMJ) authorized for issuance at 129 million shares.

Morgan Stanley’s Social-Media Drive

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

While rivals are working behind the scenes, Morgan Stanley is moving publicly—and quickly—to embrace social media, experts say.

Raymond James Celebrates 50 Years

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

While stock-market rallies have come and gone over the past 50 years, solid leadership at Raymond James has been more consistent.

Edward Jones Shares 2020 Hiring Target

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

Top Fund Managers Reveal Investment Opportunities

By John Sullivan, AdvisorOne

Chairman and CEO Joe Mansueto kicked off Morningstar’s 2012 Investment Conference in Chicago on June 20 by noting the presence of 1,850 attendees, 75 journalists and 200 exhibitors at this year’s show.

Top of the Dividend Charts

By Ed McCarthy

With current market conditions and global economic trends, advisors have a good opportunity to introduce more clients to companies that make the Mergent Dividend Achievers roster.

Mergent Index Updates

By Ed McCarthy

Mergent Index Updates Mergent, a leading provider of business and financial information on global publicly listed companies, also develops and licenses equity, fixed income and commodity index and investment products.