Research Magazine February 2009

The Earliest Securities Markets

By Kenneth Silber, Research

Moving and Shaking

By Ellen Uzelac

When Bob Dineen joined Lincoln Financial Network six years ago, the organization was losing huge money -- up to $70 million a year. Not only...

Sage Counseling

By Jane Wollman Rusoff

Peter J. Wallison didn't need a crystal ball to foresee the train wreck that was approaching. For years, the former White House counsel and general counsel...

"The Drunkard's Walk" by Leonard Mlodinow

By Staff Writer

A quick glance at the cover of Leonard Mlodinow's "The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives" (Pantheon, 2008) may trick you into thinking it's...

Putting It Into Practice: Roadmap for Longevity

By Dennis Gallant

By Dennis Gallant and Howard Schneider The growing shift to retirement income raises key questions for most advisors. What does the transition to supporting retirement income...

Bob McCann Bids Merrill Adieu

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

Robert McCann has left his post as head of Merrill Lynch's wealth-management division now that its merger with Bank of America has been completed. McCann, 50,...

A New ETF Playbook

By Staff Writer

What will become of stocks over the course of 2009? And how about the faltering U.S. economy? Is the housing market done correcting? Where are...

Lipper Says "Ouch" as Equity Funds Post Poor Returns

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

Last year, equity funds posted their worst one-year return (-39.54 percent) in Lipper's database, which began in 1959, notes Tom Roseen, senior research analyst of...

Vanguard Study Finds Plans Beneficial

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

Recent volatility in the equity markets has caused fear among some politicians and other observers that 401(k) investors may be too aggressively invested. On the...

Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney to Combine

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney to Combine, Joint Venture Should Have 20,000-Plus FAs The former Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is set to become Morgan Stanley Smith Barney,...

Edward Jones Now Close to 11,200 FAs; Will 'Take Boring Any Day,' Says Weddle

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

What's your latest advisor headcount? We had a good year in 2008 in terms of how we grow, which is through organic growth. We refuse...

The Retirement Mission

By Francois Gadenne

How do you create a mission statement? Retired Col. John Dundas runs a leadership development business called Leadership Applied (see www.leadershipapplied.com), and he teaches the...

David Macchia Interview: Tom James

By David Macchia

David Macchia: The events that have played out in the economy in recent months have been remarkable. I know you've witnessed a great deal in...

1-800-Sue-Your-Broker

By Bill Good

Some time during the September/October meltdown, I saw a huge billboard. I was just turning into a wealthy subdivision. Everyone who went there saw it. The...

Live Fast

By Bill Miller

I recently had the opportunity to listen in at a roundtable for financial advisors, as they talked about their concerns regarding the current state of...

A Model for Success

By Mary Scott

Three principals of CEG Worldwide, John J. Bowen Jr., Patricia J. Abram and Jonathan Powell, present the key strategies top advisors rely on to succeed...

The Tax-Form Gateway

By Marie Swift

Financial planners generally do not prepare tax returns as part of their engagements. But that doesn't mean they can't make use of them. In fact,...

Volatility as Opportunity

By Patricia J. Abram

Serious market volatility ex-acerbates existing flaws in our organizations, business plans and client service models. Still, given our ability not to see what we don't...

'No Free Lunch' with Bonds

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

After a strong first quarter start (+2.17 percent), the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index fell 1.02 percent in the second quarter and followed that...

A Real Midas Touch

By Alexei Bayer

With a name like Midas, it should come as no surprise that the fund Tom Winmill runs is bullish on gold. After all, it was...

The Trouble with Treasuries

By Alexei Bayer

The world is rapidly getting poorer. According to the International Monetary Fund, worldwide losses from the financial crisis already measured $1.4 trillion through November. Although it...

The Right Staff

By Jane Wollman Rusoff

Though Rex C. Whiteside has forsaken a fancy sushi palace for a less pricey Japanese spot when buying his staff lunch, and has cut a...

Renewed Focus

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

With the recent market turmoil in the financial sector and global stock markets, corporate-governance issues are front, right and center. This includes greater scrutiny...

Best in Class

By Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

Donald Broughton Avondale Partners LLC 314-218-4956 dbroughton@avondalepartners.com --- We don't know when spring starts (neither does the company), but when it does FedEx will be well positioned to take full...