Wealth Manager Web July 2008

Cover Story

• Success Stories: The top five Top Dogs offer a glimpse of their strategies.

  By Nancy R. Mandell

  John LaPann, Federal Street Advisors: There was just one burning question Wealth Manager editors had for the number-one ranked firm in this year's Top Dog...

• Small Steps in the Right Direction.

  By Robert Huebscher

  One way to hedge against the recessionary and inflationary fears mounting in the U.S. markets is through international diversification. In fact, data from the Advisor...

• A 12-month review of the capital markets suggests declining dollar helped emerging markets surge.

  By J. Gibson Watson III, CIMA, Envestnet

  Upon examination of the global capital markets over the last year, it should come as no surprise that the two best performing asset classes are...

• The Future of Death (Taxes): You need a scorecard to keep track of the bills meant to address the e

  By James J. Green, AdvisorOne

  When it comes to wealth management and federal legislation, you can't find a more important issue than the future of the estate tax, known as...

• RIAs get new trust company and service options.

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne

  Trust Network Offers Custody and Services Pershing LLC, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., has announced the launch of Trust Network, a...

• Hedge funds of funds-though expensive-can add significant value to client accounts.

  By Ben Warwick, Quantitative Equity Strategies

  Investing money for clients is like checking into a fancy hotel: At every turn, there's someone to tip. All those outstretched hands add up. After fund...

• Donor-advised funds offer HNW clients some unexpected planning benefits.

  By Gavin Morrissey, JD, LLM, Commonwealth Financial, Gavin Morrissey, JD, LLM, Commonwealth Financial

  As a client's personal wealth increases, it is common to notice a corresponding increase in the individual's interest in philanthropy. Whether their charitable inclination results...

• Sell in May and Go Away? Not so fast, according to the numbers.

  By Larry E. Swedroe

  It is an old investment legend, right along with the "January Effect" and the "Santa Claus Rally:" Sell stocks at the start of the month...

• Deciding whether clients fare better by writing off state and local income taxes or sales taxes is

  By Julian Block

  Here's a heads-up for financial advisors who prepare federal and state returns for clients or enlighten them about techniques that trim their taxes. Advisors should...

• For one wealth manager, bonds are the only game in town.

  By James Picerno

  Asset allocation? Don't even think about it, says Stan Richelson of the Scarsdale Investment Group, Ltd., a Blue Bell, Pa. wealth management shop that he...

• Can philanthropy and capitalism work together?

  By James Picerno

  Philanthropy is conventionally defined as activity aimed at promoting human welfare of one kind or another, as any dictionary will tell you. Conspicuously absent from...

• RiverSource catches the tailwinds of undervalued industrial and energy stocks-and then holds on tig

  By Stan Luxenburg

  When credit markets came unglued last summer, financial stocks collapsed. That was bad news for large value funds, which traditionally hold big stakes in banks...

• Understanding your clients' behavior is useful for growing your insurance business.

  By Scott Mampre

  It's no surprise to wealth managers that growth in mature insurance markets such as the United States has become harder to achieve: Many already own...

• Will 'new and improved' indices enhance asset allocation?

  By James Picerno

  If you build better indices, the possibility of enhancing asset allocation strategies naturally follows. Why, then-in a world that's minting a new generation of benchmarks...

• Breaking Up

  By Susan L. Hirshman

  I was looking through an old New York Magazine (August 2007), and a small article caught my eye. It was titled, "Bear Market? Dump Your...

• You may equate Mike Lipper with just finding the right numbers, but his mind is always searching.

  By Kathleen McBride, AdvisorOne

  After many years of discussion with family, friends and colleagues, A. Michael Lipper, CFA, has written a book, Money Wise: How to Create, Grow, and...

• Firms struggle to define how to use them, where to find them and what to pay them.

  By Philip Palaveev, Fusion Advisor Network

  It must be confusing to be a Junior Advisor--on one hand being told that you are the future of the firm (and the industry) and...

• Caveat Emptor

  By Staff Writer

  Commodities have come a long way from the 1980s and 1990s when commodity markets were considered the Wild West, populated by cowboy commodity traders who...