Bank Investment Consultant articles from January 2005

Bank Investment Consultant archives from January 2005

Thinking Outside the Box.
January 1, 2005... In a recent story in BIC's sister publication American Banker, Robert Reid, an executive vice president and director of Wachovia Corp.'s strategic retirement initiative, talked about the Charlotte, N.C., banking giant's plans to grow retirement...

Technology Spurs Banks to Switch Clearing Firms.
January 1, 2005... Brokerage firms typically view any change in clearing firms with horror, given that conversions rarely go smoothly and almost always result in disruptions to accounts and the potential for irate customers. And yet at least five brokerage arms...

Complexity Stunts 529 Plan Growth.
January 1, 2005... Sales of 529 college savings accounts continued to lag in the third quarter of 2004 as some analysts began to worry that the once-hot product's complexity and regulatory uncertainties are sapping its momentum. In the quarter ended Sept. 30,...

Advisers Mull Newly Registered Hedge Funds.
January 1, 2005... Hedge funds will soon be required to take the first big step toward becoming more transparent and easier for financial advisers to discuss with their clients. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) passed a rule in October 2004 requiring...

Calendar.
January 1, 2005... January 20-21 Asset Allocation Conference Ibbotson Associates Orlando, Fla. (800) 758-3557, or www.ibbotson.com February 6-8 Network 2005 Managed Funds Assoc. Key Biscayne, Fla. (202) 367-1140, or...

Product News.
January 1, 2005... Colorado's CollegeInvest division is now offering the Direct Portfolio 529 College Savings plan. Managed by Vanguard, it consists of three age-based options and eight individual portfolios. CollegeInvest has also added Multiple Discipline...

Tools and Resources.
January 1, 2005... CashEdge has introduced a Wealth Management Suite for advisers. The suite provides data consolidation and funds transfer, which can be used on a stand-alone basis or integrated into financial planning and portfolio management applications....

It's the Company You Keep: Bremer's Randy Birkenbine builds his book--and the bank's--by targeting commercial clients' employees.
January 1, 2005... Randy Birkenbine found himself in a difficult position when his longtime employer, financial services firm Lutheran Brotherhood, merged in March 2001 with local competitor Aid Association to Lutherans to create Thrivent Financial for Lutherans,...

Randy Birkenbine at a Glance.
January 1, 2005... 2003 AUM: $10m 2004 AUM: $14m as of October Number of clients: 350 Licenses: Series 7, 6 & 63, Life/Health Insurance Years in the business: 17 Copyright 2005 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved....

Planning For The Really Long Term: Target-date funds eschew risk tolerance criteria for a strategy dependent on time-and they're starting to make waves in the bank channel.
January 1, 2005... As financial services become more complex, some banks are starting to notice an unusual phenomenon: A growing number of clients don't want to have to think about their investments; instead they would rather set it and forget it. In part a...

Banks Shift Gears in 2005.
January 1, 2005... As the new millennium enters its fifth year, 2005 looks like it will be an eventful one for bank-based financial advisers and their parent institutions. If the market moves upward instead of sideways, squeamish investors may finally embrace the...

Getting Emotional About Sales: FTC Methods' training program hinges on awakening the inner producer in branch staff.
January 1, 2005... Training sessions get reps and bank staff up to speed on how certain products work and how they benefit the customer, but can they actually teach people to want to sell? Dennis Budinich and Eric Laurens, founders of training firm FTC Methods,...

Cashing In on Dividends: President Bush's tax cut is making dividend-paying stocks fashionable again among wealthy investors.
January 1, 2005... One of the great windfalls for investors among the tax cuts passed during President Bush's first term was the reduction to 15% of the dividend tax from ordinary income tax rates of as high as 35%. Now that Bush has been elected to a second...

Making Unwanted Life Policies Pay: When clients outgrow their life insurance policies, life settlements are one way to get out.
January 1, 2005... Many clients come to bank reps with questions about their life insurance policies. When assessing policies, bank reps need to know about life settlements. They are a way of extricating a client from a policy that is not needed, performing...

How It Works.
January 1, 2005... Here are some examples of recent life settlements. They are intended to show what is possible but do not reflect what a policy with the same face value will bring in the market. There is no set percentage of face amount paid. It depends on the...

Brokers Vary Style in Washington: Evergreen State reps share their strategies for helping clients save for a rainy day.
January 1, 2005... This month, BIC talks to Washington-based bank reps Sean Gross, team leader at Freedom Financial Advisors in Wenatchee, a division of Cashmere Bank, and a Raymond James branch manager; Mike Silvernagel, a financial adviser at Key Bank's...