Bank Investment Consultant articles from July 2009

Bank Investment Consultant archives from July 2009

The Three Faces of Risk; What you need to know about risk tolerance.(Financial Planning)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Pamela J. Black The market crash of the past 10 months would give anyone pause to question the utility of standard client risk profile questionnaires. For example, how is it that clients seem to have a high risk tolerance during...

Old Money; Why targeting clients in their dotage isn't a short-term business plan for the advisor.(Financial Planning)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Howard J Stock Whether you start to cover a territory with a large retirement community or you simply want to keep the clients you have as they age, you'll have to learn how to meet the needs of older people. This can be a...

Bad Press.(Editor's Letter)
July 1, 2009... The saying "There's no such thing as bad publicity" may be true for Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie, but it simply doesn't apply to employees of financial services companies, as you'll read about in this month's cover story, "The Big Bank...

Growth in the Heart of Dixie.(Braching Out in Alabama)
July 1, 2009... BIC: What opportunities are opening up in your territory? Harris: We're seeing a lot of people changing careers midlife as a result of the downturn, which often means they're bringing big rollovers to the table. Oakes: The most...

The Big Bank Blues; While the chaos is starting to settle, the bad publicity and turmoil created by the mergers of banks and brokerages is still taking a toll on advisors.(Cover Story)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Steve Garmhausen In the end, Andreas Hess could no longer play the guessing game. Day after day, the Philadelphia-based advisor went to work at Wachovia Securities wondering what the acquisition of his firm by Wells Fargo would...

Stand Out From the Crowd; Define your clientele, brand yourself, then go prospecting.(Driving Sales)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Bob Cobb Let's start with my client Gary. I worked with him to build his ultimate value proposition. I started by asking if he had a group of people he works with who really liked him. He said he worked a lot with widows and...

A Better Balanced Fund; Get greater diversification than traditional 60/40 benchmarks provide.(Fund Watch)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Craig L. Israelsen Way back when, there were two dominant investment assets: U.S. stocks and U.S. bonds. These became the mainstay ingredients in balanced funds, with the typical ratio being a 60% allocation to large-cap U.S....

Annuity Sales Jump 29%.(UpFront News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Howard J. Stock Bank annuity sales of $2.61 billion last year rose an impressive 29% over 2007, according to the Michael White-ABIA Bank Annuity Fee Income Report, released on June 8. Annuity sales were high throughout 2008:...

Vanguard Cuts 529 Fee.(UpFront News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Matt Ackermann Vanguard has lowered costs by an average of 12% for the 19 investment options in the Vanguard 529 College Savings Plan sponsored by the state of Nevada. As a result of the cuts, which went into effect June 1, the...

More or Less? Branch Debate Rages.(UpFront News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Katie Kuehner-Hebert The future-of-branching debate is back on. In one corner are the industry experts who forecast a post-meltdown reduction in the number of branches. In the other corner are those who argue that banks will have...

Retirement Ready? Not Us.(UpFront News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Mike Cohn Many Americans are neither financially nor emotionally ready for retirement, according to a new survey by Charles Schwab. Almost four in 10 Americans (39%) are not currently saving for retirement and, despite market...

Are Insurance Wraps the Answer?(UpFront News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Howard J. Stock Cracks are beginning to show in the financial aspirations of the high-net-worth, according to ongoing research by the Phoenix Cos. For the first time since the Hartford, Conn.-based advisor started publishing...

Bill Pushes Retiree Tax Break.(UpFront News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: John Morgan The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced the Retirement Security Needs Lifetime Pay Act, which is designed to encourage Americans to invest in lifetime income annuities through tax breaks. The bill,...

Talking Blogs.(BankInvestmentConsultant.com)
July 1, 2009... We're getting up to speed with our BIC blog, which you can access directly from the top menu bar at bankinvestmentconsultant.com. The blog offers you a different type of editorial content than our news and features. Most recently,...

The CPA Advantage; Rhonda Arnett has a leg up in her work with high-net-worth clients and business owners.(Producer Profile)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Pamela Black Being a CPA helps Rhonda Arnett in her work as a Primevest advisor at Columbia State Bank in Tacoma, Wash. It's especially helpful for the wealthy clients she now serves as a partner to private and commercial bankers....