Investment News articles from May 2004

Investment News archives from May 2004

Reverse mortgages surge ahead; Elderly increasingly drawn to them as ready cash source.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Joanna Sabatini As pension benefits decline, and a growing number of Americans find themselves financially unprepared for retirement, more elderly people are turning to reverse mortgages. But according to many financial...

One on One: "We want earnings that are better than average over a two- or three-year period".(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Brooke Southall Kevin J. Bannon can finally get back to what he likes doing best as chief investment officer of BNY Asset Management: managing his company's investment process more and managing people less. For the past five...

A Vanguard straggler adds a manager; Firm denies that U.S. Growth's lousy performance is the main reason.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: David Hoffman The Vanguard Group Inc. in Malvern, Pa., added a new manager to one of its most maligned mutual funds last month. Vanguard watchers said the move is intended to improve the performance of the $7.3 billion Vanguard...

Will new Schwab money markets offer better rates? Cash balances of existing fund not competitive.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Brooke Southall After years of accepting subpar rates of return, advisers who keep assets with Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. may finally get the money market funds their clients want. On April 23, the San Francisco broker filed...

Other Views: Well-governed hedge funds will be a cut above the rest; "It's a mistake to equate transparency about governance with needing to reveal intricate details of proprietary trading strategies.''.(Opinion)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Peter V. Rajsingh We usually think of a successful hedge fund as having two essential elements: a robust trading strategy that delivers consistent, scalable, absolute returns; and an ability to raise significant investor capital to...

Taking Sides: SEC rules let companies hide excessive executive perks.(Opinion)
May 3, 2004... The innocent bystanders coming to grips with the conflicts in the financial services industry know that these events happened because individuals put their own interests ahead of investors' best interests. It was outrageous, and industry...

Experts' equity outlook grim to bleak.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Rick Miller In what was billed as "The Great Debate'' between two academic minds, professors Jeremy Siegel and Zvi Bodie faced off at the recent National Association of Personal Financial Advisors conference in Toronto on the best...

Street Wise: New general, Lee, flexes muscles with Sentinel fund.(The Markets)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Jeff Benjamin In the four months since taking over management of the $35 million Sentinel Flex-Cap Opportunity Fund (SCOAX), manager Robert L. Lee has definitely put the "flex'' back in "flex-cap.'' Mr. Lee, who has also...

Conference Call: Separates may not be delivering for investors.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Jeff Benjamin Diversification in separately managed accounts might not be all it is cracked up to be, given some of the talk at the industry's annual conference in Boston late last month. In a conference presented under the...

AmEx unit, looking upscale, undergoes makeover; Firm closes offices, shakes up leadership.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Bruce Kelly As it attempts to refocus its brokerage operations to concentrate on wealthier regions and investors with more assets, American Express Financial Advisors Inc. of Minneapolis has recently made changes at the top. ...

Planner `Lynch' mob may take on the SEC; FPA, NAPFA mull assault on Merrill Lynch rule.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Rick Miller Two influential groups that represent the financial planning industry are gearing up for a possible legal showdown with regulators in an attempt to abolish a controversial rule proposal that would allow fee-based...

Tax Watch: Tax preparation for Americans heads offshore.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Mark Battersby It was only a matter of time. With companies outsourcing everything from software development to customer service call centers, the offshore preparation of U.S. taxpayer returns appears to be the latest trend....

At the Bell.(Late News)
May 3, 2004... Oppenheimer funds score with tax pros * Funds offered by OppenheimerFunds Inc. in New York and MFS Investment Management in Boston were each used by 47% of tax professionals, making Oppenheimer and MFS the most popular groups with such...

Fund management outsourcing appears to have hit a dry spell; Several firms opt to bring assets in-house, some subadvisers cutting back.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. The mutual fund subadvisory business, once hailed as a fast and easy way for fund companies to add instant depth and credibility to their fund lineup, has hit a brick wall. About 6.8% of the fresh cash...

VA-specific regs irk insurers; But some advisers welcome NASD practice standards plan.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Sara Hansard Advisers and insurance companies may be about to butt heads over stringent new regulations on variable annuity sales proposed last week by NASD in Washington. At the same time, the insurance industry is raising the...

Reverse Spin: London britches falling down.(Briefs)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. Talk about putting your lawyers and your public relations department through a stress test. Apparently, the folks at AMVESCAP PLC accidentally e-mailed a group of investors an internal document on...

Access to alternatives makes platform a hit; Interactive Brokers' tool has lured 220 RIAs.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Bruce Kelly Advisers increasingly are turning to a specialized trading platform that gives them access to a number of sophisticated investments. Last summer, discount broker Interactive Brokers LLC of Greenwich, Conn., rolled...

Monday Morning; Chile: a model for Social Security reform.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Jeff Benjamin With the major political party candidates busy spending their overflowing campaign war chests on what appears to be a solid commitment to name calling and finger pointing, you should expect the occasional sound bite...

Datebook.(Calendar/Datebook)
May 3, 2004... MAY 4-7 - Operations Conference and Ex- hibit, Securities Industry Association. JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort and Spa, Palm Desert, Calif. sia.com. 11-12 - Building Long-Term Care Insurance Expertise and Sales, Sales Creators Inc....

Moving Up.(News)
May 3, 2004... * USAA in San Antonio has promoted Stuart Parker, 42, to president of USAA Financial Planning Services, from vice president. He will be responsible for providing USAA's members - primarily U.S. military personnel and their families - with...

Expensing of options seen as a positive; GAO: It could simplify financial statements.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Sara Hansard Requiring companies to recognize the fair value of employee stock options as an expense won't likely hurt the economy, but it could make financial statements more understandable to less sophisticated investors, the...

Advisers strategize on rising rates; With a Fed hike looming, it's a case of different strokes.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Brooke Southall Some investment advisers have decided it's time to cut the duration of client bond portfolios no matter what the Federal Reserve's monetary policymakers decide at their meeting this week. They believe that the...

Short Interests: Spitzer displays tender side for NAPFA members.(Briefs)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Rick Miller and Brooke Southall Before New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer agreed to accept a special-achievement award from the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, he apparently needed to do some of his...

Next big thing for separates: IRA rollover $; Industry seems to be losing casual attitude toward market.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Jeff Benjamin The separately managed accounts industry may finally be awakening to opportunities presented by individual retirement account rollovers. According to the latest thinking coming out of the $500 billion industry,...

Sore loser: NASD calls broker bully; Says Sigma lost arbitration, harassed couple for years.(News)
May 3, 2004... Byline: Bruce Kelly NASD last week charged that an independent broker-dealer and its chief executive harassed an elderly couple after they won $318,000 in damages and legal fees against the firm. The NASD complaint charges Sigma...

Product Watch: Pershing makes newsletter available to users of wealth management tool.(News)
May 10, 2004... Pershing LLC in Jersey City, N.J., a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Co. Inc., will now provide access to its electronic newsletter, Virtual Office News, through NetExchange Pro, its wealth management and trading platform. The...

Monday Morning: TIPS aren't immune to inflation risk.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Mike Clowes The Department of the Treasury introduced two new inflation-protected securities last week, one five-year and one 10-year, reaffirming its commitment to them. But do Treasury inflation- protected securities make...

Other Views - Brokerage results: Don't ask, don't tell; "If brokerage customers demanded performance reporting, they would get it. The fact that they don't tells us that they don't really want it.''.(Opinion)
May 10, 2004... Byline: William Berg Why are there are two investment worlds? In the investment management world, account performance is calculated, adjusting for cash flows and fees, for every client report. People expect to see how their performance...

SAAFTI out? Not quite.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Brooke Southall A national association of financial advisers who believe that trading mutual funds is part of a fiduciary's duty is still in search of a name that captures that elusive concept. The Littleton, Colo.-based...

Downturn worries? Create a correction alarm; "Advisers should consider it part of their correction tool kit, not a solution unto itself.''.(Opinion)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Serge Dacic Alan Greenspan built his career on managing risk of inflation. Investors have benefited greatly from his stewardship of the economy. Regardless of where your investments were, you always knew that "Uncle Al'' would keep...

Conference Call: Summit unites custodian rivals, ex-rivals.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Brooke Southall The Tiburon CEO Summit in San Francisco was the conference of the year for financial advisory executives who care to see and be seen. Jay Lanigan, Tom Bradley, Derek Bruton, John Tyers, James Wangsness, Phil...

IPO-mania makes a comeback; Clients to advisers: `Google me, please!'.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Rick Miller The equal-opportunity initial public offering of Google Inc. is probably at least several weeks off, but investors already are contacting their financial advisers about buying a piece of the ubiquitous search engine....

Funds' proxy-vote stand: Toeing the company line; Two firms won't deviate from management position.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: David Hoffman The $1.3 billion Muhlenkamp Fund suggests in its prospectus that management always knows best when it comes to voting proxies - an unintended result of new requirements forcing funds to outline how they vote proxies...

Datebook.(Calendar/Datebook)
May 10, 2004... MAY 13-14 - Private Wealth Management Summit, Opal Financial Group. Marriott's Frenchman's Reef, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. (212)532-9898 or opalgroup.net. 13-16 - NRS 19th annual Spring Compliance Conference, National Regulatory...

Street Wise: It's all dividends, all the time for Waddell fund.(The Markets)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Jeff Benjamin In this age of increased corporate shenanigans and executive-level perp walks, there may not be a lot of things in a portfolio more certain than a dividend payment. And thanks to last year's dividend tax rate cut,...

Short Interests: Man behind Wilshire 5000 gets IMCA gold star.(Briefs)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Mike Clowes, David Hoffman, Joanna Sabatini and Christine S. Lee John O'Brien, who founded one of the first broker-affiliated consulting operations, has been awarded the Matthew R. MacArthur Memorial Award for outstanding...

NASD cracks down on stock research violations; Midsize broker-dealer is the first target.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Bruce Kelly NASD is starting to investigate brokerage firms for their analysts' stock reports. So far, it has cracked down on at least one firm, a midsize independent broker-dealer, for releasing a report containing allegedly...

At the Bell.(Late News)
May 10, 2004... Snow predicts job growth * "Our economy has turned the corner,'' U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said Friday in a speech to the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. "I believe this economy has plenty of room to run without creating inflation.''...

Despite recent downturn, advisers still value REITs; Should be part of portfolio regardless of return, some say.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: David Hoffman The run-up in real estate - particularly real estate investment trusts and the mutual funds that invest in them - may finally be over, but many financial advisers still see value in the sector. "I don't have any...

Taking Sides: The time is now for increasing accountability on compliance.(Opinion)
May 10, 2004... It is crystal clear that the demanding regulatory environment that confronts financial services firms will only get tougher. The high-profile scandals have heightened the intensity of enforcement, and the continuing evolution of government...

Morningstar looks to grow abroad, online.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. and Rick Miller Morningstar Inc., which said last week that it hopes to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering, has big plans for its adviser business. The Chicago-based mutual fund...

Reverse Spin: Splitsville for Soros and his wife.(Briefs)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. Do you like long, slow walks on the beach? Do you dig "mature,'' bespectacled men? Are you looking for a granddaddy figure? If so, have I got a man for you - and he is definitely not your average George....

Fidelity mulling ETF push; Surveys select clients to gauge interest.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. More than six months after the launch of its first exchange traded fund, Fidelity Investments is mulling plans to offer a group of such funds. The Boston-based fund giant is quietly surveying select...

SEC's scrutiny of hedge funds could help clean up the data; Study questions accuracy of industry's tracking databases.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Jeff Benjamin The steady push by regulators to boost oversight of hedge funds may lead to much-needed cleanup of the performance numbers reported by those who track the bustling industry. While Securities and Exchange...

Tax Watch; Report to Congress: 1 in 5 to pay AMT by 2010.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Mark Battersby A recently released report by the Congressional Budget Office predicts that one in five taxpayers will be dragged into the alternative minimum tax system by the end of 2010 if the tax law is not changed. The...

One on One: "Whatever [investors] put into equities ... they should recognize it is risky".(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Rick Miller Zvi Bodie's ideas should be throwing the equity markets into turmoil - and they may if more people start listening. In his latest book, "Worry-Free Investing'' (Prentice Hall, 2003), the Boston University professor...

New planner provides aid he didn't get; FPA and NAPFA gearing up to link grads with mentors.(News)
May 10, 2004... Byline: Joanna Sabatini When Caleb Brown graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in financial planning, he was tossed into uncharted waters. Mr. Brown found that there was no clear career path mapped out for his chosen...

Moving Up.(News)
May 10, 2004... * First Trust Corp. in Denver has promoted Dean Rodewald, 39, and Sean Gultig, 35, to vice presidents. Mr. Rodewald will be vice president of the firm's DATAlynx and Investment Manager Services, overseeing strategic planning and daily...

Product Watch: Pershing makes newsletter available to users of wealth management tool.(News)
May 10, 2004... ***** Correction: The lead item in last week's ProductWatch misidentified Virtual Office News as the electronic newsletter of Pershing LLC in Jersey City, N.J. Pershing, through its NetExchange Pro wealth management and trading program, is...

Tax Watch: IRS warns of online identity-theft scheme.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Mark Battersby The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury have issued a warning about an e-mail scheme that attempts to trick taxpayers into revealing personal information such Social Security number, driver's...

College coalition to help prod endowments; Socially conscious investing center eyed.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Joanna Sabatini A new coalition of alumni and students from colleges nationwide is creating a socially conscious investing center to help unify, and provide research to, university campaigns that ask endowments to become more...

At the Bell.(Late News)
May 17, 2004... For Royal Alliance, less goes with more * Royal Alliance Associates Inc. is honing its strategy to recruit offices of registered representatives producing about $1 million in fees and commissions. With 2,500 brokers and advisers, it's the...

Move to reform 529 fee disclosure stirs debate; Some guidance needed, advisers say.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: David Hoffman As Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigate fees charged by Section 529 college savings plans, industry experts fear that new regulations could harm business and be costly to implement. "I...

Conference attendance may reflect LTC industry woes; Low turnout at forum has some concerned.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Rick Miller Poor attendance at the recent Long Term Care Forum, generally viewed as the leading national conference for independent insurance agents who specialize in the product, may be yet another sign of continuing uncertainty...

Patriot games: New fund waves the flag; Launched in response to `liberal voices'.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Liz Skinner The nation's war on terrorism has led to the creation of red, white and blue investments that are attempting to appeal to patriots. The most recent comes from The Timothy Plan, a pro-life, biblically based mutual...

Small broker uses unique strategy to build business; Uhlmann Price bets on fund of commodity futures.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Bruce Kelly A small broker-dealer in Chicago is using its ties to the regional commodities markets to build its business. Uhlmann Price Securities LLC, which has about 30 affiliated, independent registered representatives, is...

International group takes a stand on governance; Guidelines address transparency, shareholder rights.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Joanna Sabatini In a revision of its corporate-governance guidelines, an international organization of 30 governments emphasizes giving more power to shareholders, and the need for institutional investors to explain how they vote...

Datebook.(Calendar/Datebook)
May 17, 2004... MAY 18 - Global Government Bond Conference, The Bond Market Association. Four Seasons Hotel, London. bondmarket.com. 26 - How to raise private equity and venture capital funds, New York Capital Roundtable and Practising Law Institute....

Mutual Recovery is the new kid in town; Purer play than other distressed-debt funds.(Mutual Fund Report)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Stan Luxenberg While hedge funds dominate the distressed-debt field, a few mutual funds have long kept some of their assets in the category, including Fidelity Capital & Income and Third Avenue Value. Retail investors seeking a...

Monday Morning: The AMT may soon ensnare your clients.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Jim Pavia With the tax season behind us, now is as good a time as any to warn clients about next year's filing and the possibility that the alternative-minimum tax may soon catch up with them - if it hasn't already. Although...

One on One: "The financial adviser has to be an attractive alternative to do-it-yourself".(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Bruce Kelly Since he opened Commonwealth Financial Network in 1979, Joseph S. Deitch has remained passionate about his broker-dealer. Throughout the industry, Commonwealth Financial of Waltham, Mass., is routinely mentioned among...

Seeking shelter from alternative minimum tax; Those `tax-free' funds ain't necessarily so.(Mutual Fund Report)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Ilana Polyak With the alternative minimum tax about to hit more middle-income taxpayers, it is no wonder that investors are seeking shelter in municipal bonds and funds. As they rush into muni bond funds looking to escape the AMT,...

Reverse Spin: What's an apology worth? Try $48 million.(Briefs)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. What's slightly more expensive than a gallon of gas but less expensive than the rare Picasso that recently sold for $104.1 million? The answer, at least according to Richard Grasso, may be honor. ...

Moving Up.(News)
May 17, 2004... * Citizens Advisers Inc. in Portsmouth, N.H., has hired Charles A. Page, 29, Jayanta Datta, 36, and Suresh Sethi, 24, as analysts. Mr. Page, who will work in the small-cap-value strategy, was a consultant in a joint venture between the...

Will sunshine lessen Morningstar's glow? Planned IPO could underscore firm's conflicts.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Rick Miller Morningstar Inc.'s plans to go public will put added scrutiny on conflicts of interest that could sully its squeaky-clean reputation. A private company's arrangements with mutual fund companies may be kept secret;...

New fund legislation unlikely this year; Congress leaves regs in the SEC's hands.(Mutual Fund Report)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Sara Hansard Unless the other shoe drops, Congress is unlikely to enact a law this year that would impose more regulations on the mutual fund industry. Instead, it is leaving that up to the Securities and Exchange Commission. ...

Advisers dipping toes in hedge fund waters; They keep sinking assets into SPhinX, Rydex reports.(Mutual Fund Report)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Rick Miller With all the attention given to hedge funds, independent financial advisers have largely kept their distance, advisers and industry experts contend. But some signs suggest that that is changing. "That's the old...

Continuity plan is an imperative for advisers in case of disaster; Reviewing such plans part of SEC's audits.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Joanna Sabatini Financial adviser Carl Camp realized he needed to develop a better business plan after all but one of his firm's computers were stolen. While Mr. Camp did have a backup for the information at his home, he...

Northern brakes branch expansion; Shifts its focus to expense control.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Steve Daniels CNS Northern Trust Corp. is scaling back expansion plans as it clamps down on costs. After years of growth, the Chicago-based company's nationwide network of offices catering to rich clients shrank last year, and...

Firms sent to penalty box; NASD hits repeat offenders with selective suspensions.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Sara Hansard NASD is taking a new approach to some enforcement cases, suspending offending firms from some market segments for repeated offenses. For example, brokerage firms that have egregious mutual fund sales practices or...

INVESCO name lives on, but for how long? Scandal may be why AIM hasn't changed it.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: David Hoffman Retail funds sold with the INVESCO name may have that name merely because of the continuing mutual fund trading scandal, according to some fund consultants. Late last year, New York Attorney General Eliot L....

Conference Call: At timer conference, it's time to circle the wagons.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Brooke Southall The Society of Asset Allocators and Fund Timers Inc. gathered in San Diego early this month under inauspicious circumstances. This eclectic group of financial advisers, however, is using adversity to energize...

A battered industry hopes the worst is over; But the SEC's rule proposals keep the heat on.(Mutual Fund Report)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. With companies eagerly signing off on multimillion-dollar settlements with regulators for their roles in the mutual fund trading scandal, some in the $7.5 trillion industry are starting to think that the...

Street Wise: Refusing to fall victim to the interest rate blues.(The Markets)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Jeff Benjamin While Wall Street's prognosticators grapple with the question of how high interest rates are likely to climb, Mike Pietronico is concentrating on how to get the most out of his fund while rates tick higher. The...

Advisers benefit from woes of credit counselors; Regulators have been investigating some agencies' fees, services.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Joanna Sabatini As regulators and public-interest groups warn consumers to be wary of credit counseling agencies, some fee-only financial planners are trying to help those overburdened with debt rather than refer them elsewhere....

Private equity is going public; IPO strategy called risky for investors.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Jeff Benjamin As private-equity firms turn in increasing numbers to the shortcut of initial public offerings for fund raising, retail investors could be walking into the cross hairs of a strategy that some critics say should be...

Investors nonchalant about fund trading scandals; Survey shows that fees matter, however.(Mutual Fund Report)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Sara Hansard Advisers who have stuck with fund companies implicated in the trading scandals aren't surprised by news that most investors aren't especially troubled by the brouhaha. A survey of 402 mutual fund investors,...

Practice Management: Mistakes to avoid when building a marketing plan.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Joseph J. Lukacs Finding four solid marketing strategies that you can use will not just improve your results but get your business up and running. Before you do anything, though, you need to learn from some common mistakes and be...

No place to run, no place to hide; SEC tightens reins on smaller advisers.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Brooke Southall The Securities and Exchange Commission is cracking down on smaller financial advisers with an alarming new rigidity, frequency and willingness to punish, according to industry observers and securities lawyers. ...

As gays tie the knot, prepare for hitches; More questions than answers as Mass. same-sex nuptials loom.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Joanna Sabatini Same-sex couples begin marrying in Massachusetts this week, and the choices they make when filing tax returns or moving to other states will lead to litigation challenging U.S. laws, according to some financial...

Conference Call: Bankers worry SEC will nix employee bonus plans.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Sara Hansard Bankers are concerned that the Securities and Exchange Commission will prevent them from making bonus payments to bank employees who refer customers to banks' broker-dealer affiliates. Sarah Miller, general counsel...

Personalized 401(k) reports may ease adviser load; They can also boost participation rates, contributions.(News)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Liz Skinner How do you get a 45-year-old machinist to stay awake through an hour-long retirement plan enrollment meeting? Try handing him a personalized report that shows that if he doesn't increase his savings rate now, he...

Commodities surge reflects inflation-hedging bet; A slowdown in China could cool demand.(Mutual Fund Report)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Ilana Polyak As any consumer can attest, prices are going up. Real estate, energy and health care all have seen price surges in the past few years despite an official inflation figure that currently runs at just 1.7%. It's no...

Other Views: Retail market trading quality for stability? Model portfolios have invaded retail investments, cramping the style of some managers.(Opinion)
May 17, 2004... Byline: Mark Elzweig and Nancy Miller The retail high-net-worth-investment market seems to be ready for the cookie cutter. More and more, the characteristics that have distinguished the often wild and wooly world of retail investment...