Trader Talk

An exceptional year for wealthy Americans, at least in terms of their financial health, just got better. If West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin votes against President Joe Biden’s signature economic package, as he said he would on Sunday, rich Americans will escape any tax hikes, saving the top 0.1% hundreds of billions of dollars over

JPMorgan Chase executives were supposed to make sure employee communications were archived for regulatory scrutiny. But for years, even the bosses were using their mobile phones to tap out work-related messages — a practice so pervasive that U.S. authorities dropped the hammer Friday, imposing $200 million in fines. The revelation that even “managing directors and

Morgan Stanley made sweeping changes to its employee benefits including increasing parental leave and allowing some employees to buy its stock at a 10% discount amid intense competition for talent. The firm, flush with cash after a run of stellar profits, will give parents at least 16 weeks of paid leave — a benefit that

A star JPMorgan Chase financial advisor lost her legal bid to force the bank to temporarily prevent colleagues from “poaching” her clients, the first major ruling in an unusual dispute that has riveted Wall Street. The ruling from a federal judge on Wednesday leaves wealth manager Gwen Campbell, whose elite clients include Forbes 400 billionaires

The first client arbitration award out of a wave of complaints involving a discharged former J.P. Morgan Advisors representative will cost the firm $4 million. A panel of three FINRA arbitrators in Houston ordered the firm’s traditional brokerage to pay Lacey Winston Keath compensatory damages in a Dec. 9 ruling after she alleged that J.P.

Investors should hold off from ditching all their high-priced growth stocks for cheaper value shares as bond yields rise, at least until benchmark Treasuries yield 3%. That’s the view of The Leuthold Group’s Jim Paulsen, who calculated the risk-return profiles of U.S. growth and value shares at different Treasury yield ranges, going back to 1950.

The Financial Planning Association’s Michigan chapter is hosting a Student Success Summit in February, an event designed to help students interested in the field connect with potential mentors. Two retiring executives set off a slew of management changes at Merrill Lynch. Dimensional Fund Advisors is cutting fees on dozens of mutual funds and a few

The SEC needs better metrics, accountability and communication as part of its frequent examinations and inspections of FINRA, according to a government watchdog agency. As the only entity overseeing the self-regulatory organization, the SEC reviewed FINRA at least 69 times in the past three fiscal years across 10 different areas of its operations spelled out

Two wealth managers paid for not following their own compliance policies — one with respect to unit investment trusts another on unregistered securities. In settlements of separate cases filed this week by FINRA and the SEC, two Wells Fargo units agreed to pay $3.1 million as the last case in a targeted examination of early

John lost 15% of his retirement savings in a non-traded REIT and was unable to pay his mortgage when the REIT subsequently suspended distributions and redemptions. Sharon and Bill lost their $25,000 savings when their promissory note investment turned out to be a Ponzi scheme. Mary invested her retirement savings in bonds and watched her

A former Ameriprise advisor who conned elderly clients he met through church out of millions of dollars has been sentenced to 168 months in federal prison. Paul Ricky Mata, 58, was handed the 14 year sentence Monday in the court of U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner. The Oceanside, California, man was also ordered to

You have to hand it to UBS’ Art Cashin.  He loves to play against the crowd. “Cashin the Contrarian” was very much in evidence in my annual look ahead interview with the NYSE floor legend. We met at our usual spot for the past 15 years:  Bobby Van’s steakhouse across from the Big Board in

Consumers rank security and protection of their personal data the highest in net importance for financial services firms to ensure their trust. This revelation has significant implications for banks, payment service providers, credit card companies, and traditional financial institutions as they define their value propositions and evolve their customer communications, experience and support. To discuss

One wealth manager had a financial advisor and a sales assistant who defrauded their clients in separate schemes while operating out of the same office, according to investigators. Midsize independent broker-dealer American Portfolios Financial Services agreed to pay $225,000 under a Dec. 10 settlement with FINRA about its supervision of the office. The Holbrook, New

One of the most lucrative tax loopholes for the wealthy likely has only two weeks to live, thanks to draft legislation released by the Senate on Dec. 11. For less-affluent investors, a version of the benefit gets another decade of life. Come 2022, the hatchet would drop on the ability of all investors to sidestep

It was a Monday afternoon. As the advisor sat across from me and told his story, I began to cringe. The previous Friday, he’d received the call every RIA fears: a client had spotted a big withdrawal in her online account — one she hadn’t authorized. When the advisor was finally able to reach the

For five years, Phillip W. Conley scammed millions of dollars from churches, his friends and his adoptive parents to maintain a life of comfort and luxury in northern Florida. The former Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo and Citigroup broker will now spend seven years behind bars for the scheme that took advantage of 18 people in

The founder of a New York investment advisory firm is facing up to two decades in federal prison on allegations that he misappropriated more than $1 million from a married couple in California. Jeffrey Slothower, a former registered investment advisor and founder of Battery Private, has been charged with wire fraud, investment advisor fraud and

The St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort in Puerto Rico boasts a golf course and oceanfront residences in a 483-acre nature reserve, set along azure waters and lush rainforest. But what’s perhaps most appealing to those who are now rushing to this property is the section on its website explaining tax benefits for island residents. That

Digital wealth management platform FNZ is in talks to raise about $1 billion of fresh capital to fuel its global expansion, according to people familiar with the matter. The company is working with Lazard to reach out to potential investors, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. It plans

A wealth manager whose parent firm is reorganizing amid major compliance woes must pay a client $150,000 in damages, even though FINRA arbitrators found the complaint to be false. Credit Suisse Securities will pay the award for negligent supervision as compensatory damages to John M. Marmaduke, the trustee of The John Mitchell Marmaduke Revocable Living

Many individuals falsely believe that their potential future long-term care and medical costs will be covered by Medicare, which is available to individuals once they reach age 65. While Medicare is widely considered to be quality, cost-efficient health coverage (in large part due to its cost-sharing component with taxpayers) and does cover a robust variety

Wall Street’s discount and traditional brokerages are very slowly losing ground in the wealth management industry as independent broker-dealers increasingly nip at their heels, according to a new Cerulli Associates report. Discount brokerages like Fidelity Investments, Vanguard and Charles Schwab and traditional wirehouses like Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch still rule: They account for four

Bank of America is turning to private jets and exotic cars to compete with American Express and JPMorgan Chase and lure big spenders to its credit cards. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company revamped its rewards program and debuted a new $550-a-year metal credit card that offers extra points on travel and dining purchases along with

The rising assets under management and annual revenue at RIAs may be hiding competitive threats related to talent and a lack of adoption of documented expansion strategies. More than two-thirds of the 1,340 RIAs polled as part of data released Dec. 8 by Schwab Advisors Services from its annual benchmarking study met or surpassed their

A recent flurry of deals may indicate that financial advisors are looking for more technology to handle compliance obligations. Dynasty Financial Partners and MarketCounsel, a regulatory and compliance consulting firm, announced on Tuesday an investment in SmartRIA, a fintech company that automates advisor workflows, provides data governance, trade monitoring services, and digitally stores a firm’s

Hamilton College Professor of Economics Stephen Wu has been analyzing the association between health and household portfolio decisions for nearly two decades. The issue, Wu explains, is not just a matter of wellness, but one of uncertainty. Not knowing how much time you or a loved one has left can drastically shift your long-term financial

A former LPL and Lincoln Financial Group advisor got more than two years in federal prison for stealing money directly from the bank account of one of his elderly clients. Commonwealth Financial has launched a program that pairs 40 of its 400 female advisors with a dozen mentors. The Financial Planning Association has a new

Despite financial firms making widespread racial equity statements last year, very few of the largest asset managers have committed to greater representation of women and minorities. Just five out of 28 of the biggest names in asset management have pledged to boost the diversity of their workforces, only three firms vowed to alter their procurement

A veteran J. P. Morgan financial advisor won a partial victory on Thursday when a federal judge ruled that she could try again to block the Wall Street bank from allegedly moving money out of her ultra rich clients’ accounts to other parts of the bank. In a case that’s being closely watched on Wall