Trader Talk

The IRS is giving taxpayers until the end of the year before it stops its temporary procedures for faxing in Forms 1045 and 1139 for claiming tentative tax refunds, instead of mailing them, which it has allowed as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, the IRS began allowing taxpayers to file

Wells Fargo fired more than 100 employees suspected of improperly collecting coronavirus relief funds, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The firm determined that the staffers defrauded the Small Business Administration “by making false representations in applying for coronavirus relief funds for themselves,” according to an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg. The

Are advisors finally catching a break? In some courthouses, it seems they are indeed. In recent rulings, courts appear to be reevaluating their thinking on departing advisors who transport client assets to new firms — and looking askance at claims by major Wall Street firms that these advisors have done them “irreparable harm.” That’s part

This piece is in response to an article that appeared in Financial Planning Sept. 24. Did sales of “expensive” variable annuities fall as a result of the now-vacated Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, as claimed by professors in a study published in July? The professors from Harvard Business School and New York University do make

RBC landed a $1.2 billion team, one of its biggest recruits of the year. The all-woman team joined the regional BD from J.P. Morgan Securities. They are the latest advisors to sign with RBC, which has been pursuing an aggressive recruiting push. RBC says it has had “ a year of unprecedented recruiting momentum.” The

Fresh off achieving a $1 billion valuation, Wealthsimple’s top executive says the firm has more work to do before pursuing an initial public offering. The online investment company, which announced a new funding round that raised $87 million, plans to use the infusion of capital to build out cash, checking, insurance and mortgage products that

A little-known rule buried deep on the IRS website presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for clients with a health savings account — the ability to make a contribution directly from an IRA. Although this one-time offer isn’t worth the effort for most clients, who’d be better off continuing to fund both accounts and collect dual tax

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management saw fee-based asset flows jump 54% year-over-year, a surge accelerated in part by the wirehouse’s stepped-up recruiting efforts, said CFO Jonathan Pruzan during the firm’s third-quarter earnings call Oct. 15. “We’re seeing Morgan Stanley become the destination of choice for financial advisors,” Pruzan said. Morgan Stanley reported fee-based asset flows of

Cetera Financial Group’s private equity backer is promising the firm’s 8,000 advisors that Genstar Capital is in it for the long haul as an investor. Cetera is “a flywheel; It just keeps getting better and better,” Tony Salewski, a Genstar managing partner and Cetera board member, said at a virtual event for advisors this week.

Fidelity Investments plans to hire 4,000 people over the next six months as the money manager benefits from this year’s turmoil while some of its rivals struggle. The Boston-based firm said Tuesday the additions will be in areas including financial advisors and customer service agents, and represent a 15% increase in associates who focus on

Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better — at least over the long term. Among the decade’s worst-performing actively managed funds — those with more than $1 billion in assets under management — were a handful of products with stellar short-term returns, Morningstar Direct data show. Although they posted an average 10-year loss of 1.65%, the funds

“In many ways, scale will dictate the long-term success and survival of companies, as well as the ability to deliver services to all different sizes of clients,” said Walt Bettinger, CEO of Charles Schwab. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News Charles Schwab’s landmark $22 billion acquisition of TD Ameritrade was the fruition of the company’s years-long efforts

A pedestrian wearing a protective mask exits from the Wall Street subway station in New York, on Monday, July 20, 2020. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images Wall Street is getting bulled up on earnings, and that is highlighting the divide it has with Main Street. Earnings season is two days old, and already

Thanks to the enormous power U.S. presidents yield, which seems to be growing with each presidency to overcome an increasingly gridlocked Congress, all presidential elections are big deals. But this one might be bigger than most. Not only are we electing a president to help us continue to navigate the worst global pandemic in more

Fintechs are introducing new digital insurance marketplaces to meet rising demand for the products among financial advisors. SS&C Advent is now offering a new, aptly named Insurance Marketplace for advisors to find annuities, life insurance, long-term personal care and disability products for clients. The marketplace will be accessible through SS&C Advent’s portfolio management and accounting

YCharts has been acquired by LLR Partners as private equity dollars continue to flow into the wealth management industry — particularly the fintech sector. An investment research and analytics platform for RIAs, broker-dealers and asset managers, YCharts has more than 6,000 users, primarily financial advisors, and the fintech counts firms like LPL Financial, Dynasty Financial

A view of NASDAQ in Times Square during the coronavirus pandemic on May 7, 2020 in New York City. Noam Galai | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images In the ETF space, success begets success. Just look at what Invesco is doing today. They’re launching a new product, the NASDAQ Next Gen 100 ETF (QQQJ).

People walk by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in lower Manhattan on October 5, 2020 in New York City. Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images Stock market bulls, rejoice.  Third quarter earnings season begins Tuesday with JPMorgan Chase.  The good news: in the second quarter, companies delivered surprisingly large earnings beats as analysts underestimated

Janney Montgomery Scott hauled in a passel of new recruits in the third quarter managing a combined $860 million in assets. Most who signed on with the regional broker-dealer did so last month, according to the firm. The additions build on the firm’s successful recruiting efforts in the first half of 2020 when Janney hired

UBS picked up a trio of ex-Wells Fargo advisors managing more than $400 million in client assets, the firm said. The new hires joined from two locations: Irvine, California and Los Angeles. The wirehouse has reduced its recruiting efforts and its headcount has trended downward in recent years, but it continues to selectively recruit advisors

The nation’s largest independent broker-dealer scored a massive recruiting grab in the bank channel, its second in the past four months. BMO Harris Financial Advisors — the retail brokerage and advisory business for the U.S. arm of the Bank of Montreal — will affiliate with LPL Financial by mid-2021, the firms announced on Oct. 8.

Surprises abound in this year’s RIA Leaders ranking. At the outset, we expected planners would tell stories about their struggles: coronavirus, shuttered offices, economic turmoil, jittery clients. But that’s not what they focused on. “It was surprising to hear how many positives advisors see in a very tumultuous year,” contributing writer Kenneth Corbin tells me.

Between the upcoming presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant stimulus packages, this year has seen more than its share of uncertainty around tax — which makes helping clients with year-end planning all the more crucial. “Year-end tax planning is more important than ever this year,” said Renato Zanichelli, national managing partner of

Tom Nally, the eight-year president of TD Ameritrade’s RIA division, is out — mere days after Charles Schwab closed its mega-acquisition of his employer. Schwab purchased TD Ameritrade Oct. 6, in an all-stock transaction valued at $22 billion. Since then, the company has begun reorganizing TD’s leadership under Schwab’s executive team. Schwab spokeswoman Mayura Hooper

FINRA will raise five of its membership fees in an attempt to cut annual losses, according to a regulatory filing the regulator filed with the SEC earlier this month. The organization’s costs have exceeded its expenses for most of the last decade, and it’s pulled approximately $650 million from its investment portfolio — otherwise known

Some are calling it “a la carte stimulus,” with aid for airlines in Column A, PPP aid in Column B.  Whatever it is, hopes for stimulus — preelection, postelection, comprehensive package, stand-alone deal, whatever and whenever — is supporting breakouts in cyclicals like industrials, materials, consumer discretionary and banks. Many big names like Caterpillar, Eaton

The Secure Act allows contributions to be made to traditional IRAs after age 70 ½ — but that’s now optional for IRA custodians. Who knew? The IRS, which recently released a notice stating their version on how certain provisions of the Secure Act, which became effective Jan. 1 and which significantly affected retirement accounts, will

WASHINGTON — Morgan Stanley was slapped with a $60 million fine by regulators Thursday for risk management problems tied to a 2016 data breach. The consent order by the Comptroller of the Currency cited failures at both Morgan Stanley Bank NA and Morgan Stanley Private Bank NA related to the shutdown of two wealth management

The future of advice regulation could be on the ballot as the presidential election heads into the final stretch, according to fiduciary advocates and industry groups. To be sure, neither President Donald Trump nor former Vice President Joe Biden is campaigning on how their SEC or Department of Labor would regulate investment advisors and brokers,

A former Commonwealth Financial Network advisor allegedly steered millions of dollars from clients to himself over 20 years of deception in a practice near the firm’s headquarters. Gerald A. Eaton forged signatures, made false representations to Commonwealth and insurance companies and even used an account under his wife’s first name and a fake last name