So, how are you doing on those New Year’s Resolutions?  Regretting the commitment to get some financial advice and change your spending habits?  Join the rapidly disappearing crowd outside my door.  Full of resolve in January, we often revert back to our oldhabits by Feb.1.  So I’ve been thinking about this lately.  Over the years I have talked to countless people who have come to me for financial advice when what they really needed was some therapy.  Feeling good about your relationship with money has to be one of  the …

Not quite sure why, but yesterday I had a very vivid memory of a specific experience I had at Merrill Lynch.
See if it makes as big an impact on you as it does on me (years later).
I had been a broker with Merrill Lynch for 8 or 9 years, so this would …

I’m a professional advisor.
I have strong opinions.
I love what I do.
But it wasn’t always this way …
I used to be in product sales.
It’s August, 1993, and I’ve just been hired as a “financial consultant” with …

The media is full of stories about investment fraud and sales abuse. Wells Fargo was sued by the State of California for selling investments that were not as safe as reported. Bank of America was sued for involvement in a Ponzi scheme. Ameriprise paid a fine for selling products unsuited to clients retirement accounts. And [...]

Congress is reportedly attempting to improve the safeguards for the investing public. Sweeping financial services reform legislation was approved last week in the House of Representatives. But there were some evidently last minute changes inserted into the bill by lobbyists to benefit big Wall Street Broker Dealers such as Charles Schwab.
Registered Investment Advisors give investment [...]

Recently an article entitled The Top 10 Twitter Feeds for Career Minded Advisors was published in the FINS section of the online Wall Street Journal. The article listed the top 10 Twitter feeds for financial advisors to follow. I was fortunate enough to be included in this list. I heartily recommend that anyone even remotely interested in personal finance follow the other nine folks listed. Beyond the good natured ribbing that I am taking from some of my fellow advisors on Twitter about my new “celebrity” status, this article has made me stop and think about why financial advisors in general and me in particular are on Twitter.[...]