Opinion

Displaying 2109 results
NEWS OPINION AUG 11, 2008
Regulation will improve the health of real estate market

The best part of the housing bill signed by President Bush on July 30 was the section that establishes new regulations for mortgage loan originators.

NEWS OPINION AUG 08, 2008
Delusional distribution strategies

NEWS OPINION AUG 04, 2008
Kudos to Merrill, Lone Star on their deal

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc's actions last week may well have marked the beginning of the end of the financial crisis that has gripped the economy for more than a year.

NEWS OPINION AUG 04, 2008
Keeping clients calm and focused

NEWS OPINION JUL 28, 2008
Fannie and Freddie: Grow up

Not immediately, but at some time in the foreseeable future, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must be either officially nationalized or fully privatized.

NEWS OPINION JUL 25, 2008
1035 exchanges of annuities appealing but challenging

NEWS OPINION JUL 21, 2008
SEC's rumor probe will lead nowhere

After weeks of slumbering on the sidelines, Christopher Cox and the Securities and Exchange Commission have become engaged in the financial crisis that has swept the markets.

NEWS OPINION JUL 14, 2008
Are best practices enough?

In casual conversation about the troubled financial markets, the words "risk" and "uncertainty" often are treated as synonyms.

NEWS OPINION JUL 14, 2008
Expand the Fed's role carefully

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech last Tuesday attracted the most attention for new mortgage lending rules, to be detailed this week, and for leaving the Fed's doors open to investment banks until next year.

NEWS OPINION JUL 11, 2008
Master limited partnerships: The income is worth the effort

NEWS OPINION JUL 07, 2008
Customer service: Do you deliver?

While you can’t always guarantee investment, you can guarantee service that will make your clients feel valued.

NEWS OPINION JUN 30, 2008
Are deferrals worth it?

Last time, I discussed the rationale behind accelerating the payment of taxes rather than deferring taxes for as long as possible.

NEWS OPINION JUN 30, 2008
Congress should tread cautiously on futures

Many analysts have commended Southwest Airlines Co. for hedging its fuel prices years in advance, thus allowing it to remain profitable while the rest of the airline industry fell into or barely avoided bankruptcy.

NEWS OPINION JUN 30, 2008
The Fed and the SEC: Perfect together

The Federal Reserve Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission met last week to hash out a way to fill the regulatory gaps revealed by the mortgage bubble and its consequences.

NEWS OPINION JUN 27, 2008
Proper structuring of beneficiary designations on TOD accounts avoids unintended consequences

NEWS OPINION JUN 23, 2008
SEC gets a B+ for credit-rating reform

Despite criticism by some in the financial services industry, the Securities and Exchange Commission's proposals for reforming the credit rating agencies deserve a grade of B+.

NEWS OPINION JUN 16, 2008
The delicate issue of divestiture

More and more financial advisers are likely to be confronted with client demands for the divestiture from their portfolios of the stocks of companies that fail some moral screen.

NEWS OPINION JUN 13, 2008
Protect your clients by getting to know their children

NEWS OPINION JUN 09, 2008
A warning light for fiduciaries

If there were a color-coded advisory system for fiduciaries, it now would stand at yellow, flashing “elevated risk.”

NEWS OPINION JUN 09, 2008
Past decade was traumatic for investors

The past decade, the first for <i>InvestmentNews</i>, has been a traumatic one for investors.