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The article reports on the rebranding strategy of financial planners in the U.S. and the concern of financial adviser Deena Katz and other advisers on the impact of such strategy on people who need urgent financial help.

The article focuses on fee-based brokerage accounts in the U.S. The author reports that as a result of a federal court decision, firms have until October 2007 to end their fee-based brokerage programs. The article defines those programs as popular accounts in which clients typically pay an annual fee for an unlimited number of transactions along with basic investing advice. The court found fault with the program because brokers were giving advice without being registered as investment advisors.

The article focuses on a change in the financial planning industry of the U.S. being seen in 2007. The industry has started to pay closer attention to and offer services to consumers in the 20 to 30-year-old group, which had long been shunned because of their lack of wealth. Companies within the industry have made the change because it has realized that these younger clients may make their way into wealth in coming years and may continue to need and use their services

The article provides answers to nine questions pertaining to personal finance for newlyweds and the role that money plays in a relationship. Couples should discuss their financial assets and liabilities before getting married, the type of debt a partner-to-be has, spending habits, financial aspirations and duties, career expectations, and the number of checkbooks that will be used. Financial planner Lauren Gadkowski makes a suggestion for approaching the topic of a prenuptial agreement.

Discusses how advice from financial planners may be biased. Announcement by the National Association of Securities Dealers of settlements with securities firms used by outside planners and accountants; Way that planners and accountants may promote certain mutual funds that they are more likely to financial benefit from; Allegations against Linsco/Private Ledger Corp..

Discusses how the Vanguard Group is bolstering its resources to provide advice on retirement. How the company has doubled its staff and expect more growth in the future; Other financial services companies who are getting involved in retirement planning; Challenge that Vanguard faces in offering retirement advice because of its strong association with do-it-yourself investors; Possible response of investors.

Reports that the U.S. Labor Department has issued an advisory opinion that banks, brokerage firms and investment firms cannot accept payments from mutual fund companies in exchange for steering retirement account customers into those funds. How the opinion may help eliminate some of the troubling conflicts of interest that exist in many individuals retirement accounts; Excerpts from a letter from the Labor Department to Country Trust Bank, an Illinois savings institution; Views of legal experts; Likelihood that the opinion will be scrutinized by those responsible for pension plans; Labor Department investigation of fiduciaries, in order to determine whether plan participants have lost money as a result of conflicts of interest.

Reports that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Morgan Stanley with failure to tell clients that it paid its brokers more to sell certain mutual funds that were more profitable to the firm. Other SEC charges against Morgan Stanley, resulting in additional costs to mutual-fund investors; Value of settlement reached on the civil charges; Comments from Stephen Cutler, director of the SEC's enforcement division regarding the integrity of advice investors receive from financial advisors; Excerpt from a statement released by Morgan Stanley chief executive officer Phillip Purcell in regret of the company's information disclosure practices. INSET: Scandal Scorecard.

Presents advice from investment professionals regarding the portfolio of Charles Boyet. Value of Boyet's retirement savings; Concentration of Boyet's portfolio in real estate investment trusts (REIT); Comments from Boyet regarding his portfolio's vulnerability; Age of Boyet's wife, indicating that she is likely to living longer than him and the need to keep as much principle in retirement account as possible; Results and recommendations of three financial planners, who analyzed Boyet's portfolio; Patricia Brennan of Key Financial; Marshall Jaffe of Jaffe Asset Management; Nelson Lam of The Lam Group.

Focuses on the retirement planning of Jim and Sue May, a Kentucky couple. Amount of money amassed in the May's retirement income; Comments from Jim May regarding how much money he will need to retire and how that figure kept changing over the years; Questions that all pre-retirees should ask themselves; Analysis of the Mays' portfolio, indicating a need for diversification; Percentage of the entire portfolio invested in U.S. Bancorp; Advice given to the Mays from three retirement planners: Pillar Financial Advisors, Zussman Financial Advisors and Mayhew Asset Management.

The article reports that the popularity of behavioral finance has motivated financial planners to act as therapists by helping clients get in touch with their feelings behind their relationships with money, including exploring experiences that contribute to self-destructive financial behavior.

The article offers advice on how financial advisors can teach financial concepts such as personal financial management and investing to their children. Tips include speaking to children about finance when they are young to foster a positive attitude toward money, teaching them about inflation, and reinforcing good values.

The article focuses on the concentration of financial advisors on single clientele such as professional athletes and people in the oil and gas business which gives advisers insights on the clients' need.

The article offers suggestions for meeting with a financial adviser for the first time such as understanding how advisers are paid, organizing financial records, and having a realistic approach to financial planning.

Friends and finance aren't always a great mix, which can make going Dutch on a group vacation a dicey affair. The new Web site Crowdtilt.com, however, simplifies matters by ensuring that the trip planner doesn't get stuck footing the bill. A traveler who wants to pool money for, say, a rental in London to see the Olympics (above) can create a page indicating the price per person and distribute the link to those invited. The Web site then solicits each traveler's credit card information and charges the trip only after the number of travelers required to foot the bill have submitted payment information. It bundles the payments and sends the organizer the funds electronically overnight, less a 2.5 percent fee. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

SAN DIEGO IN early 2008, Patrick Berry, then 41, decided it was time to start his own firm. He was a financial adviser at Smith Barney, but he wanted to focus on his area of expertise, advising companies on their on 401(k) plans while offering wealth management services to executives in those companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carl Richards is a certified financial planner in Park City, Utah. His sketches are archived here on the Bucks blog and on his personal Web site, BehaviorGap.com. In its most simplistic form, financial planning is the process of charting a course from where you are today to where you want to go. The first step is to become crystal clear about what I call your current reality, or where you stand now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how some people in the U.S. are saving for their retirement. It cites the decision of a couple to rent instead of buy a house to save for their retirement. It also discusses the effort of a single man to put funds into his 401(k) retirement plan. The article also presents the views of financial advisers on the saving strategies.

This article discusses the move of some financial advisors to talk to clients about their religion or spirituality to obtain a full understanding of their financial goals.

The article features several financial advisers who provide their services to celebrities.

Carl Richards is a certified financial planner in Park City, Utah. His sketches are archived here on the Bucks blog and on his personal Web site, BehaviorGap.com. The odds of you picking the next hot performing stock like Google or Apple are insanely low. Yet popular stories about the next ''big'' investment tempt us to believe that this time we're on to something far enough ahead of time to ride the investment up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What would you do if your financial planner prescribed the following advice? Save and invest diligently for 30 years, then cross your fingers and pray your investments will double over the last decade before you retire. You might as well go to Las Vegas. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Carl Richards is a certified financial planner in Park City, Utah. His sketches are archived here on the Bucks blog, and other drawings are available on his personal Web site, BehaviorGap.com. Since March 2009, we've watched the market rebound by 80 percent. Whether you've sat it out on the sidelines or think you can predict what comes next, I recommend you take a step back and remember a few things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will seek a one-year salary freeze for state workers as part of an emergency financial plan he will lay out in his State of the State address on Wednesday, senior administration officials said. The move will signal the opening of what is expected to be a grueling fight between the new governor and the public-sector unions that have traditionally dominated the state's political establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This section offers news briefs related to financial planning in the U.S., including the increasing number of people earmarking more of their estate for their own expenses and reducing the amount they plan to leave for their heirs, and the lucrative referrals received by a select group of Merrill Lynch advisers from the commercial-banking unit of Merrill parent Bank of America Corp.

This article discusses the factors to consider when hiring a financial adviser.

Carl Richards, a certified financial planner, regularly publishes new sketches at BehaviorGap.com that try to simplify complex money decisions. While I can't prove it scientifically, I'm pretty sure there's a correlation between our personal financial situation and the amount of time we spend complaining about the practices of big banks, Wall Street, credit card companies and mortgage lenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]