“Significant” opportunities exist for financial advisors to better educate consumers about the risk of income loss from illnesses or accidents, and to better prepare them to mitigate loss, a new survey says.

A national independent broker-dealer is raising fees, including its advisor affiliation fee, starting Jan. 1, 2012, after two decades of maintaining the same rates.

“Dramatic shifts” in the investment advisor profession are forecast as advisors prepare for the Dodd-Frank Act, a provision of the federal financial service reform to be enacted next year.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration will redo its rule on the definition of a “fiduciary” after its prior description drew criticism and concern from Congress and financial advisors.

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards’ has opened public comment periods for its proposed amendments to its experience requirement for initial CFP certification and changes to its disciplinary rules.

Half of middle-market baby boomers say they lack the confidence to manage their investing, and fewer than 50% have contacted a financial services professional for help, according to a new survey from the Insured Retirement Institute.

An executive summary, providing prospective and current investors in financial instruments with easy-to-understand information, should become commonplace, according to a strong majority of participants in the latest IFAwebnews.com poll.

The words is out: People don’t want to read boring prospectuses for the financial products they buy. Even more importantly, as the Insured Retirement Institute recently found, they don’t bother.

The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI) recently adopted a regulation to maintain compliance with an existing statute barring financial advisors from using “untrue” senior-specific designations.

The annuity industry ended last year on “strong and secure footing,” where variable annuity assets reached an all-time high and fourth quarter sales showed the highest levels of last year, a report showed.