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A stockbroker, share holderregistered representative, trading representative, or more broadly, an investment broker, investment adviser, financial adviser, wealth manager, or investment professional is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks and other investments to financial market participants in return for a commission, markup, or fee, which could be based on a flat rate, percentage of assets, or hourly rate. Examples of professional designations held by individuals in this field, which affects the types of investments they are permitted to sell and the services they provide include chartered financial consultants, certified financial planners or chartered financial analysts, chartered strategic wealth professionals, chartered financial planners, and Master of Business Administration. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority provides an online tool designed to help understand professional designations in the United States.
Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, consumer-finance companies, stock brokerages, investment funds, individual managers and some government-sponsored enterprises. Financial services companies are present in all economically developed geographic locations and tend to cluster in local, national, regional and international financial centers such as London, New York City, and Tokyo.
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) writes investor protection rules and other rules regulating broker-dealers and banks in the United States municipal securities market, including tax-exempt and taxable municipal bonds, municipal notes, and other securities issued by states, cities, and counties or their agencies to help finance public projects or for other public policy purposes.
The Investment Advisers Act of 1940, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 80b-1 through 15 U.S.C. § 80b-21, is a United States federal law that was created to monitor and regulate the activities of investment advisers as defined by the law. It is the primary source of regulation of investment advisers and is administered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In asset management and securities industries, soft dollars are the benefits provided to an asset manager by a broker-dealer as a result of commissions generated from financial transaction executed by the broker-dealer for client accounts or funds managed by the asset manager. In a soft dollar arrangement, the investment manager directs commissions generated by a client's or fund's transactions to a broker-dealer or other trading venue. Soft dollars, in contrast to hard dollars which have to be reported, are incorporated into brokerage fees and paid expenses, which may not be reported separately (partly due to the difficulty in their valuation. Most investment managers follow the limitations detailed in Section 28 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In particular, if soft dollar arrangements are entered into with respect to registered investment companies and pension plans, compliance with Section 28 is generally required. However, hedge funds, which are generally not registered, may not be subject to the limitations of Section 28 and, thus, in some cases, the fund's commissions may be used for the adviser's benefit. In situations where fund commissions are used outside of the Section 28 safe harbor, full and comprehensive disclosure must be provided to fund investors.
A mortgage broker acts as an intermediary who brokers mortgage loans on behalf of individuals or businesses.
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is an American diversified financial services company. Ameriprise Financial engages in business through its subsidiaries, providing financial planning, products and services, including wealth management, asset management, insurance, annuities, and estate planning.
The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation is a professional certification mark for financial planners conferred by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards in the United States, and by 25 other organizations affiliated with Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB), the owner of the CFP mark outside of the United States.
A financial adviser or financial advisor, is a professional who suggests and renders financial services to clients based on their financial situation. In many countries financial advisors have to complete specific training and hold a license to provide advice. In the United States, a financial adviser carries a Series 7 and Series 65 or Series 66 license. According to the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), license designations and compliance issues must be reported for public view. FINRA specifies the following groups who may use the term financial advisor: brokers, investment advisers, private bankers, accountants, lawyers, insurance agents and financial planners.
In the United States, an annuity is a structured (insurance) product that each state approves and regulates. It is designed using a mortality table and mainly guaranteed by a life insurer. There are many different varieties of annuities sold by carriers. In a typical scenario, an investor will make a single cash premium to own an annuity. After the policy is issued the owner may elect to annuitize the contract for a chosen period of time. This process is called annuitization and can also provide a predictable, guaranteed stream of future income during retirement until the death of the annuitant. Alternatively, an investor can defer annuitizing their contract to get larger payments later, hedge long-term care cost increases, or maximize a lump sum death benefit for a named beneficiary.
A registered investment adviser (RIA) is a firm that is an investment adviser in the United States, registered as such with the Securities and Exchange Commission or a state's securities agency. The numerous references to RIAs within the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 popularized the term, which is closely associated with the term investment adviser. An investment adviser is defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an individual or a firm that is in the business of giving advice about securities. However, an RIA is the actual firm, while the employees of the firm are called Investment Adviser Representatives (IARs).
First Command Financial Planning, Inc. is a broker-dealer registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), all 50 states, and the District of Columbia. It is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). First Command has been recognized by the 27,000-member Financial Planning Association (FPA) as an FPA Alliance firm, one of only two companies to receive the designation.
An Investment policy statement (IPS) is a document, generally between an investor and the assisting investment manager, recording the agreements the two parties come to with regards to issues relating to how the investor's money is to be managed. In other cases, an IPS may also be created by an investment committee to help establish and record its own policies in order to assist in future decision-making or to help maintain consistency of its policies by future committee members or to clarify expectations for prospective money managers who may be hired by the committee.
The Financial Planning Association (U.S.), is a leadership and advocacy organization based in Denver, Colorado. FPA works with academic leaders, legislative and regulatory bodies, financial services firms and consumer interest organizations.
The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a United States federal law that was enacted on July 21, 2010. The law overhauled financial regulation in the aftermath of the Great Recession, and it made changes affecting all federal financial regulatory agencies and almost every part of the nation's financial services industry.
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. is an American 501(c)(3) certifying and standards-setting organization that administers the Certified Financial Planner certification program and oversees more than 73,970 professionals using the CFP certification in the United States.
The Investor Protections and Improvements to the Regulation of Securities is a United States Act of Congress, which forms Title IX, sections 901 to 991 of the much broader and larger Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Its main purpose is to revise the powers and structure of the Securities and Exchange Commission, credit rating organizations, and the relationships between customers and broker-dealers or investment advisers. This title calls for various studies and reports from the SEC and Government Accountability Office (GAO). This title contains nine subtitles.
Personal fiduciary services are often referred to as private trust, private client, private wealth management, or private banking services.
A Financial Planner typically prepares financial plans, comprehensive or modular, for his or her clients. The kinds of services financial planners offer can vary widely. Ideal financial planners coaches, guides and plan every aspect of their clients' financial life holistically — including saving, investments, insurance, taxes, retirement, and estate (inheritance) and help them develop a detailed strategy or financial plan for meeting all your financial goals. Such ideal financial planners are independent, not tied to any bank, insurance or investment companies, and act wholly for the interest of their clients. Their remuneration may come from only fees, only commission or a hybrid of fees and commission. Depending on which country they are practising and the regulations that binds them.
The Retail Investor Protection Act is a bill that would delay some pending regulations being written by the United States Department of Labor until the Securities and Exchange Commission has finalized their own rules. The rules in question are rules that would describe "when financial advisors are considered a fiduciary, which means they must work in their clients' best interest." The bill passed the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress.