Blogs

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixaba In 2017, when TD Ameritrade was nearing the completion of its acquisition of rival Scottrade, I came across a very enticing yet not-so-widely advertised promotion through Charles Schwab for existing Scottrade clients that seemed too good to pass up.  What was the offer?  If I agreed to transfer over my Scottrade accounts, Schwab would give me commission-free trading for as long as I was a Scottrade client.  And since I had started investing with Scottrade in 2004, that offer meant I could trade for free with Schwab until the year 2030! What seemed like a sweetheart deal at the time has now transitioned to ...

The CFA Institute recently published a position paper that reviews the conflicts between U.S. and European rules on research payments post-MiFID II implementation and highlights the challenges that investment managers face in attempting to comply with the two regions simultaneously.  The paper—which was produced in partnership with the Healthy Markets Association and Council of Institutional Investors—summarizes its findings with recommendations to the SEC for dealing with these regulatory disparities.      By way of background, Section 28(e), as amended in 1975, of The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 permits investment advisors to pay higher commissions ...