HighTower Advisors LLC chief Elliot Weissbluth today shrugged off a “lift-out” lawsuit filed against the firm late last week by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, calling it baseless. “It’s clearly a failed attempt to intimidate, and a failed tactic to deter other financial advisers from leaving,” Mr. Weissbluth said. “Frankly, all it’s effectively done is to confirm that these large firms now have to take HighTower seriously.” In a suit filed Feb.16, Morgan Stanley accused Steven Ayer, Roman Ciosek, John Lang, Peter Lang and Jeffrey Sullivan — partners at Strata Wealth Management Group — of soliciting clients while they were still employed by Morgan Stanley. The suit also alleges that the partners at Stata, an advisory group in Rye, N.Y., that manages $500 million in assets, took confidential information with them when they left Morgan Stanley Feb. 12. It’s…

I was reminded yesterday of the importance of communication — in an unusual way — as I checked out of a hotel in Miami where I was attending a meeting. I noticed that the person standing next to me looked familiar. Turns out it was John Travolta, who was in Miami filming a movie. He looked at me, smiled and had his friend or bodyguard snap a picture of me with him. To be sure, I don’t have a business relationship with John Travolta. But in a sense, I’m a customer in that I pay to see his movies. He knows that, and whether he’s truly as nice as he seems (and he did seem genuinely nice), he took the time to snap a photo with me and in the process made me a fan for life. In fact, by taking a moment out of his day, he communicated to…

At present, every person is full of activity and hectic in their life, that they barely have any time to fritter away on faxing heaps of papers and credentials while submitting an application for a loan. To offer such consumers with a fast resolution payday lending institutions have designed these loans in such a way that you do not need to fax any financial or personal documents to apply for such loans. You can submit an application for it at any time you are in need of fast cash for sudden expenses earlier than payday. This loan is just like any other salary advance that you obtain instantly without any prerequisites on faxing any documents. By just submitting an online application for this loan will allow you to obtain an amount of $100 to $1,500. The borrowed cash will rely on your settlement capacity and cash required. You will get…

A number of individuals have a natural preference to have life insurance and it looks as if it comes to them naturally, at the same time, as others by no means give it a pang of conscience. On the other hand, neither of these approaches is best. As an alternative, you are obliged to provide this type of cover a watchful consideration if you want to come to a decision on whether it is right for you or not. The most important question one has to put forward is,

Why do you have to repay your credit card debts in full? This may seem like a foolish question but be rest assured that there is a lot of sense behind this. Do you know that card issuers have earned billions of dollars out of your income? Do you know that they have spent all their income investing in ridiculous and complicated financial documents? They ended up taking a bad hit when the housing bubble burst and went running to the government for assistance. The stimulus package was promptly offered because these service providers were considered too big to fail. In such a scenario, don’t you think you are too important to fail? Where will the credit card issuers earn their profit if you opt for bankruptcy? Do not underestimate yourself. This is a very important step that one should take if one wants settlement. Once you have identified and…

Many persons are of the opinion that there’s no need for them to employ the services of a specialist professional debt settlement company. They feel that they are better of tackling their debt problems on their own. Well, would you try to run an international marathon without any training? Would you try to argue a case in a court of law without any training? Why is it that people think that managing finances is something that should come naturally? There are so many technicalities and complexities involved. Is it not obvious that you should get specialized training before you try to manage the same? What about the employees of credit card companies? Do they get any special training? A brand new employee of a credit card issuer or any other unsecured lender may not be given any formal training. However, the experience of all other employees who have become experts…

Do you want to find out whether you need debt settlement or any other debt relief option? Are you not interested in getting in touch with some friendly debt relief expert who will be all sugar and sweetness just to take all your money away? Well, you can find the answer to your queries right here. Just answer the following questions and you will definitely find yourself in a position where you can conclude whether you need debt relief or not. – When was the last time you borrowed money from a credit card to repay the credit card debt? – When was last time you justified such a transaction saying that both the loan accounts charge the same interest rate and therefore you are not suffering any loss? – When was the last time you had an asset in your hand that was completely yours to use without any worry of credit…