Nearly 60% of the affluent households use professional advisers, but that number is down from 70% in 2004  and 79% in 2001 so says TNS Financial Services of Greenwich, Conn.  The Number 1 reason for the decline was that the affluent felt better managing their own money, while Number 2 was that they didn’t feel that advisers had the best ...

The number of very rich people in the US grew last year at the fastest pace in at least a decade as their various investments did well. The number of households with $5M or  more in invisitable assets,  excluding  their home, rose by 26% to a record 930,000, according  to a study by the Spectrem Group. The number of millionaires ...

Fidelity Investments, in an effort to increase giving, said yesterday that it was planning to cut the admin fees it charges in its Charitable Gift Fund by at least 40% .  The move which goes into effect July 1st., will bring the admin fees on accounts of less than $500,000 to 0.6%  from 1%. Fidelity has billions of dollars in ...

Blogging has dramatically reshaped the way we interact with charitable organizations.  The constituent relationship management (CRM)  paradigm has shifted .  The public doesn’t want to be managed.  They want control of the dialog, to dictate terms, and choose methods of communication. The question for fundraisers  has become:  Is the mechanism in place to enable our constituents the channel to create ...