While the eurozone crisis dominated the news in recent weeks, there were plenty of other articles on topics of interest to wealth advisers and their clients.

James Ware, CFA, discusses the importance of leadership skills in the investment industry in light of the recent global financial crisis, how firm culture contributes to (or detracts from) success, and critical skills investment professionals need in today’s climate.

While December is typically a quiet month in the world of finance and investing, last month had a surprising number of important stories. Concerns over the European sovereign debt crisis dominated the intellectual bandwidth, yet there were other stories deserving of the fixed income investor's attention.

At the beginning of each year, most leading brokerage houses and many prominent investors issue market forecasts. As we approach the saturation point, it is worth pondering whether these forecasts merit the attention of professional investors.

Robert Jenkins, FSIP, cites the flaws in the traditional return on equity (ROE) measure in measuring bank financial performance and proposes some much needed alternatives.

Modern banking system bailouts fly in the face of the ancient capitalist philosophy of losses signaling market risks. In addition, financial bailouts tend to escalate in size and damaging effects with time.

The recent scandal that led Swiss National Bank chairman Philipp Hildebrand to resign highlights the difference between what is legal and what is ethical. The law tells us what we “can and cannot do,” whereas ethics tells us what we “should and should not do.”

A major and ancient tenet of capitalism is the importance of losses to preserving the efficiency of markets. Yet modern banking system bailouts fly in the face of this perennial philosophy.

This book provides a highly accessible and pragmatic approach to the subject of investment vehicles. For the relative newcomer to active investing, it offers several nuggets of useful information. For veteran system developers interested in further honing their trading acumen, it serves as a refresher of key concepts.

A recent survey suggests that some investment advisers may be recommending alternative investment strategies that neither they nor their clients fully understand. In order to regain the confidence and trust of clients and the public at large, investment professionals must commit to doing a better job of understanding — and communicating — the features, characteristics, and risks of these complex strategies.