Steve Garmhausen

Financial planners become successful through a fierce commitment to building their practices. But too few principals proactively plan for when — and how — they will one move on. In failing to do so, they run the risk of leaving their firms on someone else’s terms, says Scott Slater, managing director, business consulting, for Schwab Advisor Services. “And that’s somewhat ironic,” he says, “because they are planners.”

The adoption of guaranteed living benefits fell in the first quarter of 2011 to their lowest rate since the third quarter of 2008—and improved confidence in the stock market may be the reason.

Continuing a comeback after a difficult 2010, annuity sales through banks topped $4 billion in March to reach their highest level since exactly two years earlier, according to research firm Kehrer-LIMRA.

With the equity markets’ recent woes in the past, variable annuity sales perked up in 2010, according to the Insured Retirement Institute in Washington, D.C.

Built-up demand for health savings accounts helped to account for a solid 2010 for J.P. Morgan’s HSA business, according to David Josephs, managing director with the company.

Exchange-traded funds are likely to grab a “significant” share of the 401(k) market in coming years, according to Skip Schweiss, president of TD Ameritrade Trust Co.

It appears young investors may have been paying attention as the market crash threw baby boomers’ futures into disarray.

There’s no doubt that starting a financial advisory business can be harrowing, but finding good people to eventually take over your business may be even harder, says John Brackett, a regional director with Financial Network Investment Corp.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s retirement services unit is generating significant new business, much of it from existing clients of the bank.