Mr. Pupillo manages $2.5 billion in institutional and high-net-worth retail accounts, according to HighTower, and his signing gives the firm its first office in the Southwest. He and fellow financial advisers Brian Hein and David Brasfield, along with two other colleagues, Aaron Brasfield and Darren Evans, work in Scottsdale, Ariz. Hightower did not provide a breakdown of the team’s institutional and retail business.

“I looked at several vendor platforms to support us if we went completely independent, but none provided anything close to the comprehensive platform at HighTower, Mr. Pupillo said in a statement. We joined HighTower because it represents the very [best of breed] solutions, supporting sophisticated independent advisers and harnessing the competitive power of Wall Street for the benefit of our clients.”

Mr. Pupillo was not available for an interview.

The departure of Mr. Pupillo is a sizeable blow to Greystone and parent . A Barron’s Top 100 Adviser since 2006, Mr.

Full Article…

Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone behind Germany and France. It also has a very significant public debt burden and has seen many years of torpid economic growth. Growing concern that Italy would follow Greece, Ireland and Portugal in needing financial support from the IMF/EU led (ironically) to yields on Italian ten-year bonds climbing above the 7% level. The crisis led to the resignation of the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi and the installation of an unelected, technocrat cabinet led by Mario Draghi.

Italy has pushed through further austerity measures and the technocrat government has survived confidence votes. This has seen the heat go out of the bond yield crisis, although yields remain at uncomfortably high levels.

Fitch’s rating agency has warned that a downgrade of Italy’s current A+ status could be imminent. This would signal the agency’s belief that the risk associated with Italian sovereign debt had risen.

Full Article…

In recent years, utilities, credit card issuers and banks have made a real effort to redesign their statements so theyre easier for their customers to understand. In many cases theyve succeeded, and Im grateful.

But for some reason, my health insurer (Anthem Blue Cross) has continued to to send me the same kind of inscrutable Explanation of Benefits letter that it has sent for years. Its filled with information that is of no value to me, including machine-readable bar codes and glyphs (who are these for?the letters dont say). And the kind of information I would like to know is incomplete. For example, the letters include the members medical deductible applied to date but doesnt say what the deductible actually is, or how much is remaining.

RECOMMENDED: FREE CREDIT CHECK TOOL Credit Report Card Check your credit for free with this great tool from Credit.com. It offers expert advice on how to manage your credit. Full Article…

I’m giving away two copies of the latest edition of my book, “Your Credit Score: How to Improve the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future.”

This is the fourth edition, rewritten from stem to stern to reflect big changes in the credit laws and practices since the financial crisis. If you need to improve your credit after big setbacks or you just want to know how to keep your scores high, this is the book for you.

To enter, leave a comment here on my blog (not my Facebook page). Make sure to leave your email address (which won’t show up with your comment, but I’ll be able to see it). The winners will be chosen at random.

The deadline to enter is midnight Pacific time on Friday Jan. 6. So–comment away!