Bank of America's ouster of John Thain left Merrill employees reeling, as they continued to absorb job cuts and a rocky integration into a bank that was supposed to offer stability. Read more . . .

The Bernard Madoff scandal could make investors more appreciative of mutual funds; and while layoffs are accelerating across financial-services companies, the pace of recruiting has been brisk in some areas of wealth management. Read more . . .

While hiring and training of new brokers has slowed to a crawl, demand for experienced brokers is a different matter. Read more . . .