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RIABiz

Articles published 12/2016


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Bob Miller: Although we compete with Addepar in the reporting domain we also provide services that they do not.

With Addepar muscling in, original UHNW software force PCR hires new CEO, triples engineering staff, kills off asset-based pricing and seeks more RIAs

Plucky Bob Miller is replacing Rob Fiore at the Wilton, Conn. firm with a keen sense of UHNW hegemony and willingness to take half an RIA loaf for reporting on managed illiquid assets

December 30, 2016 at 7:14 PM

Rob Francais: Stanford is already in its second generation of management ...

How Aspiriant knocked out another all-stock deal for an $850-million-AUM firm and why such pure-paper transactions don't grow on trees

Stanford had done its own succession spade work and its principals were willing to become workers in a Deloitte-cultured firm

December 29, 2016 at 4:09 PM

Peter Mallouk owns a $21-billion RIA already growing with organic ferocity. Then Tony Robbins shows up and whoosh.

The 10 RIABiz stories advisors connected with most deeply in 2016 and how hubris and humility ran amok in this didn't-see-it-coming year

How did Aequitas swamp CONCERT? Power outages at LPL, Cetera and Wealthfront? Adolescent robo problems? And was that Tony Robbins hawking his money book ... again?

December 28, 2016 at 5:54 PM

Bill McNabb explained himself after Vanguard announced some hyper-competitive price cuts.

Vanguard and BlackRock slash prices at Christmastime but only Vanguard feels the need to defend its actions

The Malvern, Pa. giant is just doing what it always does, CEO Bill McNabb says, and it isn't just 'another volley fired in the fee war'

December 27, 2016 at 5:27 PM

Eric Clarke: The perception is that they're being charged for investment management. That's not really the case.

Eric Clarke hatches plan to put RIA fees front and center by applying sunlight to 1.5 million accounts

The president of Orion Advisor Services mined the fee information of the 1,000 RIAs who use his software

December 23, 2016 at 7:25 PM

Sarah Bush: It lands near the middle.

Will Bond King's plebeian returns in 2016 encourage a thawing of cold war with Morningstar?

DoubleLine's Jeffrey Gundlach still allows the Chicago fund researcher no interviews or due diligence but some fact checks and receives praise -- faint -- in return

December 22, 2016 at 8:09 PM

Michael Park: We need to ask them questions about their business challenges, their points of pain and their strategic priorities.

T. Rowe Price plucks an RIA 'pain' expert from Vanguard Group to rethink asset management delivery

With net flows flattish in Baltimore, Michael Park arrives to make sales interactions with RIAs more of a 'dialog'

December 21, 2016 at 6:09 PM

David Canter: [Advisors] will be need to be very thoughtful with how they account for their fees, the services provided and value delivered

Fidelity warns on the fees RIAs charge as growth of their practices falter yet lower prices aren't the answer

The Boston custodian calls attention to pedestrian 2015 organic net new growth of 6.7% as sign that clients are baffled about what exactly they are paying for

December 20, 2016 at 7:13 PM

RIAs went to the belly of the options beast.

RIAs get schooled on how to cut out the greediest middlemen -- insurers and hedgers -- at an event at Chicago Board Options Exchange

Options Industry Council panel showcased success stories and product pitchers of off-the-rack options automation and our caffeinated reporter swears it was all in a layman's intellectual grasp

December 19, 2016 at 6:47 PM

Daniel Kern: Looking forward, we spend a lot and need to do more with marketing, both brand and message.

Seven RIAs tell what big project they spent money for in 2016 -- and why

Graham Thomas corralled advisor principals at MarketCounsel's Summit in Miami Beach and got some intense answers

December 16, 2016 at 8:11 PM

Neesha Hathi: This is a modern approach to financial planning and wealth management that mirrors what today’s consumers have come to expect in other aspects of their lives.

Schwab unveils its virtual future to plaudits but using green CFPs as its real people, mandatory 6% cash, could prove troublesome

Move to launch 28 basis-point Schwab Intelligent Advisory by summer checks all boxes on price, robo, planning, ETFs -- and commoditizes what RIAs sell for three times the fee

December 15, 2016 at 6:11 PM

Despite a prolonged quite period, Alexa von Tobel says that her robo will 'unleash innovation' soon.

Quiet Northwestern Mutual may be ready to make a big noise with rerelease of LearnVest -- with Alexa von Tobel vowing that innovation and integration aren't mutually exclusive goals

After the $250-million deal in 2015, the staid Milwaukee insurer has funneled funds into the jazzy robo, packed its board and taken it backstage for a makeover promised for the New Year

December 14, 2016 at 6:35 PM

Andy Puzder takes a minimalist approach to the pensions of his workers.

Mum on DOL rule, Labor chief appointee Andy Puzder's 'check-the-box' 401(k) plan at CKE Restaurants speaks volumes

The expensive Mercer-advised pension plan has low participation rates, low balances, no matches and few assets overall

December 13, 2016 at 8:50 PM

Paul Saganey: We didn’t even discuss the prospects for a sale in our talks.

How a $4-billion OSJ jumped ship from Lincoln Financial to LPL just before the Mark Casady step-down in search of safe harbor in the eye of DOL-rule storm

Lincoln wins in that Integrated Financial Partners still gorges on its products but CEO Paul Saganey likes the better control over fees under LPL

December 12, 2016 at 7:47 PM

Lobbying took on a new meaning at the Fontainebleau this week at the MarketCounsel Summit.

MarketCounsel Summit 2016 -- the theme is when the boss calls, you go

The Fontainebleau glitters, but not with newly minted Trumpsters, as Summit chief Brian Hamburger got more than he bargained for with the conference's theme of 'change'

December 9, 2016 at 4:41 PM

The first Vestigo investment, LifeYield, is located in the famed 'pregnant' building at 175 Federal in Downtown Boston.

Mark Casady quietly became co-founder of venture capital firm and, pre-post-LPL, it's making noise

The departing LPL chief is one of two general partners of Vestigo Ventures, which bought a stake in LifeYield -- an advisor software company

December 8, 2016 at 9:59 PM

Mike Durbin didn't know he'd end up as the eMoney CEO when he agreed to oversee its onboarding.

Mike Durbin takes new RIA+ job at Fidelity after an unlooked-for two-year eMoney mission concludes

After Abby Johnson had former RIA chief troubleshoot $250-million purchase, he comes back to stock shelves with robo and alt goodies

December 8, 2016 at 12:08 AM

Ron Rhoades: The worst case would be adopting a rule and calling it fiduciary when it is actually a much weaker standard.

At MarketCounsel, a Ron Rhoades-Skip Schweiss exchange reveals new DOL-rule threat -- a Trump-led compromise creating a mutant strain of the reg that benefits no one

The problem, Rhoades says, is that a pseudo-fiduciary standard asks consumers to assume the burden of knowing what's best for them when it comes to investing, which brings the problem full circle

December 7, 2016 at 8:33 PM

Kellyanne Conway, flanked by Marc Cohen and Brian Hamburger, uttered not a word related to DOL, Dodd Frank or any other RIA-related matter.

MarketCounsel Summit weathers Trump mayhem as Scaramucci and Priebus bail and Kellyanne Conway makes a night flight to Miami

A frenzied speaker-substitution effort was capped by a wee-hours lobby stakeout for Conway

December 6, 2016 at 9:17 PM

Dan Arnold: As an entrepreneur at heart, I am constantly inspired and energized by the work of our advisors and institutions.

LPL takes selling off the table and takes out boisterous Mark Casady at CEO in favor of quiet Dan Arnold

The firm's future as an independent public company is assured for now but the abrupt shift in management style poses new questions

December 6, 2016 at 12:52 AM

Brian Cooke with brother Chris: Normally when you leave it’s in the middle of the night and not out the front door.

Wells Fargo $1.7 billion 'Profit-Formula' group executes breakaway with help and of ... Wells Fargo

Cooke Financial Group of Indianapolis left the wirehouse in a broad daylight, front door exit with some diligent help of from their bosses

December 2, 2016 at 12:19 AM

Chris Paulitz warned of “untold liability exposure and class action lawsuits"

Critic calls 'laughable' FSI study that shows only 14% of advisors want DOL rule to stay

The lobby group that sued to stop the DOL rule surveyed 1,300 member stockbrokers -- of whom 71% voted for Donald Trump

December 1, 2016 at 8:43 PM

Dirk Quayle: We can tell them: we can build the last mile to the investor.

NextCapital poaches great Aon Hewitt hunter as it tracks big institutional game terrain

Matt Clink, 39, will be the 401(k)-geared digital advisor's first CIO after bagging RBC and with three more institutional beasts in its sights

December 1, 2016 at 5:35 PM

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