RIABiz barges into the webinar business by getting to the crux of the RIA matter

RIABiz is taking it’s first crack at delivering information in the form of a live conversation between its staff, namely Lisa Shidler and me, and voices in the industry.

After 4-1/2 years in business as a pure online newspaper with an RIA directory, our Mill Valley, Calif.-based online publication is going to hold its first webinar, “The Case for Becoming an RIA”, on Jan. 22 at 4 p.m. EST, 1 p.m. PST.

The event, guest starring Brian Hamburger, is the result of the convergence of infomercial demand — namely sponsors looking for new ways to promote their brand — and our desire to broaden and deepen the way we communicate with our readers.

Now is the time

I have been the biggest roadblock to producing webinars at RIABiz thus far. I find the word “webinar” ugly, for starters, and too often I find the topics covered in these events to be lagging indicators of what’s happening in the industry, not one that keeps advisors perched forward. I am also concerned that all the planning that goes into a webinar could distract from our core mission of delivering daily news about and to the RIA industry to our readers.

“Piffle!” said our chief of business affairs Frank Noto and convinced me that now is the time to take on rich, visionary topics that other publications wouldn’t think to tackle.

“We always felt that it was important to first establish our voice in the advisory community, and gain the editorial credibility with our readership,” he says. See: RIABiz turns four — and readership grows another 39%.

Overhyped, underrated

I also wondered if FINRA’s compliance demands on our sponsors — or simply the advertorial mindset of marketers — would impinge on our journalistic approach to content. This remains a concern of which RIABiz is mindful.

“In keeping with the RIABiz principles, our webinar content will not be structured in any sponsored/custom publishing/“pay to play” scenario,” Noto adds.

The heart of the matter, as I see it, is that RIAs and RIA prospects need to truly wrap their collective minds around what we have here before us. It’s not unlike having a new iPhone or installed CRM — or our brains for that matter — and only using 10% of its potential capacity.

The RIA business is — like California, New York or the Beatles — overhyped but, to insiders, still underrated.

Brian Hamburger brings a light heart
and legal degree.

Seaworthy craft

Then there is the lingering myth that the RIA model is a leaky raft set to sea in a a storm of regulation in a world of wirehouse aircraft carriers.

In fact, the myth of the vulnerability of the RIA is most ardently perpetuated by the RIA business itself. Custodians, roll-ups, M&A experts and the like want advisors to be worried enough to join onto their RIA contraptions that share characteristics with wirehouses.

This is not all bad but may have cast a chill on the classic RIA. See: Joe Duran lays out his latest case for why wirehouses — and classic RIAs — risk losing out to a coming oligopoly of new-model holistic firms.

Breakaway battering ram

I am not a regulatory expert or a breakaway expert; I can only helpfully share what I see in broad strokes. But I may have the broadest view from my perch of anyone.

Brian Hamburger is both a breakaway battering ram as principal of Hamburger law firm and a make-it-simple regulatory helper as chief of MarketCounsel. With his judicious blend of irreverence and expertise, he will be on hand to answer the specifics. An RIA will be on hand for reality checks on us both.

Clients first

LPL Financial is our first webinar sponsor — perhaps not the purest RIA company considering it is a giant broker, but its rapid advance into the RIA custody world makes it one of the most rapidly evolving business models to aid in the RIA movement.

Our topic has the look of a primer on this budding industry but we think veterans will be drawn in to get their minds better around what they have and how to draw more talent in this direction of client-first financial advice.

If you wish to join in, sign on here.