Articles published 12/2015
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Publish date
Missive from New England: The Mill Valley-to-Maine scenery change yields its annual payload of inspiration
My big financial challenge was buying Christmas gifts with more money than ideas
December 29, 2015 at 3:54 PM
What the collective unconscious of RIAs in 2015 revealed as crunched by RIABiz article readership
Those taking new and interesting risks, very much including the ones behind robo efforts, created the kind of drama that an advisor mind could appreciate
December 28, 2015 at 5:22 PM
20 months in: A field dispatch from an advisor who started an RIA in a strange city with no clients
After stints as a Beverly Hills broker for Merrill and a salesman for Schwab, the Navy veteran went deep into academia to learn his trade
December 23, 2015 at 7:49 PM
Why Vanguard Group has proved impervious to a '$34.6 billion' whistleblower suit and why nobody's suggesting Vanguard execs should breathe easy
The SEC documented a 1981 OK on the asset manager's 'at-cost' fee structure - but if the IRS is egged on it could cost Vanguard bigtime in back taxes, penalties and future business
December 22, 2015 at 8:09 PM
In first major act as Black Diamond/Advent owner, SS&C Technologies hires operation chief of $14-billion RIA to fill new role
Chris Whiting left Moneta Group in September after big changes at that RIA to join the software company that did his firm's performance reporting
December 21, 2015 at 9:11 PM
Snakes and ladders: What to expect in the unexpectedly triumphant final DOL fiduciary rule
Whether converted or just plain exhausted, the staunchest opponents are standing down to make way for the new rule that will go into effect in 2017
December 18, 2015 at 12:28 AM
NextCapital raises $16 million as its founder goes where Financial Engines' 401(k) robo strategy didn't
Betting giant asset managers will carry the day, recovering co-founder of Personal Capital Rob Foregger seeks firms like Russell Investments, Alliance Bernstein as VC investors and as enterprise clients
December 17, 2015 at 7:17 PM
Sources: Lightyear Capital is set to snap up AIG -- and perhaps install Valerie Brown as its leader
Heads of SagePoint, FSC, Royal Alliance and Woodbury are in New York, perhaps hashing out details of their new life under Donald Marron's private equity unit
December 16, 2015 at 2:28 AM
Dissecting Blucora's giant act of financial engineering -- adding a broker-dealer to a software roll-up
M&A expert Bill Ruckelshaus' Bellevue company is paying $580 million for H.D. Vest, a crazy price by some measures but not if 5.5 million existing Blucora customers can be cross-sold
December 15, 2015 at 6:28 PM
MarketCounsel event opens window on race to first $100-billion RIA and why a new round of 'destruction,' 'blunder,' culture wars, tech disillusionment and SRO jockeying must play out
With hedged hyper-optimism, Marty Bicknell, Ron Carson, Mark Tibergien and Shirl Penney got real with Graham Thomas about mad egg-breaking enroute to the perfect RIA omelet
December 14, 2015 at 8:55 PM
Amid growth slowdown, Personal Capital lists with an investment bank but critics debate if it means 'blood in the water'
Bill Harris has done things his way until now but may hand over control to a giant for a $500 million payday
December 11, 2015 at 10:58 PM
How Brian Hamburger's Miami Beach confab served up compliance cocktails with Lithium chasers to manic RIAs
MarketCounsel Summit had trouble topping last year's Spitzer- Robbins- Cuban-extravaganza in Vegas, but dispensed a compliance-minded prescription to RIAs suffering from growth-spurt jitters
December 11, 2015 at 1:25 PM
401(k) industry howls as DOL lets state governments become DC providers with advantageous exemptions
Multiple employer plans' under states will have economies of scale, fewer rules, while ERISA bars private firms from banding together
December 10, 2015 at 7:00 PM
How vendors fail RIAs -- and themselves in the bargain -- by insulting RIA intelligence
Anything with a whiff of closed architecture, overcharging, inauthenticity, opacity or idiocy masquerading as information is a long-term credibility corrosive
December 9, 2015 at 12:42 AM
Why a $2 billion advisor bolted Goldman Sachs' $26 billion, Albany-based RIA and subtracted 12,000 commuting miles
After sandwiching a 20-year hiatus between GE and Goldman, Susan Reese continues her brilliant career at Joe Piazza's RIA startup in a quest for open architecture and closely held ownership
December 8, 2015 at 5:37 PM
How a picture overshadowed thousands of words in the coverage of the 1999 Alex. Brown-Deutsche Bank-Holocaust bombshell and how it resonates still
The author helped make The Daily Record but the Nazi graphics for an article about Jewish clients yanking funds ahead of the Nazi financier purchasing the local investment bank and wealth manager ended up blowing up
December 5, 2015 at 8:56 PM
What to make of Raymond James putting 'Alex. Brown' back into business and what to make of the $420 million it's spending to make it happen
Raymond James could get the hallowed brand and 200 advisors with $50 billion in advised assets for a nominal price but it'll also be pumping Deutsche products through the AB unit
December 4, 2015 at 8:28 PM
How two well regarded biz-industry journos are rethinking post-Parish AdvisorHUB
Jed Horowitz and Mason Braswell see potential despite unusual circumstances
December 3, 2015 at 9:13 PM
Wealthfront takes on another Facebook vet -- a clue that going dark in Palo Alto doesn't mean going away
The last-standing pure B2C robo hopes to outwit, outlast, and outplay its competitors by out-hiring them
December 3, 2015 at 6:15 PM
Why Commonwealth Financial dumped Microsoft CRM and where the decision's go-it-alone hazards lie
At stake is what many consider the advisor nerve center of the Waltham, Mass.-based broker-dealer
December 2, 2015 at 4:58 AM
What Merrill Lynch was able to strip away from breakaway RIA Cardan Capital and why the advisors made the 'tactical' decision to let go
These Denver-based advisors achieved a rarefied status at BoA's broker-dealer as money manager and wealth manager before deciding to bolt
