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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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
