RIABiz

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RIABiz

Articles published 8/2015


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Anthony Perkins: When they started poaching from Morgan and Merrill, I started to take notice.

LPL installs a former Wells Fargo tech-meister as it races to replace software, RIAify itself, for 14,000 restive advisors

Aug 31, 2015

The No. 1 IBD has miles to go in its mission to strip down and rebuild its once 'pretty horrible' platform but CIO Victor Fetter says dramatic changes are already evident


Eric Clarke [r.] next to brother Todd: They didn't even blink an eye about our expansion proposal.

How Orion's parent company -- NorthStar -- is recovering, Omaha-style, from underestimating space needs by 45,000 square feet

Aug 28, 2015

After hiring 326 people in last 18 months, people are being all but stuffed in closets but a cheap solution is at hand -- a new campus


Frank Polefrone: RIAs are growing assets they manage at a faster rate than all other channels, especially the wirehouse channel. RIAs are utilizing lower-fee products index funds and ETFs in a bigger way.

ETF makers mostly have $500-million-plus-AUM RIAs to thank for growth, study shows

Aug 27, 2015

RIAs added half a trillion in assets to ETFs in a recent 12-month period, far outpacing wirehouse brokers


Virtus's latest challenge for its former affiliation with F-Squared is a lawsuit.

Allegations in Virtus class action relate to the fund company using a track record improperly calculated by its subadvisor

Aug 26, 2015

The suit says the track record was fabricated using backtested hypothetical results that were not only falsely presented to investors but were themselves grossly inflated


Don Trone: Because ethotic leaders tend to have a broader view, they are able to keep a better sense of perspective in the face of adversity.

The 10 essential qualities an advisor must possess to become an 'ethotic' leader in these days of roiling markets

Aug 26, 2015

Why? Because it's time for the industry to accept that consumers will never care about suitability vs. fiduciary and recognize that they're hungry for leadership


Bill McNabb: It's OK to ignore volatility—that's part of the plan.

Vanguard urges considered inaction -- not knee-jerk reaction -- to market's wild ride

Aug 25, 2015

The S&P 500 is way, way up since the dark days of the crash, says CEO Bill McNabb, so stop fretting and enjoy the rest of the summer


Gabe Zichermann: In a game setting, you are challenged and achieve success through a swipe of the finger hundreds of times an hour. And it isn't just the millennial generation that are addicted. [Bill Winterberg, FPPad.com. Used with permission ​]

The buzz at RIA event in San Diego was how to get buzzed, dole out buzzes as inducement to automate practices

Aug 24, 2015

The intellectual puzzle of the Envestnet-Yodlee deal was one game played but Laser App's featured speaker took gaming deeper


Daniela Pedley and Lauren Cosulich: We've been champing at the bit.

Why two women advisors broke two unwritten breakaway rules en route to taking $500 million to a $3-billion RIA

Aug 21, 2015

Daniela Pedley and Lauren Cosulich held back to give the original Summit Trail blazers their earned glory -- but gave notice on a Monday to let clients have their weekend peace


Burt White: History suggests stocks are capable of posting total returns this year in the range of 5% to 9% including dividends, despite touching negative territory on the year in August.

Why a flat start doesn't mean a flat finish for the S&P 500

Aug 20, 2015

Halfway-point blues notwithstanding, strong earnings and other catalysts that could push the S&P 500 into the black by Christmas


Ashley Fieglein Johnson earned close to $1 million in total compensation last year but a $12 annoyance bank fee charged to her five-year-old son was a big reason she joined Wealthfront.

Two ways of reading Wealthfront's inscrutable hire of a power CFO -- one it may not really need anytime soon

Aug 19, 2015

The Palo Alto-based robo-advisor may have tapped Ashley Fieglein Johnson to raise more VC -- or just because it doesn't need to count every bit of cash it burns


Sharron Ash: If there's one rule about raiding it's this: there are no rules.

The odd case of MetLife's claim that it's being bullied by LPL

Aug 18, 2015

The $60 billion market-cap insurer alleges LPL was underhanded in luring away 60 employees -- but thousands have already left its broker-dealer without LPL's help


Greg Verfaillie: In the conversations I've been having with advisors, it's clear this decision is not going to be made on product or platform; it's about the relationship.

Curian Capital predators position to pounce -- but a few copiously keep their distance to avoid quills

Aug 17, 2015

As smaller TAMPs play the finesse game, SEI, AssetMark and Envestnet, with combined $100 billion-plus AUM, see a path to play up their size and scale after the smaller TAMP falters


Jon Stein frequently rolls up his sleeves to handle Betterment investor queries as part of his non-robo strategy.

Consumer Reports names Betterment in top five for customer service with USAA, Schwab, Vanguard and T. Rowe Price

Aug 14, 2015

The recognition flies in the face of a bias against that says robos can't hold hands with their bony robot fingers


Laura Pierson: I'm anticipating some of our loyal clients may question us about this choice. It's bold and unconventional.

Monica Lewinsky is giving a keynote at Ron Carson's Peak conference

Aug 13, 2015

The ex-intern's message about cyberbullying, public shaming and personal branding is one advisors need to hear, according to Carson and industry advisors


 Eric Clarke (l.): It was possible to snatch an hour or two of shuteye prior to hike departure, but I highly doubt anyone slept.

What I learned about our industry’s toughness, endurance and character across four peaks, 28 miles and 7,500 vertical feet in Aspen

Aug 12, 2015

Bears, lightning, not to mention the 'Frigid Air Pass' and the 'Soul Crusher,' challenged the RIA adventurers on their fourth, and most grueling, trek


Jud Bergman: So, you're basically asking if you need a quart of milk, why did you buy the cow. Is that what you're asking, Chris?

Envestnet stock skidded 35% -- so will it force a rethinking of the Yodlee deal?

Aug 12, 2015

The Chicago-based outsourcer's bid to increase shareholder value hazards a counterproductive outcome


Anil Arora: There’s an enormous transformation going on in financial services, and we’re going to accelerate that.

Envestnet buys Yodlee and its treasure trove of 'permissioned' data by selling its vision of the future of financial advice

Aug 10, 2015

The Chicago overachiever's deal is its third Silicon Valley acquisition overall, and second this year


Amy Parvaneh: I was a cold-calling machine.

How an ex-Goldman superstar asset gatherer in LA is bringing her bazooka to the RIA knife fight

Aug 10, 2015

Growing up in a West Egg-East Egg scenario among the Long Island rich, Amy Parvaneh burnished her credentials with unusual Parisian luxury brands training, a Duke MBA and a dramatic Wall Street debut


Brooke Southall: Our business cards, inert in their boxes, are still our main print product.

RIABiz turns six, with plans to keep riding an ever-swelling RIA wave

Aug 7, 2015

The Mill Valley, Calif.-based website strives for a new journalistic model, based on old-fashioned values, to cover an advice industry going through a parallel set of changes


Louis Harvey: They assumed that a market existed, but then discovered what many have known for years -- 401(k) plans need a very personal sales effort.

After cutting 401(k) middlemen out backfires, Schwab cuts them back in

Aug 6, 2015

The problem for Walt Bettinger's newfangled Index Advantage DC plans was that for three years only $10 billion of assets showed up in an atmosphere of self-direction


Walt Bettinger: Building a B2C brand is incredibly expensive, as we all know, and difficult. Takes many, many years, but ultimately we think we are looking at a tool.

In a six-month-mark reality check, Walt Bettinger recasts Schwab's retail robo-advice as a 'tool' -- but a handy one

Aug 5, 2015

After the mini-Manhattan Project of Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, its CEO is showing a fuller hand of cards that goes way beyond B2C


Ric Edelman: His departure has no impact on the firm's future or our strategic plans.

Ric Edelman and David Bach go their own ways after super-partnership dissolves

Aug 4, 2015

After less than a year together, Bach is on a long vacation and Edelman is still pursuing a succession plan


 Dave Romhilt: I was having all of these conversations separately and Tom Palecek said, 'What are we going to do about this?'

How exactly five ex-Barclays advisors and one analyst across three time zones combined to make a $3 billion RIA

Aug 3, 2015

A 38-year-old researcher played point man in the offensive that formed Summit Trail Advisors with offices in New York, Chicago and San Francisco


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