Articles published 12/2016
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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 – 7:14 PM
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 – 4:09 PM
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 – 5:54 PM
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 – 5:27 PM
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 – 7:25 PM
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 – 8:09 PM
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 – 6:09 PM
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 – 7:13 PM
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 – 6:47 PM
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 – 8:11 PM
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 – 6:11 PM
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 – 6:35 PM
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 – 8:50 PM
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 – 7:47 PM
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'