Articles published 2/2019
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How $7B Professional Capital Services is trying to out-nimble, out-RIA $188B Ascensus but with Edmond Walters there to carry a big stick
The eMoney founder joined the Philly TPA's board to oversee a PCS that hires madly, rewrites software, RIA-izes its services and develops marketing punch
February 28, 2019 at 12:41 AM
Envestnet shares spike, but fundamentals reassure Wall Street, rather than big future annuity profits, gaining 2,300 Schwab RIAs on the cheap and diminished Yodlee pain
Replicating SMA success on insurance side and tripling Tamarac customers is exciting but analysts may be more attuned to earnings growth and billions in 'conversions' to subscriptions
February 27, 2019 at 7:14 AM
Peter Mallouk goes inorganic with first M&A deal as he raises the bar on growth objectives for Creative Planning
The CEO of $38-billion firm is starting M&A offensive with a $500-million Minneapolis RIA right after launching giant national TV advertising campaign
February 26, 2019 at 2:27 PM
Schwab Advisor Services tosses its PortfolioCenter platform to Envestnet, in what amounts to a 'defensive' deal for both, insiders say
The deal adds 2,300 Schwab PortfolioCenter RIA users to Tamarac's 1000 mostly high-end users, with a promise of easier migration (maybe) to the cloud
February 22, 2019 at 2:25 AM
How Shuang Chen vaulted his 2015 planning start-up into MoneyGuidePro and eMoney contention by finding a 'Goldilocks' niche neither too light nor too heavy
His Right Capital just raised $3.7 million for a bootstrapped software firm that inked deals with firms like Commonwealth, Betterment and XY Planning
February 21, 2019 at 10:11 PM
CEO Robert Moore's abrupt departure from Cetera for 'health reasons' throws dark clouds over ambitious expansion plans for star-crossed broker-dealer
The official version is health concerns but people close to the firm cite Moore cross swords with Genstar; ex-Schwabbie Ben Brigeman steps in as CEO search launches
February 20, 2019 at 7:24 PM
Shirl Penney flies south, taking Dynasty Financial Partners to St. Petersburg in advance of a hiring spree, but won't kiss-off the Big Apple just yet
The CEO and co-founder is taking his firm to Raymond James' hometown, where he hopes to tap local talent and recruit some snow birds, as well
February 19, 2019 at 3:00 PM
Oisin's Two Bits: Private Client Resources hires bankers, but not, CEO says, for an exit; TD Ameritrade does eight account-opening deals with vendors
The UHNW software firm of Quovo aspect characterizes banker hire as capital search; TD is working to make open API an edge in digital account opening
February 15, 2019 at 11:13 PM
Michael Kitces names his price for RIAs to charge the other 80% of investors and it's a 1% fee but on income, not 1% on assets under management
The Columbia, Md.-based guru and entrepreneur sees a seminal shift in the industry -- and a life raft from dependence on the AUM fee model -- because a critical statistical mass of advisors are converging on a rate where consumers see value
February 14, 2019 at 11:39 PM
Ken Fisher hits a milestone of $100 billion of AUM and $1 billion of revenues but faces a new challenge: How to grow a mature firm with competitors yapping at his heels
The Fisher Investments founder says the law of large numbers is now working against him, but he's spending furiously on reinvention, and 'nothing is sacred'
February 14, 2019 at 4:01 AM
Power Financial, Jeff Carney and Personal Capital tighten bond with $50-million cash raise-- not that it needed the money, says CEO Jay Shah
The $154-billion AUM in Toronto headed by Schwab's ex-retail chief who sits on the board under Charles Goldman and the $8.5-billion Silicon Valley virtual advisor have been close since 2016
February 12, 2019 at 8:50 PM
NBCUniversal and Acorns join forces in $105-million mega-round in play to make two millennial quagmires into one big monetization play
CNBC is desperate to attract millennial viewers and the robo-advisor needs to make 4.5 million micro-accounts profitable and the result is an unconventional pairing.
February 11, 2019 at 11:53 PM
Jason Lahita ends four-month exile with mission to turn 127 OSJ reps into small media brands by pulling rabbits out of his hat
After leaving the RIA public relations firm he co-founded in 2012, the longing of the FiComm founder to get back into the day-to-day media melee took him to a relatively unheralded LPL office of supervisory jurisdiction.
February 7, 2019 at 6:21 PM
LPL Financial shares zoom to all-time high of $77, after new CEO lets brokers sell like hell, and RIA custody and OSJ contracts achieve new balance
Dan Arnold steers Fort Mill, S.C. IBD giant on walk-and-chew-gum course that allows for juicing annuity sales, rebuilding RIA fee platform and squeezing more profits from less revenue
February 7, 2019 at 12:13 AM
T3, held in two-cow town, churns out big news -- much of it about Apprise Labs, RightCapital debuts-- as industry shifts to planning from portfolio management
Joel Bruckenstien lured the RIA world to low-cost Denton, Texas and the RIA world brought stories of breakthrough deals, data and Clever domes
February 6, 2019 at 4:42 AM
Fidelity Investments takes another leap into the future, enlisting Amazon to turn advisors into virtual reality avatars, but some say it's pie-in-the-sky
Abby Johnson's metamorphing Boston financial firm needs the Seattle owner of Alexa to make its vision of remote advisors with the human touch a reality,
February 4, 2019 at 11:41 PM
Bill Bisson, the original 'RIA' publisher, set a standard of financial journalism that put integrity first and stood fast against 'Wall Street' culture and intimidation
The InvestmentNews founder risked his blemish-free reputation at flagship Pensions & Investments on a maverick publication, then stared down advertisers during the ravages of dot.com bust
February 4, 2019 at 10:50 PM
eMoney Founder Edmond Walters musters every resource in launching 'Apprise Labs' and makes no bones that it's aimed at disrupting the market leader -- eMoney
Walters gets MoneyGuidePro and Envestnet to each takes 33% stakes and bring their talents, data and market reach to reinventing financial planning to include a future beyond death and taxes
