Articles published 7/2025
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Adam Spiegelman is converting -- without re-papering -- his dad's old Northwestern Mutual practice into a Fidelity RIA -- after growing to $400 million of AUM over seven years at Commonwealth
The Alamo, Calif., advisor is using the LPL purchase of his broker-dealer as a catalyst for his long-held ambition -- made simpler by Commonwealth using Fidelity for clearing
July 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Schwab authorizes $20-billion stock buyback and unshackles its sidelined 'capital intensity' -- downplaying previous TD Bank off-balance-sheet proclamations -- after reducing post-bank crisis obligations by $70 billion
Schwab still owes Federal Home Loan Bank and others $27.7 billion but post-bank crisis fears have receded and the willing to be aggressive is back to par
July 25, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Vanguard and Fidelity each launch pricier [for them] funds -- extra junky junk bonds and futures -- that wealth managers prefer to farm out
The Malvern giant already has a 'junk' ETF, but more constrained than this one, and Fidelity's new futures ETF looks to a brighter future, after a slow start
July 24, 2025 at 2:15 AM
A tale of two TAMPS: AssetMark and SEI shift their long-time rivalry to a new green field, RIAs, in major strategy shift, as independent broker-dealer market nears zero-sum game
Taken private, AssetMark is investing heavily in added service 'hub' overhead; SEI just spent $527 million to snap-up an RIA roll-up in a deal that could cost it up to $916.5 million, if shareholders exercise put options.
July 23, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Charles Schwab finally launches 'discretionary' version of Schwab Wealth Advisory, removing the last difference with RIAs, and closing a gap with Fidelity and Vanguard
The Westlake, Texas, broker-dealer's CEO revealed the launch of Schwab Wealth Portfolios, where each portfolio move will no longer need investor approval -- a feature long offered by Fido and Vanguard.
July 22, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Rick Wurster says Schwab will 'have a stable coin' after analyst peppering on Schwab's no-show on in-house crypto, but balks at setting timeline for Bitcoin and Ethereum, which take priority, he adds
The Schwab chief celebrated a great quarter on the earnings call and said Schwab's growth will 'accelerate' after it gets a first-party crypto offering
July 19, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Advyzon's latest play to achieve Envestnet-level success is to hire chief success officer from the company
Clark Richards spent 12 years at the $6.5 trillion-AUA company that counts 111,000 advisors as users of software, investmewnts or both
July 18, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Vanguard sued by direct-indexing founders for allegedly cajoling a deal for Just Invest where the payoff came from hitting targets that the fund giant, allegedly, impeded -- actively and passively
The Malvern, Pa., asset manager has yet to answer the claims, but the suit's acrimony could lead to a public relations black eye.
July 17, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Buoyed by cash cow and under new CEO, Grayscale files for IPO just days after it blogged about Bonk, Playtron, and Binance coins, possibly being in its future
The Stamford, Conn., firm still has $19-billion 'GBTC' collecting 150 basis points -- even as Fidelity and BlackRock devour its marketshare -- but Bitcoin's price may open a big window for Grayscale to sell shares to the public.
July 14, 2025 at 11:12 PM
iCapital's run-the-table strategy takes leap ahead after Goldman Sachs helps it raise $820 million for M&A to enhance domination -- and add to previous 23 deals
The New York City alts machinery for Schwab, Envestnet, Pershing and others -- cash positive since 2019 -- fattened its balance sheet to keep the pressure on.
July 12, 2025 at 1:03 AM
RIA executives who defined $5.5 trillion, 12-year growth run in RIA biz represent new resource -- 'on-tap' senior advisory talent
Of 19 noted CEOs who relinquished the top job since Feb. 2023, 16 now serve in advisory positions at dozens of firms.
July 11, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Vivek Ramaswamy's 'pure insanity' plan achieves liftoff -- fueled by mysterious investors and unmysterious sweeteners -- using other people's money and another company's public listing to create a 'Bitcoin treasury'
About 34 investors put up $750 million so Strive Asset Management could buy, buy, and buy more Bitcoin -- even as it phases out the old anti-ESG company persona.
July 10, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Seeking fresh custody revenues, Schwab Advisor Services radically expands 'institutional' no-transaction-fee platform -- essentially OneSource at a giant discount for discount mutual fund share classes
Schwab seems to be adjusting to market forces in building up its platform fee revenue, analyst says
July 9, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Ready to really take on Schwab and Merrill Lynch, Vanguard quantifies 'meaningful' value that financial advisors deliver 'beyond portfolio performance' in code shift
The Malvern, Pa., asset manager -- long a DIY advocate -- is busy launching its new 'wealth' divison under Joanna Rotenberg.
July 8, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Savvy pushes rewritten model with $72-million raise, but taps Mark Casady's playbook for scaling -- something an RIA-centric 'platform' has never achieved at nearly an LPL Financial level
The New York City startup is promising the moon with AI, but Cerulli questions its scalability, and the former LPL CEO knows the scale game.
July 3, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Vestwell gains access to win 390,000 Amazon delivery driver 401(k) plans, hones 'gig' edge, though Fidelity still recordkeeps 1.5 million Amazon W-2s
The 2016 startup for 'small' 401(k) plans landed Amazon's DSP against 401(k) heavy hitters; part of its genius was getting JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Ascensus to lend their presence.
July 3, 2025 at 1:52 AM
The anticipated Robinhood to TradePMR 'bridge' is being erected that makes RIAs -- and their faces -- part of the mobile app
The vision out of Menlo Park is to have its 25 million investors shop RIAs if they need to go beyond self service trading -- making RIAs the only real 'wealth' option.
July 2, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Gordon Ross joins DeVoe & Co. as president six months after abrupt departure of Tony Parkin, who surfaces at Parallel Advisors
CEO David DeVoe praises both execs, while Parallel also adds Gary Bonner as head of business analytics and technology.
