Articles written by Lisa Shidler
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Walt Bettinger discloses expiration of unknown 'pact' to explain to Schwab investors why Bernie Clark, Peter Crawford and Joe Martinetto all chose to exit at once
The 'sort of informal' deal was struck in 2019, but never revealed to shareholders during the merger transition, until the departures were announced -- in one press release -- this month.
May 25, 2024 at 2:45 AM
A San Diego RIA paid SmartAsset $10 million for leads that washed out 96.5% of the time, but still yielded $1 billion of net new assets in just about two years
Slogging through 1,000's leads is one way to 'crack the code,' says an analyst, but closing a lead requires painstaking follow up.
May 21, 2024 at 2:34 AM
Bernie Clark, renowned in RIA circles, is the highest-profile executive to leave in a Schwab shake out of veteran talent, but only after his 'unmatched' feat -- adding nearly 9,000 RIAs and $4 trillion in assets to Schwab custody
The 14-year head of Schwab RIA custody kept both CEO Walter Bettinger and heads of 15,000 RIAs happy in an incredible juggling act of corporate and entrepreneurial goals
May 17, 2024 at 2:53 AM
Fidelity, Voya and BoA smooth BlackRock's launch of guaranteed-paycheck ETFs but 401(k) plan participants may yet balk at high, unseeable fees and intangibility of benefits
Big recordkeepers greenlit Wall Street asset manager's novel 'Paychecks' product, with BlackRock expressing ambitions to also expand the product to non-retirement accounts
May 11, 2024 at 3:31 AM
Burt White is busy re-staffing Carson Wealth with trusted non-Carson executives but the new CEO is caught in classic Catch-22 as villain and white knight in alleged sex assault suit
The case raises questions about the perils of how RIAs deal with sexually charged allegations in the financial services workplace.
April 26, 2024 at 2:50 AM
The RIA services of Vanguard, Schwab and Fidelity -- for two big reasons -- are cutting into RIA (and wirehouse) market share, Cerulli says
The Big Three, with $30 trillion of AUA, are cross-selling like crazy and have figured out a call center business model that the mass affluent finds appealing.
April 23, 2024 at 2:29 AM
A buoyant Schwab CEO Walter Bettinger declares 'darkest' days past for Schwab as in-house RIA asset quarterly inflows surge 60%, but analyst's 'free-cash' question raises his ire
The Charles Schwab Corp. results boomed and shares spiked as legacy TD Ameritrade branch brokers deliver on driving brokerage assets into fee-based Schwab RIA products; net new assets supassed $100 billion
April 16, 2024 at 1:38 AM
Low profile RIAs keep draining market share from non-RIA national brands -- Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, UBS -- but big names still have a marketing edge, new Cerulli report says
The largest Cerulli study sub-group, 39% of individuals, want 'large national' brands -- even with RIAs set to gain four percentage points of market share on wirehouses by 2027
April 11, 2024 at 4:27 AM
Altruist ups its game with new 5.1%, FDIC-backed cash accounts to lure RIAs, but the digital custodian is still a couple clicks shy of cash management disruption
Near to break even, the young LA custodian will sacrifice some revenue to compete and 'stand out,' but sweep accounts will remain cash cows.
March 28, 2024 at 2:00 AM
Fraudulent-'wire' claims bedevil RIAs and their E&O insurers in 2023 -- and investors also asked for RIAs to compensate them for reliance on bonds as 'safe' asset
Some insurers saw a spike in 2022 claims although exerience varied, and impact was mitigated by shared risk.
March 14, 2024 at 3:38 AM
Alan Moore can't catch a break; AdvicePay CEO exits after seven months, adding job he hoped to escape back on top of XYPN role; search on for new AdvicePay president
The job will be step below CEO, and new hire must have affinity for both touchy-feely culture and aggressive growth in Montana's wide open expanses
March 9, 2024 at 2:58 AM
Kartik Srinivasan bounces back from highly publicized Schwab layoff to work with a Morningstar 'mafia' of old colleagues at Advyzon to supercharge software offerings
The Morningstar mafia reintegrated one of its own into the brotherhood with new weapons, a Big Five mandate and every incentive to succeed.
March 6, 2024 at 11:53 PM
Orion surprises RIAs with 8.9% price jump, effective April 1 (no joke!); blames 'extreme inflation' -- a possible boon for upstart competitors
Orion President Brian McLaughlin used snail mail to break the news and explain necessity; Omaha, Neb., firm is sharing in the pain of data price increases.
March 2, 2024 at 12:28 AM
Plague of failed hires at strapped RIA firms 'come back to bite them,' making the process of closing bandwidth deficits falter, two new studies show
Turnover rates hover near 50%, Cerulli and Ensemble report, and may be worsening as hires in market of talent scarcity has inevitable backlash.
February 28, 2024 at 3:36 AM
Adam Bold fires back at Hollywood talent agency partners with blistering allegations that mirror claims against him in raucous legal battle
The Mutual Fund Store founder says his partners engaged in 'betrayal, manipulation, and greed,' causing his talent agency to implode.
