People Moves Related to "How one 'robo-advisor' got $25 billion on its platform with a Mint.com mindset, 401(k) friendliness, a merger and 16 years of work"
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Betterment whistleblowers net $2.5 million • Wealthfront's big pivot leads to profits • Altruist launches tax service • CMOs in at Ascensus, Wealthspire & Joe Duran's Rise • Savvy bags four advisors as Mariner sues it for poaching • Jim Dickson launches RIA stake buyer
Betterment is also bending to RIA needs • Wealthfront is in the black, thanks to cash • Altruist reveals where it makes its money • Rise, Wealthspire and Ascensus each add two executives • Compound hits $2 billion of AUM • CAIS slashes alts prices • BlackRock ups private debt sales to RIAs, through GeoWealth.
June 29, 2024 at 3:00 AM
Altruist is CTO-less, for now, quasi-intentionally, it says • Ex-rival exec hired to jumpstart cross-selling Orion products to enterprise clients • BlackRock tops Grayscale • Facet outsources estate plans • Advyzon profits off Goldman exodus • Dan Wiener's RIA has new CEO • CFP count tops 100k
Shiralker out at Altruist • Orion gives Trevor Noble his cause • Bitcoin has a new fund king • Software maker benefits from Goldman custody exec. churn • Carson Group denies lawsuit • Merge of Wiener's old shop complete • 100,000th CFP named.
June 7, 2024 at 1:44 AM
Edelman Financial Engines new CEO will face challenges after AUM plummets $50 billion (since start of 2022) and DOL throws wrench in its business model, complicating efforts to convert robo-advised 401(k) assets to an 'Edelman' RIA
CEO Jay Shah must chart a new course after the 2018 merger of the radio superstar RIA and the 401(k) robo-advisor fails to yield invisioned growth.
July 11, 2023 at 2:46 AM
Wealthfront cedes to four years of investors clamoring for crypto by taking on expensive third-party vendor that Betterment rules out
The Redwood City, Calif., robo-advisor turned a hard 'no' into a soft 'yes' by dealing with Grayscale and its 200 basis-point-plus fees, which its robo rival in NYC -- also without a crypto path -- finds ludicrous.
August 14, 2021 at 2:20 AM
Second Betterment exec departs as new CEO Sarah Levy orients to her first month on the job and is confronted by personnel matters
Chief operating officer Dustin Lucien is the latest to leave the New York City robo-advisor, one of at least eight positions open as it prepares a push across multiple business lines to ignite growth.
January 19, 2021 at 6:32 PM
Wealthfront's unlikely tapping of Sheila Bair and Tom Curry signals likely push to gain a bank charter, analysts say
The Redwood City robo-advisor's addition of two renowned former chief banking regulators brings legitimacy and guidance that could lead to a margin-fattening bank charter and help solve the robo-advisor's problem of high client acquisition costs.
December 31, 2020 at 4:37 AM
Jon Stein ousts himself as Betterment CEO and taps Sarah Levy, who joins an exclusive club of top women executives, with a mission -- an IPO
The co-founder of the New York robo-advisor headhunted the ex-Viacom brass through Harvard professors on the down low to ostensibly scale operations.
December 8, 2020 at 5:27 PM
With fears rising that robo-advisors can disrupt $2-trillion target date fund universe, NextCapital raises fresh $30 million and wins five big customers, but can its software spur widespread TDF adoption?
TDFs are cash cows and asset magnets but also dumb robots in an era of smarter ones and the Chicago-based outsourcer is promising answers -- most recently to Franklin Templeton
September 22, 2020 at 8:59 PM
Oisín's Bits: Wealthfront drops old mission statement, declares war on institutions and emphasizes banking future • Seeking Utah charter, Edward Jones may become largest bank in US by branch count • After Advent chief leaves, Black Diamond head steps up
Andy Rachleff cans the old 'democratizing' mission statement at his robo; The 14,200 one-man Ed Jones branches may become branch banks; Steve Leivent consolidates power at SS&C.
July 3, 2020 at 1:12 AM
With IPO clock at 10-years and ticking, Personal Capital makes two big, out-of-character moves to go upmarket and downmarket
With $9 billion in assets, the Redwood City-based national RIA hired the ex-Virgin America CMO Porter Gale to make one brand investors associates with both the freebie tools and the full-priced financial advice its advisors provide mostly from call centers
