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RIABiz

Articles published 12/2013


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Kelley Snook: We got tired of saying no.

LPL's newest two recruits and their $4.3 billion of AUA show why RIAs can no longer call the 403(b) market sleepy

The flourishing market is a giant growth engine for a Troy, Mich.-based RIA that has its sights set on national growth

December 31, 2013 at 4:08 PM

Brooke Southall: There are only so many flavors of trust, integrity and character.

The 10 biggest threats to the RIA business heading into 2014

The fiduciary planning model is taking shots from every angle but the jugular looks inaccessible

December 27, 2013 at 11:02 PM

Simba talked the veterinarian out of it.

Christmas comes early in Maine and a veterinarian reminds our family of the highest professional conduct

Simba was set for her 'appointment' but it was too soon for our hearts and the dog doctor's, too

December 27, 2013 at 4:32 AM

Charles 'Chuck' Schwab seems to be betting that Merrill Lynch won't try 'accountability' in its line-blurring ads

How Schwab is calling out wirehouses with its 'accountability' blitz and what collateral effects could hit RIAs

Chuck's new money-back guarantee sends a 'shot across the bow' to wirehouses but Schwab RIAs won't be untouched

December 26, 2013 at 5:17 PM

Jylanne Dunne: What's most surprising about the study is how concerned the husbands are that the wives aren't prepared.

Fidelity's new research unlocks women by fixating on -- men -- but elicits an 'ahem' from a big RIA client

As part of its gender efforts, the Boston giant has crafted a quiz -- one that strikes United Capital's Joe Duran as suspiciously familiar

December 23, 2013 at 5:48 AM

Ric Edelman:  Either they will die, or more likely, they will alter their business model.

Ric Edelman tells how he succeeds in advice's Death Valley -- online investing

For one thing the RIA maestro with $18 billion of advised asset charges full boat and people are an option

December 20, 2013 at 7:57 AM

Yale professor Ian Ayres was this year’s wild card, causing near panic among RIAs with his ominous mass mailing to 401(k) plan providers warning them to cut back on fees — or else.

10 most-read RIABiz stories of 2013 and why you couldn't resist them

This year's potpourri includes young Horatio Algers, aged Cassandras, irate investors and a professor with the 401(k) industry in his sights

December 18, 2013 at 9:12 PM

Matt Enyedi: Anytime we do something at LPL, it's under the lens of how can we do this for RIAs. Five years ago, if we'd rolled this out, it would have been only for LPL corporate firms.

LPL Financial gets beyond the halfway-house model to compete with Schwab, Fidelity for advisors that are wholly RIAs

The big broker-dealer is making moves that do not discriminate against, may in fact favor, pure RIAs, but hybrid habits die hard, skeptics say

December 17, 2013 at 9:55 PM

Ron Rhoades: There was a time when the SEC was respected. No more.

How the SEC has pulled a vanishing act, looking the other way while brokers with flimsy pretenses hold themselves out as trusted advisors

The federal keeper of the standards has stopped battling brokers from calling themselves 'wealth managers', advertising 'trust' or looking the other way on principal trades

December 17, 2013 at 8:05 PM

I learned most when I spoke directly to the politicians, in this case, Chris Dodd.

How Barney Frank and Chris Dodd surprised me after I got them aside for one-on-one chats

The namesakes for Dodd-Frank invest personally through Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch and seem to be oblivious about why that may not be in their best interests -- though I tried to explain it to Barney Frank

December 17, 2013 at 7:27 PM

The MarketCounsel Summit convened many kings of the jungle.

The 2013 MarketCounsel Summit is heavy on future shock

A Cassandra-like Steve Lockshin lead the gloomsters, Team Tech protested that the future is bright and Frank & Dodd laid an egg

December 16, 2013 at 7:44 AM

Ron Carson: It's beautiful.

Ron Carson chooses Orion-Salesforce software for his $5-billion RIA as he lines up an additional $3 billion

Besides Carson Wealth Management Group using it, his roll-up/TAMP, Carson Institutional Alliance, will also become an Orion/Salesforce shop

December 13, 2013 at 3:35 AM

Mike Alfred: If we tell people they can't engage until they pay, then we're losing 90% of the people from the start.

Brightscope lets advisors get basic entry to its Advisor Pages for free, talks Morningstar deal and pencils in an IPO for about 2017

After two years, less than 1,000 advisors paid for the website and BrightScope hopes free is a better price-point for some

December 12, 2013 at 7:20 AM

Bill Johnston: Our plans are to work with Pershing to bring private banking solutions to the RIA community in a structured, tailored, thoughtful manner.

BNY Mellon is arming Pershing's RIA unit to the teeth with banking products for ultra high net worth clients

Clients of Pershing RIAs can get jumbo mortgage loans -- a good lure for breakaways used to cross-selling like mad at wirehouses

December 11, 2013 at 6:42 PM

Stuart DePina: It's not as streamlined when you're using two systems.

Envestnet increasingly cuts Schwab out of its RIA software mix and 39 RIAs are leading the way

As new owner of Tamarac, the Chicago outsourcer has its own portfolio accounting, not Schwab PortfolioCenter, as the guts of its mini-ecosystem for the first time

December 11, 2013 at 6:41 PM

Brian Hamburger extols SEC for quick, tech-aided busting of insider trading cases and says it need to bring technology to policing advisors.

MarketCounsel kicks off with Brian Hamburger grilling his execs on stage (LIVE from the Four Seasons in Las Vegas)

A few alarms are sounded about a tougher, maybe SEC, rumbling about the end of the Broker Protocol,

December 11, 2013 at 6:39 PM

Paul Jarvis: The bank didn't want the work or the cost.

The unlikely marriage of United Capital and a mission-driven 31 year-old in boom-town Fargo

The North Dakota oil rush and a giant Microsoft presence figure in but mostly it's the passion of a young man with a plan

December 10, 2013 at 6:07 PM

Michael Askker: Of course, we're going to defend it.

Private-equity firm buys the Loeper-Wealthcare financial planning patent and big-time business execs are running with the ball

Here comes a CEO with an IPO under his belt, a Smith Barney legend and the E*TRADE baby-commercial guy

December 9, 2013 at 7:53 PM

An ironic location for an RIA business-Chris Dodd meeting but babies are born at night.

Five RIA happenings: MarketCounsel shapes up; Zohar emerges, a new RIA-focused recruiting firm pops up and two more

Zohar reappears; Dan Skiles cements his status in San Diego and TD's selects Mitt Romney as its keynote next month

December 9, 2013 at 7:42 PM

Marty Bicknell: They're young and growth-oriented. They're not selling to sell.

How a Kansas wealth manager ate New York -- or at least one of its big advisory firms -- owned by an Arthur Andersen orphan

In latest RIA taunt to Wall Street, Marty Bicknell ends an 11-month deal moratorium by placing his Mariner flag in the Big Apple

December 5, 2013 at 8:18 PM

Jim Lowell: The big news here is that Fidelity and Vanguard still can't seem to figure out a way to play nice in our multi-trillion dollar sandbox.

Fidelity Investments soon to jack up commissions on DFA and Vanguard Group mutual fund trades

At the same time, the Boston giant slashes commissions on 99% of the other mutual funds and, analysts say, may have declared war on Vanguard and Schwab in one move

December 5, 2013 at 8:18 PM

Kathie Andrade says that what TIAA-CREF was missing was a way to advise individuals nearing retirement.

In red-hot 403(b) market, TIAA-CREF hires hundreds of advisors after RIAs, and Fidelity, pose new threats

RIAs angling for a bigger piece of 403(b) arena cause the giant firm to play defense in hopes of intercepting more rollover dollars of soon-to-be-retirees

December 3, 2013 at 11:41 PM

Joe Piazza: I won't allow any other firm to own us. We don't need anybody's money.

As Joe Piazza's 'Robertson Stephens' venture gears up for '$40 billion,' he adds Mercer, Addepar, Fidelity and Schwab and subtracts Fortigent

The ex-Goldman Sachs executive draws blood with poaching of rival Presidio Group's Mike Tierney, but his quest for a quick $1-billion of AUM will soon be tested

December 3, 2013 at 7:46 PM

Ed Friedman started at Morgan Stanley in 1985 as an advisor and made his name in a blizzard in Watertown, N.Y.

Dynasty Financial Partners drops its passive-referral strategy and hires a ex-HighTower talent to engineer proactivity

Ed Friedman, once at Elliot Weissbluth's left hand, becomes right-hand man of Shirl Penney after two years of cooling his heels after departure from HighTower

December 3, 2013 at 7:03 PM

Laurie Kamhi: Being a partner and having a say in future development is important to me.

HighTower shifts into high gear with a three-team, $1.2 billion AUM in-three-weeks spree

An alpha predator in 2010, 2011, the Chicago-based rollup, now with with 260 employees, roars again, twice at Merrill Lynch and once at UBS

December 2, 2013 at 6:19 PM

Abby Salameh: I told him kindly that I had found another vendor -- more because he annoyed me so much with his persistence.

The fine line between selling and stalking and where RIAs should walk

All selling is 'overselling' in the sense that the average sales takes five contacts -- and advisors are known to stop at one or two

December 2, 2013 at 5:38 PM

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