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Articles published 2/2013


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Leo Kelly: I broached the subject and said I'd really like for us to work together some day.

This RIA recruited the Morgan Stanley manager who almost recruited him ...

... right after he grabbed a Fortigent CIO-type and hotshot Merrill advisor

February 28, 2013 at 3:50 PM

Dennis Gibb: There is a snake in the garden.

What I learned from four failed attempts to find a successor for my $1.5-billion AUA RIA

Dennis Gibb finds that replacing himself after 40 years is no easy task -- and he may not try again

February 27, 2013 at 5:04 AM

Frank Zecca: We do so much for our athletes. We don't have a lot of time to figure out how to run our business.

How exactly a sports super agency plans to use Dynasty Financial to extend its dominance to the RIA business

Octagon has 800 employees, Michael Phelps and the like as clients but it wealth management arm is not so major league, yet

February 26, 2013 at 4:43 PM

Michael Goodman: If you are looking for a boondoggle, this isn’t it.

The AICPA gets down with advisors in Vegas -- well, as much as accountants can

Michael Kitces, Roger Gibson, Harold Evensky and David Kelly were among the attendees of the rapidly growing conference -- and key tax changes got a close look

February 26, 2013 at 4:41 PM

Mike Paulus: If we took all the business we could this quarter, we would fail as a company.

Addepar slashes prices, opens up its architecture and shows RIA custodians some love as it confronts market realities

Though these moves show the dynamo is not impervious to competition, Mike Paulus says that the growth is still nosebleed-threatening

February 25, 2013 at 4:52 AM

Lyman Howard: We have been floored by RIAs' willingness to share not only advice, but sometimes even business opportunities.

How and why I'm starting an RIA from scratch and what I'm spending to make it happen

A former institutional bond broker and Navy lieutenant is now eight months into the RIA game. Here's what the view from the starting line looks like in 2013

February 22, 2013 at 4:28 PM

Kevin Chisholm: I don't think you can have the conversation about cost without talking about asset allocation and, ultimately, performance.

Schwab garners $4 billion in index-only 401(k) assets fast out of the gate

Critics applaud the San Francisco broker's early success but wonder whether such a cost-focused approach is really enough

February 22, 2013 at 5:58 AM

Scott Hanson: We think this is the biggest thing we’ve done.

New RIA with familiar faces gets running start at putting advisors into the 401(k) driver's seat

Two financial entrepreneurs have 50 firms on board; the idea is for Pathway Strategic Advisors to take the fiduciary burden off of advisors who handle 401(k) assets for clients

February 21, 2013 at 5:42 PM

David Miller: They said, If you leave we'll come with you.

Portfolio Pathway and $3-billion RIA-TAMP deepen an alliance that has Pershing at its core

The Illinois-based performance software maker got going from its founder Pershing's roots -- and now an embrace of Folio Dynamix by the clearing company is opening a new chapter

February 21, 2013 at 6:00 AM

Mindy Diamond: You can imagine the size of transition packages that he was offered and turned down.

HighTower grabs sought-after $650 million Merrill Lynch 'life sciences' team and shrugs off recent deal slowdown

In the old money town of Philadelphia, the strategic buyer is 'planting a flag' and going after new wealth created in the biotech realm

February 20, 2013 at 5:58 PM

 Jack Waymire: How are you supposed to recall the details of a conversation that took place three years ago?

9 ways RIAs can get a leg up by using a pillar of pension plans -- a written contract

Words and a handshake are well and good, but and IPS is forever, and your client will thank you for it

February 20, 2013 at 5:56 PM

Ted Bloomberg: $7.4 billion is not the finish line.

The Mutual Fund Store makes big moves: storming Manhattan, going big on Tamarac and quadrupling its disc jockey force

With John Bunch in charge and Warburg Pincus capital in the tank, the $7.4 billion RIA is making an honest effort at creating a national mass-affluent firm

February 19, 2013 at 5:13 PM

Joe Duran says about making millions: I felt no real comfort about my family's financial situation.

Joe Duran hits The New York Times best-seller list with 'The Money Code' and is feeding his big RIA with the leads

The gist of the story: He was rich as hell at 34 years old after selling a company to GE and he realized it didn't solve much

February 18, 2013 at 9:50 PM

Jason Lahita: This was scarier than anything I'd ever experienced, and made the 'difficulty' of the decision seem laughable.

How my experiences with RIA pioneers, and the love of my mother, inspired me to a different breakaway story

Jason Lahita had mentoring from Joe Duran, Ron Carson and Mindy Diamond but his mother's early onset dementia gave him the final nudge to take a risk

February 18, 2013 at 8:36 PM

Aaron Klein: I'm hoping that our entire industry will rise up and throw the idea of selling IPOs and derivatives to grandmothers under the bus.

Riskalyze debuts website featuring 'worst' wirehouse portfolios to shock and attract clients

Horror stories abound -- like the 82-year-old widow who has 15% of her holdings in Apple stock and 9% in Facebook

February 15, 2013 at 6:14 AM

Tim Welsh: If you're not there people say, Why isn't so and so there? It's the missing persons effect.

Postscript: What exactly should we make of the T3 phenomenon?

True, software vendors themselves may be more enthused than advisors, but the conflagration of information-sharing ventures on RIAs' behalf is no footnote

February 15, 2013 at 6:02 AM

Fidelity brought to T3 a smart TV using Aviya technology that provides avatars for an online, remote meeting.

T3 goes big in Miami but Fidelity steals the show with avatar advisors and smart coffee tables

Joel Bruckenstein's hype about his event's must-see status ain't hype as virtually every RIA technology vendor -- from behemoth to garage dweller -- put on a show for advisors

February 14, 2013 at 3:43 PM

Sheldon Geller: Fee-only advisors have, by their choice of compensation, eliminated most, if not all, conflicts inherent in the marketplace.

How RIAs can rule the 401(k) realm by becoming advocates for plan sponsors -- and start by eliminating eight marketplace conflicts

Brokers can still claim an edge with their knowledge of DC administrative matters but that's a bowling pin ready for the toppling

February 14, 2013 at 5:36 AM

Mike Durbin: We can't take somebody by the scruff of the neck but we can be much more methodical.

Viewing RIAs in a new light, Fidelity Institutional shifts from a top-down to a bottom-up emphasis to serve them

A couple of counterintuitive findings in a big study are part of Mike Durbin's more methodical approach to practice management

February 13, 2013 at 5:34 PM

Esther Stearns: We are not really recruiting advisors in the sense LPL does. We're training them to become good advisors.

NestWise is starting to take shape and take flight under LPL's wing -- and from under Schwab's shadow

The San Fran-based venture, headed by a former Schwabie, is pioneering technology, mass-affluent retainers and choice of labor pool, for starters

February 13, 2013 at 5:44 AM

Lyman Howard: We feel we could have gotten away with cobbling together some freeware ... That option, however, would have left us with zero customer service.

How I picked technology -- from Black Diamond-in-SSG to Dudamobile -- to use in my startup RIA

We're free of legacy systems and just in time for mobile computing, cloud storage, and social media's adoption by the masses

February 12, 2013 at 5:23 PM

Brian Shenson: We're ... letting everyone read our own review of ourselves.

Schwab bluntly reviews PortfolioCenter to coax thin-skinned software vendors to its Zagat-like forum

Our take on Schwab's self-review: It's disarmingly fair but short on specifics -- and just plain short

February 12, 2013 at 6:50 AM

John Prendergast: [Current data aggregation is] like buying copper pipe when you want a finished bathroom. Blueleaf is the finished bathroom

How Blueleaf sees itself taming the RIA's two betes noire -- and how it is being challenged on that

The new-ish Cambridge-based company has big deals with Redtail and MoneyGuidePro and hopes, amid skepticism aplenty, to literally change wealth management

February 11, 2013 at 3:31 PM

Michael Kress: It could have been a tragedy

ThinkEquity bankruptcy rattles loose an RIA, born ThinkTactical, of proven talent and a padlocked door

The recruitment of Michael Kress and Tony Cantando gives Jeff Spears' venture a new pasture to graze

February 11, 2013 at 4:04 AM

Paul Weisbruch questions whether Schwab is providing the same apparent ETF value once trading spreads are figured in.

Schwab makes play for ETF-distribution domination but not without risks

Low margins, a small list of ETFs, plenty of competition and possible trade-spread issues make this OneSource bid no slam-dunk

February 8, 2013 at 5:03 PM

Brian Hamburger: Don't think for a moment this is it. FINRA is playing coy.

FINRA's regulatory white flag may be a pause before it plays white knight to SEC's cash-starved damsel

Brian Hamburger, David Tittsworth and Pat Burns see no gain in breathing easy with so many endgame possibilities still in play

February 8, 2013 at 5:26 AM

John Hancock is a Boston company that scored in San Diego by recruiting a local legend, Tony Gwynn.

An advertiser's-eye view of TD Ameritrade's cram-packed RIA conference

Throwing a really expensive winter marketing party in San Diego for 3,000 -- or paying your way there -- is a good value

February 7, 2013 at 7:37 PM

John Burns: We have to grow.

With new deal, Exencial edges near to $1 billion and starts to look like an RIA acquisition alpha dog

After a big 2011 merger, the Oklahoma-based firm is back in deal mode targeting the Southwest

February 7, 2013 at 6:24 AM

Rob Isbitts: There is no reason to continue like this.

The 5 biggest errors of intellectual omission by RIAs -- in fact, most advisors

There's a staleness of practice thinking behind a box-checking facade that is none too impressive itself

February 7, 2013 at 5:09 AM

Dan Arnold: I'll reinforce there are no customer-facing roles [that will be cut].

LPL's RIA assets skyrocketed in 2012

Outsourcing is are still on the agenda though the CFO categorically denies advisor-facing jobs will be lost

February 6, 2013 at 6:47 PM

W. Patrick Clarke and his son Scott were killed when their Cessna 410C went down on Nov. 10.

A terrible loss in the RIA business of the original breakaway broker

A plane crash takes Patrick Clarke, the founding owner of Orion, Gemini and CLS, who leaves behind a family and friends in grief and three booming companies

February 6, 2013 at 5:13 PM

Gordon J. Bernhardt with keynote speaker Condi Rice

Three RIA citizen journalists file dispatches from the TD Ameritrade conference

Our duly deputized scribes -- two RIA presidents and a social media consultant -- fanned out in San Diego last week and reported back from very different perspectives

February 6, 2013 at 7:25 AM

Rick Meigs: It seems like a big pot of assets to be walking away from.

Merrill Lynch pulls advisors from a $2.9-billion business -- and leaves the light on for RIAs

The Bank of America subsidiary sees too much peril in the public-pension business and RIAs like John Beirne smell opportunity

February 5, 2013 at 4:15 PM

Stephen Cucchiaro: Think of all the bad things that could happen in the future.

As Windhaven assets head moonward, Stephen Cucchiaro keeps right on warning of falling skies in New York

At IMCA event, the Schwab investments superstar is selling catastrophe-proofing at Dow 14,000 as well as he was at Dow 7,000

February 5, 2013 at 4:14 PM

Rick Rodgers: The average taxpayer will spend an estimated 23 hours completing their return this year.

7 mistakes you can help your clients avoid on their 2012 tax return

RIAs aren't accountants but they should be sure clients don't blow the no-brainers

February 5, 2013 at 4:13 PM

Flash mob dance crew 'The Poreotics' take center stage at the 17th annual industry conference.

TD celebrates its $200 billion tipping point with an exuberant, VIP-rich conference in San Diego

Malcolm Gladwell, Pat Benatar and Condi Rice were on hand as TD served notice it's going after the $28 trillion millennials will soon bring to the table

February 4, 2013 at 5:49 PM

Tom Bradley and Tom Nally are still very much at ease sharing a stage.

Tim Welsh grills Tom Nally and Tom Bradley at TD's annual conference

The two Q&As reveal where the president of TD's RIA business is looking for the firm's next $100 billion and that Tom Bradley isn't saying never to rejoining RIAs

February 4, 2013 at 4:35 AM

Karl Thunemann: Schwab has an opportunity to put its values into action by radically changing its separation policies.

Why I moved my account from Schwab's RIA and what Chuck could do to improve Schwab Private Client

After the double defection of the assigned branch and portfolio manager, a loyal but disillusioned customer sends an emphatic message to the front office

February 1, 2013 at 6:36 AM

Richard Yoken:  I’ve always decided to fly under the radar and now we don’t mind being picked up over the radar.

A $1 billion RIA in the NY burbs got there without marketing now Focus Financial is assigned the makeover

Portfolio Strategy Group sells to the New York-based RIA umbrella and a website is the first order of business

February 1, 2013 at 6:32 AM

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