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Articles published 9/2014


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Eric Jacobsen: The fund's bronze Morningstar analyst rating reflects [our] high level of confidence in PIMCO's resources and overall abilities but also the uncertainty as to exactly how all thee parts will mesh in the wake of Gross's departure.
September 30, 2014 at 4:27 AM

Kyle Ryan:  Everyone looks at headlines and says they're small and everyone was small once.

The steps Personal Capital is taking to win bigger accounts after a year of 100% growth and 95% of them small fish

This call center advisor is handing out free iPads to its wealthiest clients along with bulk pricing and concierge services that include two human advisors per family

September 29, 2014 at 6:05 AM

RIAs got their first direct splash of Gross's eccentric behavior at Morningstar's Investors Conference in June.

The real Bill Gross story with big help from the Wall Street Journal's reporting (Hint: The signs were there)

The humbled Bond King goes to an equity shop with a shove from PIMCO, a DoubleLine query and diminished options, WSJ reports

September 26, 2014 at 8:47 PM

April Rudin: In one instance a client realized how important his LinkedIn profile could be after a journalist cherry-picked facts from it for an article about his firm after he'd offered a 'no comment.'

Dissecting the pathology of UHNW wealth managers who want brand building without marketing

Iconoclastic, clubby and referral-oriented ways still attract the ultra-rich -- but a sleek LinkedIn page might be what Gens X, Y, millennials and hip boomers demand

September 26, 2014 at 6:22 AM

Mike Golaszewski: Since most of the Internet is exposed to this bug, your information could potentially leak in unexpected ways.

How RIAs should digest warnings about 'Shell Shock' and its lethal threat to all things Linux

On a scale of one to 10 the just-disclosed computer 'exploit' is a 10 because Linux is what the cloud lives by

September 25, 2014 at 10:44 PM

Bill Dwyer: When I met Nick it reminded me of a similar presence ...(Todd Robinson). Lightning strikes twice.

What exactly enticed Bill Dwyer out of retirement to work on the other side

The former LPL leader takes a spot vacated by Larry Roth at RCS Capital that involves selling to advisors

September 25, 2014 at 1:57 AM

What FPA's chief sponsor MetLife pays isn't peanuts but Snoopy is.

An advertiser's-eye view of what the new-look FPA looked like in Seattle

The Denver-based association showed signs of diminished draw but mostly offset by a stunning presence of youth and start-up exhibitors

September 24, 2014 at 8:49 PM

Jeff Ramseyer: My joining Addepar signals the company's successful growth trajectory, not a shift in strategy.

Addepar hires in the direction of revenues -- and maybe even an IPO

The mature start-up adds an ex-Advent sales chief a year after hiring a CFO with a nose for initial public offerings

September 23, 2014 at 7:57 PM

Adam Nash [with Andy Rachleff]: Wealthfront automatically ensures that every withdrawal minimizes the taxes owed and keeps your portfolio balanced.

Wealthfront's advice is now an employee benefit for Google employees' non-401(k) savings

Employees at the search giant with less than $100,000 get their balances managed for free -- as do employees of the San Francisco 49ers and Palantir

September 23, 2014 at 2:56 AM

Stephen Brown writes: We advise several CEO's and CFO's of Fortune 500 companies, as well as some professional sports teams.

How Merrill Lynch's divorce of its own $2.5-billion team shows just how fed up the wirehouse is with RIA-bound breakaways

The sudden pick-up in these seemingly self-defeating dismissals by Wall Street firms suggest new vigilance against gradual breakaways

September 22, 2014 at 5:48 AM

Jack Waymire: Our cause for concern was the number of advisors who did not appear to have accessible compliance records.

Can advisors keep their dirty compliance laundry in the closet thanks to lack of NASAA, SEC and FINRA coordination?

Mostly not but Jack Waymire and Brian Hamburger flesh out the issue with the right questions and answers

September 19, 2014 at 5:39 PM

Cup holders, like robo-capability, matter whether or not they should.

How the new RIA competition is akin to the cup-holder dilemma for automakers

Many robo-innovations are superficial but are nonetheless looked for by investors as a sign of substance

September 18, 2014 at 6:18 PM

A congressman, an engineer, an airline pilot and a court reporter walk into a fiduciary conference...

TD Ameritrade pulls off amazing Summit in DC that reveals rot to the core of SEC, FINRA and ERISA system

A consumer panel sobered the crowd off the bat with war stories and then Ron Rhoades, Mercer Bullard, David Tittsworth, Sheryl Garrett, Tom Nally, Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis and others pulled no punches

September 18, 2014 at 5:54 PM

Joe Mrak: Envestnet tried to get more into our market and we're going to go right after them.

Philly buyer lays down a cool $199 million in cash to buy FolioDynamix, the better to put Envestnet firmly in its sights

The 'it' factor of the 2007 start-up was its revamped Sungard orphan software with LPL, Pershing and Cetera as anchors

September 17, 2014 at 5:20 PM

Greg Friedman: In just the first six weeks of general release, we have over 80 firms and 500 users.

At Junxure confab No. 2, Friedman kvells about his 6-week-old Cloud and announces closer ties with Pershing

Mark Tibergien was on hand to cement the Junxure-Pershing connection -- and to call baloney on Joe Duran's Cassandra-like forecast for RIAs

September 17, 2014 at 5:15 AM

J. Fielding Miller: We were talking a big game, and he wanted to see results.
September 16, 2014 at 2:48 AM

Being heedless of competitors is dangerous but crying wolf has its own perils.

Why Joe Duran is dead wrong on 2015 marking the end of the Golden Era of the RIA

The serial entrepeneur's column in InvestmentNews forgets that RIAs are also advancing and that the 'new competitors' carry baggage and have fatal shortcomings

September 15, 2014 at 3:27 AM

Ken Fisher has been trying to tell anyone who would listen.

The documented RIA threat, 'phono-advisors' and their nearly $300 billion of assets

Not much romantic about call center-based advisors but under banners like Vanguard, Fisher Investments or Merrill Edge, they are a force to be reckoned with

September 12, 2014 at 5:06 AM

Peter Hess: I am extremely optimistic that we can close that gap to greatness.

Peter Hess delivers Advent Direct specifics at AdventConnect as Dave Welling wows with Black Diamond's cloud advance

RIAs on a market high absorbed Advent Software's efforts to press skyward under rainy Las Vegas skies

September 11, 2014 at 3:40 PM

Ed Murphy: It hasn't led to a pause on the part of our prospects.

Bob Reynolds delegates the Great-West 401(k) business to old Fidelity mate after excruciating three-way choice

Edmund Murphy, kicked upstairs, is dispatched from Boston to Denver and will own the brand decision -- just for starters

September 10, 2014 at 7:23 PM

Tony Hallada: They'll be far beyond in two years where they are today.

Envestnet-Tamarac wins four more RIAs with an average of $5 billion of AUM by selling a vision

The Seattle-based firm signs on CliftonLarsonAllen Wealth Advisors, Beacon Pointe Advisors, Convergent and Freestone

September 10, 2014 at 1:41 PM

Bob Reynolds: We're going to run the businesses together as one company.

Bob Reynolds does 'a lot of testing' to avoid foisting his 'Great West' brand on JP Morgan and Putnam Investments clientele

The chief executive also sees upside opportunities in bringing all three divisions under one banner

September 9, 2014 at 5:33 PM

Abby Salameh: There is no good place for emoticons in a professional relationship.

5 ways for RIAs to avoid social media and 'holistic' wealth management overreaches in a share-happy e-world

Being Facebook 'friends' and dealing with a client's non-financial life decisions does not take the 'business' out of the business relationship equation

September 9, 2014 at 5:20 AM

David J. Dunn: We like fundamental investments that have inherent value.

How Bitcoin is penetrating RIA portfolios by looking riskier to ignore than embrace

Dangers remain but security, acceptability and upside all seem to have evolved just in the past few months, experts say

September 8, 2014 at 6:32 PM

Eric Cantor: The new model of independent banks offering conflict-free advice, in a smaller more intimate environment, was a place where I knew my skills could help clients succeed.

How the Eric Cantor hire is really all about Ken Moelis, an original Wall Street 'Wolf', and his $963-million non-classic RIA

A former Robin to Mike Milken's Batman at Drexel Burnham pays chump change by Wall Street standards to get the politician aboard

September 5, 2014 at 7:39 PM

Andrew Stoltmann: Schwab has always been the big-eyed doe sitting off on the sidelines.

After Morgan Stanley 'raided' Schwab branch in San Francisco, Schwab fought in FINRA 'court' and lost, but perhaps won on the larger level

The San Francisco-based $2.4-trillion broker still isn't swallowing the loss and sent a clear message that it will battle tirelessly

September 4, 2014 at 4:40 PM

Mike Golaszewski: With the right combination of hardware and software, most eight-character passwords can be brute-forced.

With your RIA practice as naked as Kirstin and Kate in the cloud, know two words: Google Authenticator

With advisors migrating their practices online, the vulnerability can't be overstated or easier to address

September 4, 2014 at 3:07 AM

Jerry Chafkin: The old [formula for managing investment risk] is less than fully baked.

AssetMark keeps to the ex-Schwab theme, tapping Jerry Chafkin as chief investment officer

After a prolonged search, Charles Goldman hires the former CEO of $240-billion AUM Natixis, president of Charles Schwab Investment Management and Yalie

September 3, 2014 at 12:52 PM

Sterling Shea: One day we may have an advisor from Edelman Financial on the list rather than Ric himself.

Getting inside Barron's Top-100-Advisor lists with some help from Sterling Shea

As the scrutinized lists expands and evolves, the Dow Jones newsweekly is striving to parse better from bigger -- all while keeping a promise to Rupert Murdoch

September 3, 2014 at 3:16 AM

Joe Duran: What we've done is incredibly rare.

Joe Duran explains United Capital's 100% revenue growth to $100 million since 2012 and the firm's complex plan to grow faster

In an overdue catch-all, catch-up the CEO of the $10-billion RIA tells of $4 billion of deals in the works and up to 15 de novo offices

September 2, 2014 at 3:05 AM

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