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RIABiz

Articles written by Irwin Stein


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Mark Matson: Our values and Schwab's values are different.

Mark Matson's $7.6-billion DFA TAMP exits Schwab custody as it sets $100-billion AUM goal

With 'reset' mindset, Matson Money trains his advisors to meet with investors en masse following a Weight Watchers script

May 10, 2017 at 9:08 PM

Irwin Stein: Unless the advisor is in a coma, it is always an uphill battle for a client to question an advisor’s judgment.

A veteran securities lawyer takes contrarian stance that the DOL is still 'suitability' reworded, when boiling its 1,000-page 'rule' down to 16-page 'guide'

In prolix prose, the Labor Department's 'exemptions' sound like fiduciary exceptions; as poems, they sound like suitability-level loopholes

January 18, 2017 at 6:23 PM

Chris Paulitz warned of “untold liability exposure and class action lawsuits"

Critic calls 'laughable' FSI study that shows only 14% of advisors want DOL rule to stay

The lobby group that sued to stop the DOL rule surveyed 1,300 member stockbrokers -- of whom 71% voted for Donald Trump

December 1, 2016 at 8:43 PM

Brett Thorne: It is always up to the individual advisor working with the client to assess the client’s goals and to help the client get the right investments.

RBC Wealth Management adds NextCapital to its robo lineup with a head-scratching explanation about its earlier pick of FutureAdvisor

It appears Rob Foregger's robo-come-lately has leapfrogged its bigger, better-funded automated portfolio offering -- although the 'why' of it is open to interpretation

November 21, 2016 at 6:51 PM

Wayne Bloom: If the facts and circumstances change we will modify our stance accordingly.

Commonwealth Financial will reverse course on commissions if DOL gets reversed

The Waltham, Mass. IBD's stance jibes with Wayne Bloom's earlier message of regulatory risk and reward as Merrill Lynch stays mum

November 18, 2016 at 6:02 PM

The report provides answers that add some clarity but surely will displease most people in the industry.

One security lawyer's unvarnished take on DOL's 34 answers to 34 questions and what unsettles him about them

The 24-pages of government-speak only make a dent in comprehending the 1,000-page rule -- and the DOL says there's more guidance on the way

November 8, 2016 at 6:46 PM

Jasen Yang: BlackRock knows that if they can get regulators to put up more requirements ... then the barrier to entry into the robo business will go up.

BlackRock solicits more regulator scrutiny of robo-advisors, eliciting jeers and a cheer

The near $5-trillion asset manager makes its case for why the robo game is best left to the big boys as critics suggest FutureAdvisor's owner is proposing a solution in search of a problem

October 11, 2016 at 3:46 PM

Bill Sowell: The advisors were innocent bystanders.

Cornered by custodial edicts, CONCERT exits RIA business in deal with Arkansas-based white knight

Bill Sowell's first order of business is to keep the advisor crew on board, using as one sop the familiarity of CONCERT's proprietary CRM

September 28, 2016 at 9:18 PM

Felipe Luna is no longer CEO of CONCERT, according to a recently revised ADV.

Reality closes in on Felipe Luna as TD and Fidelity move to cut the cord, he goes off BrokerCheck and his $2 billion RIA gets shopped

Recent SEC woes are forcing the hands of owners of the 'wirehouse-lite' platform that allegedly raised capital in an improper fashion

September 20, 2016 at 4:42 PM

Mark Boyko: In the case of a long-term account like a pension plan, a money market fund will not withstand scrutiny.

In new wrinkle, ERISA complaint of Edward Jones employees centers on failure to offer yield-chasing money market alternative

The 401(k) lawsuit in the name of 38,000 participants resumes the parade of lawsuits against the giant broker-dealer based on revenue sharing arrangements

September 6, 2016 at 6:04 PM

Alan Wolper: The biggest challenge [for FINRA] is finding a way to strike a reasonable balance between being the tough cop on the beat it yearns to convey and an industry association that actually helps its members.

FINRA shifts an unwelcome spotlight away from itself -- by training it on the brokers it oversees

The embattled SRO is spending $3.5 million to advertise BrokerCheck and is requiring its front-and-center placement on firms' websites as public demand for heightened fiduciary care grows

August 17, 2016 at 8:05 PM

Felipe Luna is touting the signing of 14 independent advisors but notes their $1.7 billion in AUA won't show up as AUM.

CONCERT attracts $1.7 billion of 'AUA' after its AUM attracts the unwanted attention of the SEC

The SEC found that the 'wirehouse lite' company was light on truth about its AUM and made it pay

August 4, 2016 at 10:09 PM

James Dowd: There is no correlation between an investor's income and net worth and their investment sophistication.

How the SEC is poised to hand RIAs the keys to the $1.3 trillion private placement market -- largely at the expense of stockbrokers

Dodd-Frank kicked off a series of events that demanded a more rational way to define the sophistication of investors and who is best able to judge investments that don't have prospectuses

July 20, 2016 at 9:54 PM

Sheldon Geller: It is the plan sponsor, not Fidelity, who makes the fiduciary decision as to whether to offer the investment advice service to their employees.

Delta employees sue Fidelity for 'illegal kickbacks' from Financial Engines

The case may turn on whether Fidelity, by acting as recordkeeper and administrator, qualifies as a fiduciary and therefore breached its duty as it accepted Financial Engines' advice fees

July 6, 2016 at 6:58 PM

Scott Zipfel: Those who redeemed in the first half of the first quarter missed the rebound in the second half.

What's up with Mercer blaming 'political pressure,' bad press and even investor bad timing for hedge fund ills

The big NY talent consultant counters the national media's growing attention to the stumbles and pitfalls of these managers of $3 trillion of assets

May 18, 2016 at 9:21 PM

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