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Articles published 4/2018


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Ric Edelman: It's all additive.

Ric Edelman's RIA empire to merge with legacy The Mutual Fund Stores in $3-billion deal that takes Financial Engines private

Hellman & Friedman stake the eye-popping sum in cash to outright own an RIA with nearly $195 billion of AUM including robo-advised 401(k) assets

April 30, 2018 at 11:57 PM

David Musto: It's completely realistic to think there could be a dozen or more acquisitions in any twelve month period.

Vanguard's 401(k) recordkeeper, Ascensus, gets set to roll up a world of third party administrators to create a small plan superpower

With recent Great-West poach and David Musto running the show the Dresher, Pa.-based TPA adds 14 firms in 16 months and sets sights on dozens more, as roll-up strategy takes flight

April 27, 2018 at 5:46 PM

Craig Pearson: [Clients] said: If you come back, we're here.

A higher bidder ripped WealthTouch from Craig Pearson's grasp but his startup could rip the clients, free of charge, right back -- and leave Addepar gasping

After his noncompete expired, the founder and CEO of Private Wealth Systems is welcoming old UHNW managers whose language he speaks

April 25, 2018 at 6:27 PM

Andy Rachleff says his firm's price drop is an act of conscience reflecting the good example of Vanguard Group. Some find the explanation hard to stomach.

In robo-CEO vs. Twitter gadfly battle, it was no contest as Wealthfront's Andy Rachleff does 'ultimate flip-flop' without tweeting a reply

The $10-billion robo-advisor may weather 'PR nightmare' but not thanks to Rachleff's 'Vanguard' explanation, critics say

April 25, 2018 at 12:03 AM



David Pottruck: It’s time for new board leadership.
April 20, 2018 at 7:01 PM

Paul Gamble is selling what academics do as he did at Financial Engines -- and that worked out.

After losing Lee Kranefuss and raising $10M, 55ip gets RIAs to buy Ph.D. smarts, though a critic calls it gussied-up market timing

Guided by an ex-Financial Engines ringer, Paul Gamble, the New York startup is now portfolio modeler for $100 million

April 19, 2018 at 10:38 PM

Yvette Butler signaled from the start there was 'work to do.'

Capital One flunks 'RIA' bid with stunning rapidity but gets an A for 'failing fast'

The McClean, Va.-based credit card company bought advisory firms, put a head-hunted Wells Fargo big shot in charge, hit the $10-billion mark -- then got the hell out

April 18, 2018 at 8:56 PM


Elliot Weissbluth: I'm used to Seal Team Six. It's quite lovely getting to know people and walking through the front door.

HighTower Advisors lands $4.5-billion RIA with help from bigger, better checkbook

The Chicago RIA roll-up adds 45-employee Salient with T.H. Lee omnipresent in shepherding the UHNW deal

April 17, 2018 at 3:25 PM

Sara Grillo: Do it creatively or don’t do it at all.

Five fully pregnant email subject lines and how they make investors open your RIA newsletter

A standout attn: line is a must to get clicks and reads yet often gets treated as optional

April 16, 2018 at 7:10 PM

Hussain Zaidi: What they need is what Morgan Stanley and Ameriprise have … whole programs in place to help advisors drive financial planning and advice.

Advizr CEO reveals just how the lift-out of four Morgan Stanley breakaway engineers leapfrogs his plans ahead

Hussain Zaidi sees greenfields opportunities at small IBDs and Fortune 500 firms where planning software alone doesn't make the grade

April 13, 2018 at 7:48 PM

Bill Morrissey launched a 'disruption campaign' with a ferocity that startled some observers.

LPL Financial wages 'war' on Cetera, Securities America and Kestra after they pounced on NPH advisors in wake of sale

Unheard-of packages, tight targeting and unusual timing rock recruiters who marvel at the competitive behavior that has Bill Morrissey escalating an epic battle

April 12, 2018 at 6:39 PM


Eric Clarke: You learn more from the deals you don't win.

Orion buys $10-billion TAMP to take on Envestnet and AssetMark head-on for mega-accounts

Omaha, Neb.-based NorthStar division is buying FTJ Fundchoice to launch Orion Enterprise after painful losses in bidding for business with large RIAs and IBDs

April 11, 2018 at 2:03 PM

Jeff Maurer: We still have our mojo going.

Jeff Maurer poached his RIA from zero to $7.5 billion in nine years but now comes M&A

The ex-US Trust CEO has seen Evercore Wealth growth rates taper since a lightning start; now the hard work is done he sees deals on the horizon

April 10, 2018 at 5:34 PM

Kevin Kale
April 9, 2018 at 6:07 PM



Tom Bradley: I have the opportunity to share in the growth of Max and that's what I'm interested in.

What Tom Bradley's first post-TD Ameritrade gig says about him is interesting and his specific MaxMyInterest robo mission, more so

The non-competed New Jersey exec gets a piece of the action and much boils down to signing a wirehouse, an RIA custodian or an LPL

April 9, 2018 at 5:32 PM

Howard Present was a celebrity on Fox Business in June 2012 before things really began to unravel for him and F-Squared.

Judge shows Howard Present no mercy then verbally shreds him after the F-Squared founder 'fails to understand the wrongfulness of having misrepresented the strategy'

U.S. District Judge Sorokin wants the public record to show -- in no uncertain terms -- that ex-CEO is a high risk to commit further violations

April 5, 2018 at 11:22 PM



Devin Vigil: [If] you dangle some money in front of Abar in his 20s, it's a different story than dangling some now .… He wants redemption.

Matt Abar hopes three's a charm with FinFolio cloud launch and robo play

FinFolio finally goes 2.0 and gets $20-billion assets bump, but there's a lot of ground to make up

April 5, 2018 at 12:08 AM

David Poole: We’ve got clients who engage with us across Merrill Lynch and in Merrill Edge self-directed accounts. That’s one of our fastest growing segments where clients are using both.

Merrill Edge eases Bank of America's transition to a post-wirehouse world

The Charlotte super bank's plan to add 600 branches builds on success but recruiters say lingering tension between Merrill and Merrill Edge advisors is more of a factor than the bank admits

April 3, 2018 at 8:32 PM

Rupal Poltack is 'very familiar with what it feels like on the other side of the [family office] table,' says Andrew Fay.

Returning to Fidelity after eight-year hiatus, Rupal Poltack joins $134B Fido family office division to make it UHNW kid-friendly

The senior vice president will help newly promoted Andrew Fay make the unit more paperless, more digital and more a more-likely spot for rich earners and their millennial offspring to chat about money

April 3, 2018 at 5:43 PM

Bill Willis: The code of conduct at Morgan Stanley is embedded in compliance manual. I’m sure it could find a page, a paragraph, a sentence that would justify his termination.

Morgan Stanley mega-producer's fate in Oregon may become #MeToo movement litmus test on Wall Street after New York Times report

The charges against Douglas Greenberg of egregious and unlawful behavior aren't compliance- or even MS-employee related, making them 'gray area' infractions, says a source

April 2, 2018 at 6:30 PM

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