RIABiz

News, Vision & Voice for the Advisory Community

RIABiz

Articles published 1/2014


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Tom Nally: We want to simplify this for them so they can actually get engaged in retirement and leverage the TD Ameritrade brand name.

TD Ameritrade launches a 'Goldilocks' 401(k) approach aimed at competing with big wolves -- like Fidelity and Schwab

The turnkey RIA service seeks the middle ground between set-and-forget target date funds and the crazy complexity of building a 401(k) practice

January 31, 2014 at 5:42 PM

Mitt Romney: You are business owners and I love you.

The odd case of Mitt Romney's TD Ameritrade conference keynote and how it turned out for all concerned

The RIA custodian took a risk aligning its brand with the presidential loser but both, arguably, came out as winners

January 31, 2014 at 4:29 AM

Andy Rachleff, right, with Adam Nash: We ultimately agreed to a one-year transition where he would concentrate on building out the team and product and I would focus on external issues.

Andy Rachleff is out as CEO of Wealthfront as former LinkedIn star takes his place

The founder of the Silicon Valley online RIA steps aside to make way for Adam Nash

January 30, 2014 at 3:20 PM

A CPA suggested Winterberg 'e-mail me your last few years of tax returns,' which was a deal killer.

What story Bill Winterberg told 500 TD Ameritrade confab attendees that says it all about the new RIA technology and marketing realities

Google failed the Atlanta transplant, Yelp misled him and then YouTube hit the spot in the search for a financial professional

January 30, 2014 at 5:06 AM

Nicolas Schorsch is known as a man of his word but his word is not fully known on products.

Nicholas Schorsch invites 500 reps to NYC to kick off a 25-city barnstorming tour aimed at easing fears

A blizzard of conference calls with the RCS chairman have only had a band-aid effect so the more personal assault is on

January 29, 2014 at 2:36 PM

Ron Carson: I have an account at Betterment.

Why Ron Carson brought Steve Lockshin onto his team and how Betterment fits into their plans

The head of LPL's flagship RIA and Barron's top independent advisor of 2011 are pooling brainpower and embracing the possibility of deploying strategic robo-advice

January 28, 2014 at 7:03 AM

Mike Papedis: We are not engaged in responding to gossip and we are sticking to our business strategy.

Top recruiter Kevin Geary exits HighTower

The departure of the acclaimed Schwab veteran is a palpable sign for some that the roll-up is going in a new direction

January 27, 2014 at 6:27 PM

Bob Oros: This is what cell phone companies do. They bring us in with a low entry fee and when it comes time, the switching costs don't seem worth it.

Fidelity counsels RIAs to suck it up and go after 'millionaires of tomorrow' but with a strict discipline

RIAs need to chop fees, stop counting pennies and, yes, babysit a bit to wrest these financial tweeners from discount brokers

January 24, 2014 at 6:36 PM

Greg Gable on behalf of Charles Schwab:  Clients who participate in a planning process are more engaged.

Schwab's financial plan production skyrockets in 2013 as part of 'Chuck's' upmarket push

TD and Fidelity hold their fire on playing the planner role as Schwab clients get a full-on planner-executed fee for $2,000 and others are satisfied with more limited plans executed by 1,000 branch advisors for free

January 23, 2014 at 7:26 PM

Hundreds of CPAs looking to roll the dice on wealth management gathered at the Aria Resort and Casino this week.

In benevolent invasion, CPAs-turned-RIAs make statement with sheer numbers in Vegas

Once an outlier and a research prediction, the 2014 AICPA Personal Financial Planning Conference shows that accountants that keep wealth management in-house are now flamboyantly growing

January 23, 2014 at 6:21 AM

Derek Jaskulski: My gripe is that when you have special groups like advisors, [Salesforce] should be aware that e-mail retention is an industry requirement.

How one RIA's faith in Salesforce's sophistication led to cut-and-paste hell and a major rethinking

After a dazzling SF demo, Portland Global Advisors planned to dump its advisor-dumb Microsoft CRM for Salesforce but the devil was in details

January 22, 2014 at 7:44 AM

Ron Sallet: I am delighted to now be able to talk to these advisors as a fellow entrepreneur.

Dynasty snatches a top 'road warrior' from FiNet

The former Smith Barney, Wells Fargo recruiter will now prey on his own kind

January 22, 2014 at 5:02 AM

Sallie Krawcheck:  My mind is clear, not yet caught up in the multiple internal conversations that we all conduct with ourselves.

Why 4 a.m. is the best time to work

Ideas can flow without the antibodies of e-mail, human voices and schedules imposing

January 21, 2014 at 6:38 PM

Bill Rourke: If we don’t do this, we don’t get the business.

How Ric Edelman's bounty of radio and TV leads pushed his $12-billion RIA from Microsoft to GoldMine to Salentica

The secondary effect was a muscle flexing that brought about a TD integration with Schwab's gritted-teeth blessing

January 21, 2014 at 6:40 AM

Nicholas S. Schorsch: We intend for RCAP to be the most important full-service financial services and securities distribution company in the industry.
January 17, 2014 at 8:41 PM

John Deremo: Once we paid the government back in excess of $22 billion, we consider that whole matter is behind us and we're tackling challenges of tomorrow.

AIG puts its once-tarnished brand on a small band of obscure insurance brokers -- perhaps testing the waters for Royal Alliance and friends

The insurance giant isn't ruling out whiting out the motley brands of Royal Alliance, FSC, SagePoint and Woodbury

January 16, 2014 at 10:03 PM

Michael Kitces: There's very little other ongoing  'work' tied to blogging, once everything is set up.

The RIABiz top 10 industry blogs -- and which bloggers they recommend

The RIA business is a land of micro-niches where owner-operated blogs are often the best reading spot for advisors to find the vibe and the level of granularity they seek on a subject

January 15, 2014 at 5:52 AM

Michael Falk: These investment beliefs did not establish any governance or decision rights, and I have no idea what they believe after reading them.

Why some pension experts believe CalPERs got 'nothing' out of paying Towers Watson $275,000 to define its 'beliefs'

The pension giant responds by saying that 'no specific deliverables' came out of the process

January 14, 2014 at 5:07 AM

Charles Goldman: We're not going to just toss the salad.

Gurinder Ahluwalia to step out, Charles Goldman steps in, as AssetMark CEO

Myra Rothfeld also departs as Goldman sets his sights on software, service revamp

January 13, 2014 at 4:31 PM

Frank Noto: We always felt that it was important to first establish our voice in the advisory community, and gain the editorial credibility with our readership.

RIABiz barges into the webinar business by getting to the crux of the RIA matter

The live discussion will explore why 2014, for many reasons, has never been a better, easier, more secure time to jump into the only model with real growth

January 10, 2014 at 8:49 PM

Christopher Holtby: In essence, the client is creating a pension plan for future beneficiaries and advisors retain their advisory role for years to come.

The trusteed IRA: One tested method to maintain assets under management through the generations

A probate attorney, a trust exec and a Harvard B-school student float a solution to persuade family members to stay the course

January 10, 2014 at 6:30 AM

Craig Gordon took a number of people by surprise with his move.

RBC's most visible RIA leader, Craig Gordon, departs

RBC gets hit with another loss but the company maintains its still has the foot on the gas pedal for its RIA unit

January 9, 2014 at 7:22 PM

Rudy Adolf: There is no other business in the RIA space that has even close to this level of capital.

What bet Rudy Adolf is making on RIAs by pre-borrowing $550 million from Bank of America and a wider syndicate

The Focus Financial CEO sees lending rate at rock bottom and ROI on RIA investing with room to rock

January 8, 2014 at 9:41 PM

 Raymond James recruited Becky Wiles, Terry Wiles, Heather Monzote, Ryan Smith and two hound puppies, Maia and Sky, in December.

The story behind how Raymond James won two big teams from LPL and Wells Fargo in the past couple of weeks

When the mid-sized Florida broker-custodian takes on bigger giants, it plays the little-guy card

January 7, 2014 at 8:47 PM

Brooke Southall: No client ever walked in the door saying they were looking for efficiency, per se.

What the RIA Hippocratic oath would look like -- in plain English

As advisors we Do the Right Thing naturally -- don't we? Thinking through what it means to be a truly trusted go-to money M.D.

January 6, 2014 at 2:52 AM

Christopher Van Slyke: It's not black and white or we'd all use the cheapest custodian.

Fidelity loses some RIA assets over its new DFA/Vanguard fees but other RIAs crunch the numbers and soldier on

Some advisors reason transaction hikes are actually cheaper than hidden costs of other mutual funds -- others are just fed up

January 3, 2014 at 7:00 PM

Jason Lahita: We marketing mavens had determined to tweet until our fingers bled.

How a Twitter 'storm' extended the MarketCounsel Summit from hundreds to thousands of people and showcased the potential of tweets

A PR team discovers the value of the ubiquitous social media tool but also the perils inherent in sending your 140-character stream of consciousness through the ether

January 3, 2014 at 5:49 AM

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