Articles published 11/2015
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Aspiration's jump to $11 million of AUM attracts $15.5 million of VC capital from investors who include Addepar's founder
Other head-scratchers from the LA-based robo include its sweet 1% checking account and its tithing of assets
November 30, 2015 at 11:49 PM
Why exactly Betterment backers Marty Bicknell and Steve Lockshin became customers of rival robo and custodian TD Ameritrade
What makes the counterintuitive step work is how Jemstep helps round up the mass-affluent's mess of paperwork
November 25, 2015 at 5:55 PM
SEC leaves little doubt that Virtus knew to be suspicious of what it was selling yet kept those concerns from wholesalers
After concerns were raised Virtus grabbed for earplugs -- a move that made economic sense in retrospect
November 24, 2015 at 7:08 PM
LPL Financial undertakes painstaking overhaul of service spurred by capacity overwhelm and RIA demand for Schwab-style pods
In addition to aggressive hiring, training and creating 'queues,' Tom Gooley and Tim Hodge are tackling the big one -- service culture
November 24, 2015 at 5:51 PM
After selling Hatteras Funds for $40 million last year, the original owner buys it back from scandal-torn RCS for $5.5 million
The 48-employee liquid alts firm just lost its giant distribution arm but manages to keep $1.8 billion of managed assets
November 23, 2015 at 6:47 PM
With RIAs deliberately not in mind, Fidelity Investments launches Fidelity Go, a robo-advisor with the human touch of Vince Gubitosi
The Boston investments firm is using Geode Capital to call the shots, BlackRock as ETF supplier, and its own employees as its initial test subjects
November 20, 2015 at 10:32 PM
With eMoney in its back pocket, Fidelity Investments won't exercise its option to continue Betterment deal as it nears launch of its own robo
The one-year semi-exclusive alliance never caught fire with Fidelity RIAs and the Boston giant will now use eMoney as kindling for a new digital-for-RIA launch
November 19, 2015 at 11:47 PM
Betterment hires an RIA chief who reframes the vision from 'robo' to 'one-throat-to-choke' custodian -- and viable Schwab competitor
Fresh off selling Upside to Envestnet, Tom Kimberly is Betterment Institutional's general manager and architect of a new vision
November 19, 2015 at 12:31 AM
Small Florida RIA fights for its name as litigious $10 billion Chicago fund-picker Ariel Investments sues for brand infringement
The founder of $225 million Ariel Capital says he named the firm after his daughter but a Google search already has him wrong-footed with the judge
November 18, 2015 at 5:42 AM
Walt Bettinger unbites his lip and ignites a Schwab IMPACT Twitter squall and the RIA custody show goes on
Tweets connected Schwab CEO remarks to Wealthfront's chippy chief -- red meat to the de facto hometown crowd of advisors
November 16, 2015 at 7:53 PM
The SEC democratizes crowdfunding but RIAs need to guard against clients getting seated at an expanded kids' table
There will be 233 million potential new private equity investors trying to overcome one 'adverse selection' bottleneck
November 13, 2015 at 9:21 PM
9 questions to ask Schwab execs when you buttonhole them in Boston at IMPACT 2015
$23 trillion of AUM is there for the taking -- but how exactly does Schwab propose help RIAs win that discovered bounty?
November 13, 2015 at 12:31 AM
Will the alternative assets Intel added to its 401(k) plan backfire legally as well as financially?
New lawsuit alleges that spicing the DC plans with $2.5 billion of bets on de facto dark pools of 'shudder'-worthy alternatives cost participants hundreds of millions of dollars
November 12, 2015 at 8:55 PM
How many RIAs are there? No, seriously, how many?
Competing counts are full of 'bastardized' definitions of 'advisor,' state vs. SEC- vs. dually registered IARs, differing study criteria and agendas
November 11, 2015 at 7:57 PM
Fred Tomczyk to retire as CEO of TD Ameritrade
The ex-Ivy League hockey star will be replaced by a Canadian Toronto-Dominion Bank exec named Tim Hockey
November 10, 2015 at 7:36 PM
'Bristling' at 'pink-it-and-shrink-it' pitfalls, Sallie Krawcheck files an ADV
Ex-Merrill Lynch chief's Ellevest will charge double the Betterment rate but with hopes of better investing for women
November 9, 2015 at 11:58 PM
How Mutual Fund Store is the real engine now at Financial Engines
Unable to hold 9 million hands as market tanked, Larry Raffone jumped when Warburg Pincus put The Mutual Fund Store on the block
November 6, 2015 at 10:17 PM
Hitting a robo wall, Financial Engines buys The Mutual Fund Store for $560 million to bust out of 401(k) confines
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based robo colossus needed human advisors, and the radio RIA liked having a non-radio source of new clients
November 5, 2015 at 11:15 PM
TD Ameritrade CEO sees RIA custody competitors adjusting to his killer strategy -- even as he whips his in-house RIA into shape
The Jersey City, N.J. custodian's under-the-radar hypergrowth rate is now also big in absolute terms, which may attract unwanted attention from absolute giants
November 5, 2015 at 8:34 PM
In bed with giants, T3 software entrepreneurs go to Florida to swear they are still more independent than thou
MoneyGuidePro's Bob Curtis flipped the bird at potential VC cash-bearers as Fidelity-owned eMoney vowed it was still a scrapper
November 5, 2015 at 7:26 PM
Catching shareholders short, SEC lets Virtus skate with $16.5 million tax-deductible settlement after alleged 'willful blindness'
Observers say the Hartford, Conn.-based mutual fund company turned a blind eye to a fictitious track record but the SEC saw fit to mete out a not-so-big fine
November 4, 2015 at 7:13 PM
As RIA compliance complexity explodes, two big outsourcers merge to keep pace
National Compliance Services Inc. is a biggie with smaller RIAs and Regulatory Compliance LLC already provides ultra-handholding that firms increasingly demand
November 3, 2015 at 8:52 PM
RIAs stay the course in holding Schwab to its promise of an RIA-in-charge 401(k) plan with a promising result
Only when RIAs proved they'd only take 'yes' for an answer on open architecture and themselves installed as fiduciaries did their San Francisco-based custodian yield with just a minor Morningstar contingency
November 3, 2015 at 8:07 PM
How hedge fund control and E*Trade's former CFO helped Mark Casady see that making LPL a blue chip was a fool's errand
Matthew Audette concedes that he came to LPL lured by its potential for higher leverage
