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Articles published 9/2016


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Tony Velasquez: He warned me that I didn't want to wake up at 50 and have to go out and get all new clients just to pay my mortgage. That stuck with me.

How I became an RIA by winning a golfer's trust in my caddie days and why I broke from his OSJ to avoid conflicts of interest

Tony Velasquez, who met his mentor and first boss on the links, has advice for captive brokers -- don't let the B-Ds scare you into staying!

September 30, 2016 at 8:53 PM

Kirt Walker: This little DOL thing came along and it wasn't the primary reason for doing this, but it was about the RIA and fee-based world.

Nationwide buys Jefferson National under purported DOL duress but 'good private equity' and good planning may rule the day

The big Columbus, Ohio national insurer can certainly use a fiduciary annuity -- if there is such a thing -- but ROI is impetus number one

September 30, 2016 at 7:25 PM

Christopher Norton: By working with the advisor and not the institution directly, the clients may perceive that they are protected from the shenanigans.

FiNet welcomes six wirehouse defectors at the apex of a withering Wells Fargo bank scandal that 'has legs'

Wells Fargo Advisors and FiNet ADVs warn of some cross-selling as RIAs eye Wells Fargo to see if the only wirehouse attempt to support independents will succeed, fail or end in confusion

September 29, 2016 at 7:15 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

David Mrazik: There are a lot of facts we need to learn to see what is real and what’s imagined here.

After BNY Mellon buys $2.7-billion Silicon Valley RIA, it files suit against four former staffers who file swift-uppercut countersuit

Four former Atherton Lane advisors form Lyell Wealth Management and say they never promised anything to their employer's acquirng mega-bank

September 27, 2016 at 8:07 PM

Yvette Butler: We have a lot of work to do in the near term just to get that story out to them before we yell it from the rooftops.

Capital One brings bigger crowbar to your wallet as it launches national RIA with its signature intensity

The brokerage unit of the giant McLean, Va.-based bank is hiring energetically, and following a model not dissimilar to Wells Fargo

September 26, 2016 at 6:16 PM

Steve Dunlap (with FolioDynamix's Meghan McCartan): The current robos have jumped the shark.

FolioDynamix president uses conference to KO robos and call them a 'free beta test'

A half-full message on DOL rules is the federal mandate to ask clients about held-away assets as a matter of fiduciary responsibility

September 23, 2016 at 6:23 PM

James Osborne: I never find some exciting stock or fund to buy. I never get to tell a great story over beers.

RIA Zen and the art of doing what's prudent -- even if you can't brag about it over beers

James Osborne confesses his guilty desire to make his practice more exciting and why he resists the temptations of adrenaline highs on behalf of clients

September 23, 2016 at 5:43 PM

Roy Adams, Joe Ternasky and Jakub Jurek were hired for three very different purposes but are all part of a phase three overhaul of its business model.

What to make of Wealthfront's three big hires and why its artificial intelligence bid may be indefensible as a strategy

The Redwood City robo bets big on an ex-Google engineering whiz amid a Betterment onslaught and after a period of high-profile departures

September 22, 2016 at 9:06 PM

Bill Harris: We're running hot.
September 21, 2016 at 9:12 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

Despite the 33-year age span, the newly independent partners say they work as an unusually copacetic team.

In search of a 'mind-set' shift, $2.2 billion Wichita team tunneled out of Morgan Stanley -- taking absolutely no chances with the guards

Despite the team's three-decade age span, the Morgan Stanley veterans shared a vision for a practice -- one without a roll-up, outsourcer or dictates from New York.

September 19, 2016 at 6:30 PM

The FPA finally puts on a better CFP face and she lights up the hall in Baltimore

Gigi Guerra was the 75,000th CFP recipient and she captured an air of revitalization the Financial Planning Association will need to survive and thrive amid massive industry changes

September 17, 2016 at 12:24 AM

Irwin Stein: These brokers get fired not because they lied to their customers but because they lied to their firms.

The sorry truth about the SEC's plan to crack down on bad stockbrokers by putting RIAs in a vise

The move is a clear diversionary tactic on the SEC's part to avoid flexing its muscles and withhold licenses

September 16, 2016 at 5:06 PM

Ben Johnson, Joe Mansueto and Tom Lydon at last week's Morningstar ETF confab

Asset managers at Morningstar's ETF event, facing an in RIA-in-charge future, show mettle

The Chicago event connected traders, index providers, issuers, marketers, PR, distributors -- and a knee-capped Liz Ann Sonders -- all trying to find footing in an everything-up-for-grabs playing field

September 15, 2016 at 6:44 PM

Tom Kimberly: We heard consistent feedback about the need for greater portfolio flexibility.

Betterment makes Goldman Sachs and Vanguard partners as it shifts into higher RIA gear

With advisors demanding to get back in the driver's seat, the robo's RIA chief, Tom Kimberly goes for two big-name model portfolio strategists under the 'Betterment for Advisors' brand

September 14, 2016 at 1:29 PM

Steve Braverman, co-CEO of Pathstone, downplayed any perception of Convergent advisors as damaged goods.

City National sells off salvaged remains of Convergent Wealth Advisors, but not before Convergent sheds nearly $7 billion of AUM

After a trifecta of traumas, Mark Hurley steps in to fund and help construct deal with Pathstone and PagnatoKarp; cuts a deal with four younger advisors to start segmented division

September 13, 2016 at 5:26 PM

Most innovative? Judges including Michael Kitces, Jud Mackrill and Tina Powell ponder.

Orion draws a record pack of hackers to Utah to code, bond -- and compete

From 7,000 feet above sea level, 90 RIA software types breathed thin air en route to zapping redundant portals

September 12, 2016 at 6:56 PM

Joe Mansueto, pictured with wife Rika Yoshida at his alma mater University of Chicago, will have more time for philanthropy when he passes the CEO baton to Kunal Kapoor, in January.

How Joe Mansueto's CEO hand-off to Kunal Kapoor could be more than a succession play for Morningstar

The Morningstar CEO, 60, still owns 56% of the Chicago data firm's stock and his plan to 'read more books' needs to be examined in that light

September 9, 2016 at 6:30 PM

Opposed by hedge fund stakeholders, James Riepe is supported by The Vanguard Group, BlackRock, State Street, Fidelity Investments and Invesco.

How LPL's wolf pack of hedge funds only added to its stake, even as a mini-faction of non-hedge directors tried to hold them in check

As the Boston IBD's annus horribilis continues unabated, PE-friendly directors are joining the board with little opposition

September 7, 2016 at 8:54 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

Robert Dineen: We thank Larry Roth for his many contributions to our company, and welcome his assistance through the transition.

PE-backed Cetera board member Robert Dineen sees Larry Roth to the door, takes CEO reins

A former secret service agent and Merrill Lynch exec, Robert Dineen is known for leading by example and delivering results

September 2, 2016 at 8:08 PM

Jasen Yang: When 90% of financial institutions are 'figuring out our strategy,' the process is not working.

Why legacy firms that buy robos in haste show no signs of urgency after they take title

Too much hustle and ambition can be as harmful as too little, according Jasen Yang's closely argued analysis

September 1, 2016 at 10:30 PM

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