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Articles published 8/2018


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Allison Brecher: In many cases, fees are buried, service offerings unclear, and administrative burdens cumbersome. The bill does not address any of these challenges.

Trump exec order on 401(k)s cuts restriction for MEPs but Vestwell execs counsel caution

Under ERISA-permitted MEPs, advisors can lump small employers into giant plans that battle big firms which is fine til you read the small print

August 31, 2018 at 11:30 PM

Libby Cherrington has fallen foul of FINRA for falsifying her date of birth on a number of occassions.

Lisbeth Cherrington's long, strange career, fraught with regulatory actions, takes another bizarre turn over her latest FINRA sanction--lying about her age

Caught red-handed falsifying official records, the super-producer, who alleged homophobia and defamation at Morgan Stanley, is hit with $15,000 fine and 60-day suspension

August 30, 2018 at 4:15 AM

Michael Kitces: If we’re going to criticize the conflicts of interest of “the other guys” for their back-end commissions, we have to acknowledge how that misalignment in our custodial agreements can create similar conflicts of interest for us (that we should want to eliminate, too) …"

Twitter war pits Josh 'Downtown' Brown against Michael Kitces over hush-hush issue: Do RIA custodians face Merrill-Lynch style conflicts over advisor custody fees?

Brown criticizes Merrill Lynch for moving cash out of money market accounts into banks; Kitces says RIAs are complicit in something just as bad

August 29, 2018 at 1:49 AM

Greg Fleming is building out his management team to go after top advisors

Greg Fleming dips into RIA gene pool with expected hire of Chris Dupuy to fish for elite wirehouse advisers in drive to reach $100 billion in UHNW assets

But can the CEO of Rockefeller Capital Management, a brand associated with a 19th century robber baron, convince 21st century tech magnates and next-gen middling millionaires to rub shoulders with Rockefellers... and Derek Jeter?

August 28, 2018 at 1:53 AM

Chris Dupuy: Leaving financial services after 34 years to write about sports

Ex-Merrill exec Chris Dupuy makes exit from Focus Financial barely a month after IPO, leaves financial services after 34-year career; you won't believe what he's doing now

Dupuy was charged with expanding Focus Connections, a program designed to help elite wealth management teams transition from wirehouses to independence

August 25, 2018 at 10:06 PM

Charles Goldman: We are not becoming a roll-up.

AssetMark CEO Charles Goldman grabs $5.7B Global Financial out from under rival Envestnet's nose, gets ex-Curian CEO and solidifies his firm's own future in the brutal TAMP game; but don't call it a roll-up

At number two in TAMP ranks, the Concord, Calif.-based TAMP with $46 billion bought Global Financial, whose CEO headed Curian in its growth years and got out well before its death

August 25, 2018 at 1:52 AM

David Bach: NO ONE in the industry has a marketing team that equals the scale of AE Wealth Management and Advisors Excel. No one matches our ability. It’s why I was so confident we could build the [second] fastest-growing RIA in America.

David Bach rocks heavyweights with plan to leverage his media savvy for RIAs at his Topeka TAMP; 'Ridiculous' says Ken Fisher

Since it's launch AE Wealth has been geared to advisors between $10-million and $100-million in assets, but it's now targeting $200 million AUM firms.

August 22, 2018 at 10:12 PM

Karin Risi: Our goal is to provide additional access and flexibility to our clients, not spur counter-productive, frequent trading activity.

Vanguard Group launches its free-trading super desk of 1,800 ETFs; now only if clients won't abuse the privilege

The Malvern, Pa. giant risks creating a casino but its clients are expected to stay responsible and use free trades for dollar-cost averaging, rebalancing and harvesting losses for tax purposes

August 21, 2018 at 6:26 PM

Elliot Weissbluth: It's bigger and more ripe than we calculated.

How HighTower's executive shuffle, kicking CEO Elliot Weissbluth upstairs, opens door for new talent and paves way for Thomas Lee-fueled acquisitions splurge

Since Thomas H. Lee's $350 million February purchase of HighTower, the firm has sought ways to separate dealmaking and operational duties, but recruiting goes to outsourcer and M&A goes to Marc Cabezas.

August 20, 2018 at 7:57 PM

Tackling the wilds of Alaska more imposing than balancing a portfolio

Chip's and Skip's 'Excellent Adventure' breaks RIA stereotypes, sheds risk aversion for 'gut-busting' Alaska hike; black bears, grizzlies and moose, oh my!

This year the Excellent Adventure crew assembled in Girdwood, Alaska for a trek up the Crow Pass Trail, which meanders through a rain forest inhabited by black bears, grizzly, and moose.

August 20, 2018 at 5:30 PM

David Blanchett: Someone who expects to retire at 65 may be more likely to actually retire at 63 … [and] the impact can be severe: fewer years of saving combined with a greater need in retirement.

Morningstar causes uproar with new study that upends everything RIAs assumed about retirement planning, and it all comes down to a number

In July, Morningstar published its latest retirement report, and its author David Blanchett poses tough questions, suggesting advisors risk “havoc” when predicting retirement. But the industry claims it's well prepared.

August 17, 2018 at 8:51 PM

Jud Bergman: The rate of account growth of advisors opening net new accounts has slowed over the last quarter. [We] don't know if it's going to last one, two, three quarters, but we are planning.

Envestnet CEO Jud Bergman's FolioDynamix deal suddenly looks prescient as SMA-to-UMA market shift dings revenues, third-party asset managers

In Envestnet's latest Q2 earnings call, Jud Bergman revealed the transition from SMAs to UMAs will hit Envestnet and third-party asset managers who sell their SMA wares through Envestnet's platform. But UMA efficiencies may drive down costs faster than revenues fall, making the FolioDynamix purchase look shrewder than ever.

August 16, 2018 at 5:12 PM

Eric Becker brings client point of view to family office

Cresset cracks the family office market with a unique proposition; a suite of touchy-feely services that go beyond money management and help clients manage their lives

Cresset, guided by two savvy venture capitalists. is aiming to build the next-generation multi-family office on an independent, employee- and client-owned platform

August 15, 2018 at 4:42 PM

Tony Salewski: Cetera's ability to recruit advisors moves the needle in a way that's the most attractive to grow ... There's so much we can do at the base that M&A is not the key part of the thesis.

After RIA private equity hot-shot Genstar's $1.7 billion purchase of ugly duckling Cetera, Robert Moore plans to take on LPL--not with acquisitions, but a recruitment storm

Genstar bought a majority share in Cetera in July for a rumored $1.7 billion; now Genstar MD Tony Salewski and ex-LPL President and Cetera CEO Robert Moore have put ramping up the rep count front-and-center in their plans to turn the long-troubled IBD ugly duckling into a market giant at LPL's expense.

August 15, 2018 at 12:35 AM

Eric Clarke: We need to be willing to embrace the advisor's vision, even if at times it means we have competitive overlap.

Orion wins its 95th LPL advisor to show it's also advancing on Envestnet in the broker-dealer market and greening up its pastures

The Omaha, Neb.-based software maker just bagged $5-billion AUA OSJ, Independent Advisor Alliance

August 13, 2018 at 5:54 PM

New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood leading coalition

Posse of top cops from 17 states dresses down SEC, demand same fiduciary standards for broker-dealers and RIAs and cite other 'egregious' deficiencies in proposed son of DOL rule

Since the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in March struck down the Department of Labor's (DOL)  embattled "fiduciary rule," broker-dealers have been operating with a virtual "get-out-of-jail-free" card

August 10, 2018 at 8:18 PM

Peter Mallouk has an office building that reflects his success; now the focus is on growth

Peter Mallouk has diamond as big as The Ritz, a flashy new Kansas City headquarters, complete with Silicon Valley perks; Now his new goal--top $40 billion in assets

'Everything's up to date in Kansas City, They gone about as fer as they can go;' Giant RIA, Creative Planning Inc., upgrades its Overland Park headquarters to set the stage for more explosive growth

August 9, 2018 at 5:47 PM

David Solomon: Organizations, to move forward, have to evolve, they have to change, they have to adapt.

Goldman Sachs banking on David Solomon to be a catalyst for more RIA-ifcation, getting hip with millennials, diversifying firm... and keeping bankers happy

Solomon is the perfect fit for the advent of 'an enlightened wirehouse', but it's the same old Goldman, say experts, with the sly understanding that the phrasing has oxymoronic overtones.

August 7, 2018 at 11:52 PM

Simon Stilwell: InvestmentNews has received relatively little investment over the last few years. There is, therefore, the potential to deploy capital to accelerate growth organically of revenues streams and margins,

How InvestmentNews may become nucleus of U.S.-based roll-up if UK investment banker succeeds with 'wild swim' across Atlantic to purchase it

If Vitesse pulls off 'reverse merger,' it can use the cash-cow revenues of the Manhattan-based Crain weekly to fuel string of 'bolt-on acquisitions' in United States

August 6, 2018 at 5:32 AM

Rob Farmer: The activity at the heart of this case was the result of Schwab having a robust compliance process designed to protect our customers.

Schwab Advisor Services's 'very tight ship' sprung leak that may signal a flood of SEC actions against custodians, leading to potential crack down on RIAs

The $1.6-trillion RIA custodian in San Francisco settles SEC lawsuit in a day by paying a $2.8 million fine in a case meant to be a 'shot across the bow' of custodians and RIAs, say analysts

August 3, 2018 at 12:24 AM

Jacqueline Ko Matthews: We uncommoditize the robo and that's why some of the biggest firms in the country want to invest in us …  advisors need what we're doing.

Marty Bicknell-led Shark Tank-style contest chooses to back super-ambitious RIA-automation startup, but his $25-billion RIA'll keep Orion for now

ScratchWorks picked Jacqueline Ko Matthews' InvestmentPod to improve advisor productivity by 60% but it's still just 'potential,' says Bicknell; Good potential

August 1, 2018 at 5:17 PM

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