Articles tagged "Will Trout"
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Vanguard Group kills it (again) in 2022 with winning formula -- low fees and low service -- yet analysts wonder how long customers will tolerate chronic service glitches
The Malvern, Pa. firm mostly blew away the index-investing field in a tumultuous year as its size strained its service; analysts sense a breaking point could come as service aces Schwab and Fidelity shrink its price advantage.
January 25, 2023 at 2:53 AM
UBS bets its 'wealth' future on ex-Schwabbie Naureen Hassan, a corporate digital A-lister, who analysts give a fighting chance to transcend PaineWebber's ossified culture
Still a $2-billion cash-flow cow, the Swiss bank's 6,000-broker, US-based wirehouse is milking aging broker relationships with aging investors but needs a new kind of human presence, empathy, mindset and smarts to draw in Gen Z.
July 16, 2022 at 1:35 AM
New class of robos lay siege to 'antiquated' target-date-funds (TDF) market; even defender of the 401(k) citadel, Vanguard, sees handwriting on the wall
Fidelity, Ascensus, and Morningstar are all making 401(k) moves that could see automated advice replace the Vanguard-dominated TDF market but maybe Vanguard just woke up in time to cannibalize the market itself.
October 8, 2019 at 3:02 AM
Vanguard jilted RIAs 16 years ago. Now its CEO Tim Buckley is green-lighting RIA custody again -- with bells, whistles and added urgency
In a series of emails last week, Vanguard was coy but said its retail RIA platform for 600 staff advisors is getting retrofitted for non-Vanguard RIAs; the potential is huge and the potential pitfalls may be even greater, analysts say
May 23, 2019 at 6:16 PM
HiddenLevers' Raj Udeshi takes victory lap after nabbing Focus Financial account: 'We dropped a bomb in BlackRock's backyard;' But it's just a battle not the war, analysts say
The founder's analytics software firm had to beat out Aladdin but the reward is a doubling of assets and $1-million-plus contract
March 27, 2019 at 9:41 PM
Oisin's Bits: Vanguard aborts banking effort, because it was more fixated on beating BoA than being itself, an analyst says; SEI is killing it in the Mercer/Russell realm by competing with a retrofitted TAMP-thingy
The $5.3-billion Malvern, Pa. monster finds its investors want it to stick to investing, not checking accounts and the Oaks, Pa. TAMP leader gets upmarket with no-conflict pitch and product fit and
March 22, 2019 at 11:22 PM
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
Mike Sha's robo-advisor faced tough choices until two wirehouses offered unique partnerships -- and maybe a new business model to boot
Sure, the SigFig's founder plays by some of UBS's rules in taking its financial backing and giant systems account but beyond that, the freedom to cavort with Wall Street rivals is pretty unlimited.
June 14, 2018 at 3:46 PM
LPL Financial is latest to go the 'risk number' route by signing deal with LifeYield, which signed a Riskalyze deal in February
The Fort Mill, S.C.-based IBD will use the software to help advisors arbitrage between taxable and non-taxable accounts to minimize the bite of the IRS
May 30, 2018 at 8:14 PM
Jud Bergman defines 'stupid' and post-'stupid' eras at his firm after Raymond James analyst dares to unearth the Yodlee question
The Envestnet CEO's rebuke, embracing the synonym for imbecilic and unintelligent, showed how raw feelings got in 2015 with the firm's purchase of Yodlee for about $600 million
May 29, 2018 at 11:03 PM
Mindful of 'Snapchat' dynamic, BlackRock takes big Acorns stake after the micro-robo wins 2.2 million investors in 12 months
The $6.3-trillion asset manager led the $50-million round to ensure a foothold at LA-based firm with an app that onboards 6,000 investors daily
May 24, 2018 at 3:28 AM
Envestnet quietly deals rivals in on Yodlee play to placate big banks and their latent threat of 'oblivion' in response to 'screen scraping'
The Chicago-based outsourcer orchestrates a Yodlee/Morningstar/Quovo show of force in response to vulnerability to 'throttling' by mega-custodians
May 17, 2018 at 7:24 PM
Why exactly Northwestern Mutual bought a digital darling for $250 million, shut it down, orphaned its customers and declared progress
When the Milwaukee-based mega-insurer relaunches in six months, the one aspect certainly subtracted from the mix will be the cash-draining 8,000 mass market customers
May 9, 2018 at 9:23 PM
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
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
