Practice management: archive
Every Practice management story in Advisors, newest first. 327 stories
1 story
Custody is an access problem, NASAA reminds state RIAs
New state-regulator guidance urges state-registered RIAs to map every point of access to client money before the custody rule does it for them.
3 stories
Tax leakage is the quiet killer of mass-affluent wealth
A study of 371 wealth managers shows where mass-affluent money leaks — and what a systematic fix looks like.
Boomers spend the inheritance, advisors feel the drain
With 4% of AUM leaving annually and boomers spending the kids' inheritance, the plan becomes the product and the drain becomes the referral fee.
RIA AI dies on three versions of the truth
A household AUM query returns three answers depending on the system, and no model can fix a stack that can't agree with itself.
3 stories
A Miami RIA funds partner buy-ins with appreciation rights
Element Pointe's vesting structure lets key team members pay for partnership with the value they help create.
Financial Advice 3.0 turns planning into a diagnostic business
Kitces maps the next decade from reactive advice to proactive diagnosis, and the practices that keep selling documents will watch the market move past them.
The plan is the product. Advisor calendars haven't caught up
Kitces Research will revisit how advisors actually build plans. The 2018 benchmark — 26% in preparation, 19% with clients — is the number to watch.
3 stories
Feathery's AI assistant makes bespoke proposals an operations problem
The real test is whether a firm can codify its pitch without boiling it down to a template.
Digital tools stop where the stakes rise
New MDRT research on trust hands advisers a playbook: automate the routine, keep a person on the big moment.
Vanguard's Altruist deal is a contract window for advisors
The real question for advisors on either platform is whether Altruist keeps its speed inside the $4.6 billion parent — and what the contract says about it.
4 stories
The match is the retention lever owners underprice
A bigger retirement match ranks first among reasons employees stay, which advisors can turn into a benchmarking wedge at the next plan review with a business-owner client.
The public-sector advice gap is a confidence play
New MissionSquare research shows how rarely public-sector workers seek professional advice—and what it takes to close the gap.
EA designation is a sticky client-retention play
The IRS credential gives advisors permission to own the tax conversation, but the entity structure decides whether that becomes a moat or a liability.
Retirement plans fail when the client's identity retires
Advisors who treat the 12 months around retirement as a planning deliverable keep both the relationship and the assets.
5 stories
Vanguard-Altruist deal hands RIAs a custody negotiating lever
Advisors should treat the planned purchase as a reason to reprice their custody relationship, not a call to transfer assets today.
Shook's 2027 reboot won't restore the badge's power
The pause gives advisors a rare opening to rebuild their brands around verifiable client outcomes instead of a logo.
Vanguard ownership turns Altruist renewal into the real test
The deal keeps Altruist standalone for now; advisors should weigh the next contract against what independence was worth.
Altruist's new owner brings an advice agenda
The platform says it stays standalone; Vanguard's $12 trillion advice push gives advisers three questions to ask before renewal.
Pontera's non-discretionary tool turns held-away 401(k)s into billable work
The September launch adds the compliance and communication layer that lets RIAs and broker-dealers turn workplace retirement accounts into billed relationships.
2 stories
Edward Jones's $5,000 robo is a bet on the handoff
The hybrid robo undercuts Fidelity and Vanguard on price, but the lasting test is whether small accounts graduate into planning relationships.
Your brand already exists. Go where the yeses are.
Sheri Fitts's brand-building play is to mine the yeses, size the segment, and test the match — a marketing discipline most practices skip.
5 stories
AI compliance hinges on a human-in-the-loop policy
A 411-firm survey finds 48% can point to a human-review policy for AI output, leaving the rest to answer an exam letter built on Regulation S-P.
For RIAs, the salary-basis test is a payroll audit
DOL Fact Sheet #17G on white-collar exemptions is a classification checklist for client associates and paraplanners—one best used before a wage claim forces the question.
Senators press FINRA to require account transfer locks
A Senate letter puts transfer locks on the industry's timetable, turning a back-office safeguard into a client-retention issue.
Alts tools move into the everyday advisor workflow
Luma's platform updates push alternative investing into the tools advisors already use, and the rest of the month's releases follow.
The held-away 401(k) becomes a fee line
Pontera's September launch turns held-away 401(k)s into billable work, and the HSA and Medicare numbers show which practices will collect.
2 stories
Orion's second AssetMark hire puts integration on the clock
RIAs on either platform should watch for one stack to swallow the other.
Rebalancing software: the two-hour setup edge
RIABiz's three-way review shows why implementation speed and ease of use can outweigh feature breadth.
5 stories
Schwab's branch push turns custodian into competitor
Four quiet pilot branches 'caught fire,' and now Schwab plans 30 Schwab Wealth Advisory offices by 2027—on the same street corners as the 16,000 RIAs whose $5.2 trillion it holds in custody.
AI is the capacity answer to the advisor shortage
Financial Advisor Magazine's 2025 RIA survey offers RIAs a playbook: automate the preparation, keep the human judgment.
Pontera adds a nondiscretionary option for held-away 401(k)s
A September launch gives advisers a supervised, nondiscretionary channel for recommending changes inside workplace accounts — and a way to charge for them.
Show the work: landing your first HNW client
A CPA who watched Nick George handle a real situation sent him his first high-net-worth client.
The $100 million case for sending a woman to the pitch
Most clients say they don't require a female advisor. A $100 million NewEdge win suggests some do.
7 stories
Americans use AI all the time. For money, they still want a human.
Seventy-four percent of U.S. adults use AI regularly or occasionally in daily life. For financial guidance, 72% want a human leading. That gap is an advisor's opening.
Vestmark at 25: $50 billion, five cycles, and an AI bet
The firm has survived five market cycles; its new AI tools face a simpler test, advisor adoption.
Edward Jones's $5,000 digital pilot makes the advisor network the product
Edward Jones is testing a $5,000 digital product that could feed its branch network, the opposite of Schwab's upmarket referral floor.
A California trust fight tests the slayer statute before trial
A murder suspect's bid to tap a family trust for his defense tests how vesting, paperwork, and the presumption of innocence meet in estate planning.
Schwab's $5 million referral floor reshapes RIA client growth
Advisory firms in Schwab Advisor Network must weigh a thinner pipeline against the cost of building their own.
A vacation home is a clue, not the goal
Kitces and Richards show why asking "what would having that allow you to do?" turns a stated want into something worth testing.
Envestnet rolls back MoneyGuidePro upgrade after 19-day advisor backlash
The legacy version is back, but the timing of the recall — and the silence around it — is what planning teams will remember.