Advisors archive
Every Advisors story, newest first. 892 stories
27 stories
- Practice management
FTC flags fake Evite invitations as a route into client accounts
The scheme asks recipients to enter their email login to see event details, and advisors warn a compromised inbox can reset the passwords to financial accounts.
- Practice management
PHP releases fixes for critical PHP2Shell flaws after details leak online
Patched versions are 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36 and 8.2.35; exploit attempts were recorded the same day.
- Tax & estate planning
Tax Foundation: bonus depreciation shifts corporate tax burden to economic profits
The Oct. 21 analysis says immediate expensing preserves a deduction's full value and removes the tax burden on the return needed to break even.
- Practice management
SEC lets lone commissioner act when all other sitting members are disqualified
The rule took effect Oct. 2, the day Commissioner Hester Peirce left, as the agency weighs letting RIAs charge performance fees of up to 20%.
- Succession & selling a firm
Alaris banker warns slow AI adoption could lower RIA sale multiples
Median RIA valuations reached a record 11.6 times EBITDA in 2025, per Advisor Growth Strategies, and Darby said buyers may read an AI laggard as overstaffed.
- Tax & estate planning
HSA invested balances reach $100 billion, 52% of assets, Devenir says
Accounts holding investments average $23,837, nearly nine times a funded deposit-only balance, per Devenir's midyear report released Oct. 13.
- Tax & estate planning
Treasury auto-opened Trump Accounts Oct. 1, 2026; parents must claim them
Until a parent claims, the account can accept only government and charity money plus the $1,000 pilot contribution for certain children born 2025 through 2028.
- Succession & selling a firm
Meira Wealth's Jorge Padilla describes intern-to-owner succession
The Coral Gables firm holds $318 million in regulatory assets and six employees, WAD records show.
- Products & portfolios
Advisors Put Annuities in Bond Sleeves as Retail Sales Reach $464 Billion
Pacific Life's Steve Goldberg says higher rates let insurers offer better crediting rates and downside protection, and he explains four structures with different trade-offs.
- Tax & estate planning
Tax Foundation says California billionaire tax pitch keeps shifting
An Oct. 16 op-ed focuses on advocate Gabriel Zucman's description of Proposition 40 as a one-time levy, without offering a new revenue figure.
- Products & portfolios
Musk's SpaceX child-share pledge raises Trump Accounts lockup question
Musk said in an Oct. 19 post he will give one SpaceX share to every U.S. child next year, about $10.5 billion at the $146.03 Oct. 16 close.
- Practice management
Kevin Harnisch: SEC off-channel focus moving from sweeps to exams; Finra still scrutinizes
The Norton Rose Fulbright partner and former SEC enforcement branch chief says firms that discover substantive off-channel messages must investigate and remediate.
- Succession & selling a firm
Beacon Pointe buys $1B WorthPointe; founder Van Slyke won't join
Terms were not disclosed; WorthPointe's Austin and Tyler offices become new Beacon Pointe locations.
- Tax & estate planning
WealthManagement.com column argues family capital decides whether wealth survives a transfer
The author argues values, relationships and traditions determine whether wealth holds, against Cerulli's estimate of more than $120 trillion passing down over the next 20 years.
- Tax & estate planning
Treasury and IRS put donor-advised fund guidance on 2026-2027 priority plan
WealthManagement.com reports the 6033 reference is new and may point to additional reporting for donor-advised fund sponsors.
- Tax & estate planning
WealthManagement.com guide lays out three paths and four questions for family business succession
The guide says many analyses value the coming shift of privately held U.S. businesses at $5 trillion or more.
- Tax & estate planning
IRS grants estate late opt-out from automatic GST allocation on GRATs
Private Letter Ruling 202633002, dated Aug. 14, 2026, allowed the elections after missed opt-outs surfaced at the taxpayer's death.
- Tax & estate planning
Ed Slott: same-property rule can void a 60-day IRA rollover
Returning a different asset of equal value instead of the exact cash or shares distributed makes the distribution taxable, Ed Slott writes in an IRAHelp column.
- Succession & selling a firm
SEC adds advisors involved in RIA mergers to fiscal 2026 exam priority list
Legacy billing errors, undisclosed conflicts and incomplete records can outlast an RIA deal, Wealth Solutions Report says.
- Practice management
Ezra Group's AI connector directory grows from 69 to 244 in ten weeks
The directory's 244 listings include 123 agents and 121 MCP servers, following a September wave of official connectors from wealthtech platforms.
- Practice management
Fee-only RIA asset share falls to 34% among $5bn-plus firms, Cerulli finds
Insurance-licensed firms doubled their share to 14%; hybrids stayed at 51% over five years.
- The Advisor's Note
BofA survey: 37% of incoming U.S. family office principals said they were very prepared
A quarter of 355 U.S. family offices surveyed had a leadership transition in the last decade.
- Products & portfolios
BlackRock Q4 fixed income outlook says similar yields carry different risks
The firm says a portfolio yielding more than 7% with less than three years of duration and an A-minus average rating is now possible.
- Tax & estate planning
BofA study: 37% said incoming principal was very prepared when transition occurred
A quarter of the 355 U.S. family offices surveyed have had a leadership transition in the last decade.
- Practice management
Nerd's Eye View lays out a two-pronged client review approach for RIAs
Amplify Reviews' 2026 report, cited in the article, finds 79% of top RIAs are not actively using testimonials or online reviews in marketing.
- Tax & estate planning
US pension system graded C+ as sustainability score slips to 57.1
The 2026 Marsh CFA Institute index puts the US at 61.6 overall, behind six A-grade systems with near-universal coverage and funded structures.
- Products & portfolios
8VC files $20.4M fund with zero sold; Bregal reports $80.8M co-invest sold
Coatue, Ares and D. E. Shaw also filed zero-sold offerings; Buccaneer and Almanack reported fully sold funds.
13 stories
- Products & portfolios
Charles Schwab plans its own long/short SMA, CEO Rick Wurster says
Wurster gave no launch date on the Oct. 15 call; DGS Capital's Ashish Sharma expects a second-quarter 2027 rollout.
- Practice management
Michael Kitces: AI's main effect will be deeper client engagements
At the eMoney Advisor 2026 Summit, he argued time saved on plan preparation flows into additional client work and can support higher fees.
- Recruiting & transitions
Prudential Wealth Advisors to centralize recruiting, targeting 2027 launch
The 3,000-advisor wealth arm says it is interviewing two leads for the unit and expects to be in market in the second half of 2027.
- Succession & selling a firm
DeVoe: RIA deal volume down 17% as broker-dealers enter M&A
LPL, Cetera, Osaic and Raymond James compete with consolidators for the same practices, while $5 billion-plus sellers set a record, DeVoe says.
- Tax & estate planning
Stanford economists estimate California Prop 40 would raise $30 billion
The paper's authors say seven billionaires who left the state took $540 billion, or 30% of California's billionaire wealth, with them.
- Products & portfolios
Morningstar raises Vanguard Global Wellington process pillar to High
The Gold-rated fund returned 13.4% annualized from its May 2023 People upgrade through September 2026, versus 12.5% for the category.
- Recruiting & transitions
Elevation Point takes minority stake in $750M UBS Las Vegas breakaway
Truing will run under Elevation Point's corporate RIA and custody client assets with Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions.
- Practice management
Jump links FMG content to follow-ups; Zocks partners with LPL
Jump flags firm-approved FMG pieces for the advisor to send or drop; Zocks syncs conversation data to LPL's WealthVision Premium planning tool.
- Succession & selling a firm
Beacon Pointe adds $1.35 billion in client assets; Wealthspire buys Atlantic Swiss
Beacon Pointe's three deals push its total past $70 billion in assets under management; Atlantic Swiss oversees more than $1 billion in assets under management and administration.
- Products & portfolios
55ip expands RIA UMA lineup with J.P. Morgan, BlackRock models
The J.P. Morgan Asset Management subsidiary had previously run tax-managed UMAs only for select enterprise partners.
- Recruiting & transitions
Osaic recruits $2.3 billion ICG next team from LPL Financial
The New Jersey-based team, led by managing partner James A. Costabile, plans to keep expanding through recruiting and acquisitions.
- Practice management
Gen Z trust in AI-only advice falls to 10%, SIFMA-KPMG survey finds
The survey of more than 2,100 U.S. investors finds 42% rely on advisors as their primary source of investment advice, up from 39%.
- Practice management
Mercer Global Advisors completes Aspen Investing rollout across 43,000 client accounts
Mercer reports $110 billion in assets and built the platform with Orion; a 125-person investment team oversees it.