Advisors archive
Every Advisors story, newest first. 897 stories
1 story
- Practice management
SEC tells preview what your next exam will test
Advisers who track risk alerts, sweep-exam announcements, and regulator speeches gain lead time on compliance problems before the exam letter arrives.
37 stories
- Practice management
Schwab ends sub-$5-million RIA referrals starting in 2027
Firms in the Schwab Advisor Network have until 2027 to replace the under-$5-million leads Schwab is keeping for itself; the largest channel players say they will not feel the loss.
- Practice management
Virtual wellness check-ins give advisors a near-retiree hook
Financial Finesse data links virtual wellness engagement to 401(k) persistence and readiness, giving practices a reason to add the service.
- Tax & estate planning
Two Social Security tax fixes: $400,000 donut hole and a health-benefit tax
A Tax Foundation guide compares payroll-tax designs that would change the math for high earners and for employees with company coverage.
- Practice management
Child-free adults are less confident about retirement, Allianz finds
Child-free adults are less confident about retirement than parents, and most have no written plan. Advisers who treat them as an afterthought miss a real vulnerability.
- Products & portfolios
HSA balances hit a record; most owners still don't invest
EBRI's new data put the average balance at $5,532, with just 18% of holders invested beyond cash. That hands advisors an asset-location opening.
- Tax & estate planning
Schwab and Fidelity tighten the door on the $150 billion tax trade
The custodians behind tax-aware long-short accounts are closing off access, and advisers need to reprice the risk in their own books.
- Products & portfolios
Why active funds lag: their trading erases their stock picks
Morningstar's Jeff Ptak finds the 100 largest active U.S. stock funds picked stocks better than they traded them.
- Products & portfolios
For inherited IRAs, the 60-day rollover is a one-way door
Slott's first uncorrectable retirement error turns a $400,000 inheritance into an immediate tax bill.
- Practice management
Dynasty hires implementation chief to get RIAs to use its platform
The new partner role is about making sure advisors actually use the platform after they sign on.
- Succession & selling a firm
A $644M solo practice finds an exit in a $160B aggregator
The sale of Weinand Financial, a one-advisor firm, shows a working exit for sub-$1B practices.
- Practice management
Kestra puts a product executive in charge of wealth management
Kelly Apple's resume suggests the platform's next phase is a deeper shelf of offerings.
- Products & portfolios
Fisher's $4 billion Treasury ETF swap hands advisors a duration check
The Fisher-linked flows arrived before the Treasury's surprise buyback announcement and give advisors reason to revisit duration with 30-year yields at their highest since 2007.
- Tax & estate planning
The last mile of retirement is a planning gap advisors can close
A new IRIC report lays out the behavioral biases that stall decumulation and the nudges advisors can use to turn a savings conversation into a spending plan.
- The Advisor's Note
Two Sigma divorce puts founder-owner planning on the stand
A $1.3 billion valuation gap is the argument for writing founder divorce and ownership plans before a courtroom forces the issue.
- Practice management
Schwab's fraud guide hands clients a response checklist
Charles Schwab turns a $488 million FTC statistic into a practical script for fraud conversations.
- Tax & estate planning
Appeals court lets NYC pied-à-terre tax proceed; Sept. 18 deadline holds
The September 18 exemption deadline stands while the tax's legality is litigated. Owners who want to avoid the surcharge must act by then.
- Recruiting & transitions
Clawback verdict: $5.6 million reminder of the cost of leaving
A wirehouse broker who left after two years lost his arbitration fight over a recruiting loan — a caution for advisors weighing independence.
- Succession & selling a firm
Carlyle's $2.8 billion MAI bet re-prices the RIA exit
The deal prices MAI's AUM at about 5.5 cents per dollar and signals what scaled owners can expect at the sale table.
- Practice management
SEC examiners want your AI governance on the record
Fiscal 2026 exam priorities turn AI supervision into a paper trail.
- Recruiting & transitions
Edelman's TRO shows an advisor's non-solicit clause followed him to RFG
A Washington court barred a departing Edelman advisor from soliciting clients, a sign that non-solicit agreements travel with advisors into the RIA channel.
- Recruiting & transitions
Abound's $300 Million Move Tests Prospera's 2.5:1 Support Pledge
A $300 million practice's move to Prospera puts the independent platform's 2.5:1 home-office headcount pledge in the spotlight.
- Practice management
TaxOptix makes tax savings the doorway to 401(k) plans
Stephen Daigle's TaxOptix uses the tax return as the entry point to retirement plans and a wider client relationship.
- Products & portfolios
History's capital cycle casts the AI boom as a railway moment
The capital cycle says AI's investors, not the technology, are at risk.
- Products & portfolios
CAIS doubles to $2 billion, and the cap table becomes diligence
A $170 million round at double the last valuation makes the platform's own investor roster part of private-market due diligence.
- Products & portfolios
Vanguard launches customizable models without breaking the 0.07% expense ratio
The new offering lets advisors adjust select Vanguard models through three external platforms while keeping the low-cost pitch intact.
- Practice management
CFP pay study: certification pays an 11% premium
The 2026 survey also shows management responsibility adds roughly $92,000 to a planner's market value.
- Practice management
A $6 million payout puts Forbes' advisor rankings under a cloud
The New York Times reported that Forbes fired its top editor over an undisclosed payment from Shook Research's founder — a story advisors who market themselves on the list can't ignore.
- Products & portfolios
Fidelity pushes cash beyond money markets, without naming the three
A Fidelity briefing claims three fixed income options have outperformed money market products but stops short of naming them, framing the pitch as direction rather than product menu.
- Practice management
SEC prepares to ease pay-to-play rule on RIA donations
A $150 donation can sideline a firm from public pension business for two years; the SEC is moving to soften that math.
- Products & portfolios
Treasury doubles long-dated buybacks as 30-year yield hits 19-year high
The doubling buys a reprieve; the supply picture keeps long-duration risk high.
- Products & portfolios
The fee-disclosure lesson in the SEC's pre-IPO fund case
The complaint's 46% average markup is what 'no upfront fee' can look like in a pre-IPO fund sold to retail clients.
- Practice management
A $40 million book-reassignment suit is a disability-leave warning
The complaint against Morgan Stanley shows why advisors should put leave policies and accommodation requests in writing before surgery.
- Tax & estate planning
A will is only as good as its last review
A celebrity estate fight and a teacher's 403(b) show what a stale plan costs.
- Tax & estate planning
Two Roth IRAs, one bucket, and a $50,000 ordering rule
Ed Slott's IRAHelp explainer: contributions come out of the consolidated Roth IRA before a cent of conversion basis does.
- Products & portfolios
Bonds' newfound unpopularity is an active manager's opening
A Financial Planning essay argues the 2022 correlation break and higher yields make a second look at fixed income worthwhile.
- Practice management
For the misengaged spouse, meeting format is the fix
A Nerd's Eye View post sees the quiet spouse's silence as a communication gap. Meeting structure is the fix.
- Tax & estate planning
LPL's RMD estimator brings age-73 rules to the client meeting
The tool applies the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table, so the higher starting age and fresh life expectancy tables show up as one withdrawal figure clients can plan around.
2 stories
- Succession & selling a firm
RIA deal report maps what buyers reject
Advisor Growth Strategies' 2026 Deal Room report benchmarks the deal killers and the premium drivers.
- Succession & selling a firm
RIA M&A's record streak runs through DeVoe's newest Deal Book
The report's title claims a record first half, but the numbers stay locked behind a download form.