Advisors archive
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32 stories
- Practice management
Envestnet's Vestmark deal promises advisors no forced platform migrations
The purchase, estimated by analysts at $500 million to $1 billion, arrives six days after Envestnet pledged $1 billion to rebuild the platform advisors already use.
- Practice management
Fidelity backs Savvy Wealth's RIA custody platform, expected in mid-2027
Savvy says multi-billion-AUM RIA prospects pulled the launch forward; Fidelity will collect client revenue and share a portion back.
- Tax & estate planning
Wealth coach: a child who looks unmotivated may simply be unpracticed
In a WealthManagement.com column, a coach with 15 years among ultra-high-net-worth families argues that well-intentioned rescues protect a child from succeeding or failing on their own.
- Practice management
Pontera launches non-discretionary 401(k) service as password sharing stays blocked
Advisors can advise, bill and report on held-away plan accounts while clients log in and place trades themselves.
- Products & portfolios
Nareit researchers flag a 127-basis-point cap rate gap between private real estate and REITs
The spread, open since late 2021, leaves appraised private real estate priced below the risk-free rate, Nareit researchers told WealthManagement.com.
- Practice management
Wealthspire launches sports and entertainment practice with $2.9 billion in assets
The practice sits inside Wealthspire Family Office and is led by Frank Marzano, who has advised athletes and entertainers for more than 25 years.
- Products & portfolios
Morningstar survey: U.S. advisor optimism falls to 36% as private-market offerings reach 40%
Half of surveyed U.S. advisors named geopolitical tensions their top market concern, up from 37%, and the share saying they intend to add private-market investments slipped to 5% from 8%.
- Practice management
WealthManagement.com report catalogs obstacles to advising 401(k) participants
The report cites record-keeper data feeds most broker-dealers and RIAs do not get frequently, 1990s-era record-keeper technology, and advisors who would rather not meet with participants.
- Tax & estate planning
Cresset-NAT combination would create a $13.1 billion trust platform for advisors
Cresset would move its $5.4 billion trust division onto National Advisors Trust's national charter, which already serves more than 340 wealth firms.
- Practice management
Altruist adds donor-advised funds to custody at 50 basis points
The accounts carry no minimums and can be invested in any model on the platform, but the fee comparison is Altruist's own.
- Recruiting & transitions
LPL adds $1.1 billion Praxis team from Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network
Praxis Financial Partners keeps its name and, after evaluating more than a dozen firms, cites ownership retention and succession options, according to LPL.
- Practice management
FiComm survey finds 45% of investors chose an advisor without a referral
The New Growth Equation report puts the share at 50% among investors with $5 million or more.
- Practice management
Dynasty tells RIA founders to set share classes and buyback rights on day one
The firm says it began with several share classes 15 years ago and has since simplified them as the business changed.
- Products & portfolios
Merrill adds third-party manager data fees up to $860,000 and a 0.1% revenue share
The Bank of America subsidiary's Form ADV updates say it will have a financial incentive to recommend third-party managers that pay for data analytics, with the schedule effective Jan. 1, 2027.
- Recruiting & transitions
Rise Private Wealth Management is Schwab's fourth large Ameriprise breakaway of 2026
The Bedford, N.H., firm's ADV filing surfaced a near-$8 billion move Ameriprise has confirmed; neither Schwab nor Dynasty announced it.
- Practice management
Schwab Advisor Services becomes first RIA custodian to use Anthropic's Claude
Schwab says it is the only RIA custodian in Anthropic's early release, though Vanguard is on the charter list and says it will not use Claude for custody.
- Practice management
Fidelity ends custody for sub-$100 million RIAs, with June 2027 exit
Michael Kitces called the hard no bizarre, noting earlier minimum increases let small firms pay a fee to stay.
- Practice management
SEC proposes rescinding pay-to-play rule for advisers with government clients
The proposal would drop the two-year ban on compensated advisory work after political contributions, along with the recordkeeping provisions tied to it.
- Tax & estate planning
J.P. Morgan survey finds millennial and Gen Z respondents report more emotional friction
A 2026 J.P. Morgan survey reported by Wealth Solutions Report found a majority of millennial and Gen Z respondents calling emotional factors a significant challenge in family wealth discussions, against 38% of Gen X and 29% of baby boomers.
- Tax & estate planning
Emory & Henry halves tuition as at least five colleges plan fall 2027 cuts
The University of Tulsa plans to cut tuition and fees to $25,000 from $54,000 next year, and a survey of more than 250 private nonprofits puts the average aid discount at 57%.
- Practice management
Mariner CEO Marty Bicknell budgets $175M for 700 AI bots over five years
RIABiz reports Bicknell co-owns Humanity Labs, whose agentic AI will handle back-office work in a plan aimed at absorbing acquired RIAs faster.
- Tax & estate planning
Vanguard data shows fewer high earners maxing out 401(k) deferrals
The max-out rate among $150,000-plus earners in Vanguard plans fell to 51% from 60% since 2018, and projections built on the old number need re-running.
- Succession & selling a firm
Wealth Solutions Report outlines post-LOI pitfalls that can erode RIA sale value
Closing-date pressure, consent timing and equity terms can still change what a founder collects after a letter of intent is signed, according to the October 5 piece.
- Tax & estate planning
WealthManagement.com argues the $124 trillion wealth transfer needs a risk review
Inherited assets carry exposures that get less attention than the tax and estate work, the coverage says.
- Succession & selling a firm
Private Advisor Group CFO Adam Schorr on why buyers and sellers price the same practice differently
Schorr tells Wealth Solutions Report that transferability can be improved in the final year, while founder dependency takes years to unwind.
- Succession & selling a firm
Bahnsen Group agrees to add $1.1 billion Hightower Naples practice under its brand
The Bahnsen Group's first deal to put another Hightower team under its brand is expected to close at year-end.
- Tax & estate planning
Chip Wilson's divorce has no reported prenup, and the planning gap advisors can fill
A 2026 Harris poll found 53% of engaged or married respondents under 45 had signed a prenup, a share that complicates the assumption the document is for people in certain brackets.
- Practice management
SEC and five other regulators warn on impersonation and relationship investment scams
The joint bulletin, issued for World Investor Week’s tenth edition, names two scam categories and directs investors to registration checks and Investor.gov.
- Practice management
Cerulli and Morningstar: 63% of surveyed advisers see DC plans as a prospecting priority
A separate Crisil Coalition Greenwich study, also published this morning, finds affluent investors combining adviser-led and self-directed accounts, a mix that may complicate the rollover handoff.
- Products & portfolios
An op-ed in Financial Planning lays out 90/10 at $1 million and a private-markets carve-out at $10 million
The column drops bonds from the defensive slot and keeps 10% cash in place from $1 million to $10 million
- The Advisor's Note
Ensemble survey: RIAs above $1B lost 4.3% of clients in 2023, below $500M 1.4%
Philip Palaveev ties the 2.9-point gap to client-service employees who hold no equity stake.
- Recruiting & transitions
Fidelity tells sub-$100M custody clients to move as Schwab stops short of a promise
The threshold counts assets held at Fidelity rather than total firm AUM, and Schwab cites the 11,000 micro-practices it already serves while stopping short of a promise.
8 stories
- Recruiting & transitions
Schwab offers an informal welcome to Fidelity's sub-$100 million custody clients
The custodian says it already serves 11,000 micro-practices, but stops short of a promise as Apex, Altruist and Robinhood's TradePMR also say they are open.
- Products & portfolios
BofA strategists say easy money from AI capex trade is largely made
The Monday note says positioning in AI-linked beneficiaries and white-collar consumption themes already reflects both sides of the trade, and it recommends a selective pivot.
- Practice management
Northwestern Mutual survey: 61% expect long-term care, 54% have not planned for it
Respondents who worked with an adviser were about twice as likely to report having a long-term care plan, and 73% preferred receiving care at home.
- Practice management
Boise advisor Alex Lundgren turned live AM radio into a Micron client niche
Roughly half of her 187 households work at Micron or large area hospitals, a concentration built on plan-document fluency and callers who became clients.
- Tax & estate planning
SEC, FINRA, CFTC, NASAA, NFA and SIPC issue a joint investor bulletin
The bulletin pairs market-volatility planning with warnings that AI is making impersonation scams harder to detect and directs investors to registration checks.
- Practice management
Compound Planning runs $5 billion on software its own engineers write
Co-founder Alex Farman-Farmaian explains what the ten-person team built, and where the RIA still buys.
- Tax & estate planning
Coastal 360 and Sovereign Financial use projections to show wealthy retirees they can spend
Alicia Fuller and Charles Failla walk clients through cash-flow projections before spending; one preceded a $150,000 world trip.
- Succession & selling a firm
Ensemble Practice survey finds 4.3% client attrition at RIAs above $1 billion in 2023
Philip Palaveev contrasts 4.3% at the largest firms with 1.4% below $500 million and points to service by employees who hold no equity stake.