The RIA Desk 29 stories this week · 213 total

Americans 55 and older held roughly 61% of the nation's $48 trillion in real estate wealth as of late 2025, according to Redfin's analysis of Federal Reserve data.

The custodian had applied the same minimum to new advisory firms and is now applying it to firms already on the platform, a Fidelity spokesperson said; one advisor posted the notice on LinkedIn.

Existing firms below the threshold must meet it or begin moving off the platform by June 30, 2027, the firm says.

The column looks at ensemble teams whose partners want different next chapters and why the hardest conversation is the one that starts while nothing is broken.

The three-year terms begin Jan. 1, 2027, the same day Martin Seay becomes board chair.

An SEC spokesperson says no nonpublic data was released, while Frontline Compliance points to the backend extraction layer as the exposure to watch.

The previous directory, live since 2016, drew search traffic but connected almost no consumers, the association says.

Thirty-two percent of respondents said their future-preparation energy leaned toward physical health, against 16% for financial planning, with 53% splitting evenly.

Nancy DeRusso, who joined Guardian in 2026 as head of client solutions, calls the divergence between expected and actual preparation a longevity gap advisors can help close.

A Sept. 24 Pontera blog post argues institutions need an outside validator for agent-to-agent traffic; RIABiz reported Schwab is preparing to launch agents of its own.

Notice 2026-62 and Revenue Ruling 2026-20 target quick redemptions of appreciated holdings without banning Section 351 seeding.

Apex Clearing would handle clearing, carrying and custody; Nasdaq supplies the trading technology.

The September 29 report assesses Schwab, LPL Financial, Raymond James, Ameriprise and Stifel, and flags higher deposit costs and cash sorting as offsets to the spread.

Retirement income planning reached the top of the network's benefit request list in 2026, and more than 300 members already use Income Lab.

AI efficiency tools were the network's most-requested partnership category in 2025 and 2026, with Jump the most requested product, according to XYPN.

The custodian says advisors will get a unified wealth offering with custody from BNY or a custodian of their choosing, and it will not say how many advisors use Wove today.

For stock issued on or before July 4, 2025, the fixed amount is $10 million rather than $15 million, though the 10-times-purchase-price alternative still applies.

The 300-owner survey also found about 40% reassess business decisions against personal goals only occasionally or rarely, and 31% have no succession plan in place.

Asset Management Services constructs the risk-based models, with the firm's private markets team handling diligence and monitoring.

The Bank of America unit's updated Form ADV disclosures state a financial incentive to recommend products from firms that pay for data analytics, according to RIABiz.

The same Cerulli Associates survey with Vista Equity Partners found 64% of RIAs reporting AI has reduced manual and administrative work.

Marguerite Weese sees owners moving exits forward after the pandemic; BNY Wealth research shows just under 50% of sellers are prepared for diligence.

Paul Atkins and Mark Uyeda are the commission's only members, with three seats vacant, and party-balance rules require at least two of the next three appointees to be non-Republicans.

The AssetMark-owned UMA platform says advisors can use the new custom model offering without paying its platform fee or its Tax Management Services fee.

The firm says management, investment philosophy and client relationships carry over to the new name, along with SEC file 801-107061.

A 170-year in-house engineering culture has decided the workflow layer is someone else's business, and the 85-office install is the reference Jump will be priced on.

Northwestern Mutual's 22,000-seat rollout makes the rental case; a small Altruist addition points to the record as the asset that compounds.

FINNY's pay-as-you-grow move shifts acquisition risk to the vendor; the share that runs for the life of the client becomes a permanent claim on the advisor's revenue.

Bundling has climbed for a decade and pooled infrastructure is the same economics one layer down, leaving wealth advisors pricing small plans against DC specialists who already own the cost structure.

Three of the four traits consumers prize most in an advisor are relational, and a 25 percent attrition figure prices what firms leave untaught.

The custodian is buying the switch and the growth platform is buying the wait, but only one sits inside the system of record.

Broad employee equity is the integration tool the roll-up wave underfunds, and Creative Planning is compounding it faster than its asset base.

The 12% asset gain is measured against a base that already excludes the sold independent book, so the growth belongs to the bank-and-employee model even as firm-wide revenue sits flat.

The custodian is selling process rather than access, and betting the position line outlives the listings every client is asking about.

With active funds taking 38% of first-half ETF flows but holding only 12% of assets, the category's real product is the shell around the strategy.

A $17.5 billion RIA with 225 people and 5,000 families makes the case that day-one operational readiness is what a seller is buying.