The RIA Desk 29 stories this week · 213 total

The Chicago vendor's launch challenges Salesforce and the AI notetakers building the workflow layer incumbents left open.

Tax planning software adoption is up 11 points in three years, and april is wiring IRS transcripts into advisors' year-round planning workflow.

The study describes a client who wants a decision-making partner and an educational process, and it suggests the industry's empathy-first script has the priorities reversed.

A Connecticut hybrid RIA is spending on continuous mentor access to keep next-gen advisors from washing out.

The hybrid RIA is using Claude to find succession prospects before competitors do — and betting the first call wins.

The France-based manager is chasing a transatlantic client pool that no single adviser on either side is built to serve.

The wirehouse's new U.S. bank turns deposits and credit into advisor compensation, a retention play that sharpens the contrast with fee-only RIA economics.

Advisor satisfaction with CRMs lags planning software. AI notetakers are building the workflow layer incumbents left open.

Shannon Larson, the new president from Osaic, brings an M&A record to a firm whose $52 billion base grows 12% a year — and whose 2035 goal needs about 19%.

A private letter ruling says a company can exercise a post-death option to buy a shareholder's stock without triggering the private-foundation self-dealing tax — provided the buyout meets the estate administration exception's five conditions.

A general power of appointment can turn an older relative's unused federal estate tax exemption into a basis adjustment on a wealthy client's appreciated trust assets.

TransUnion finds trust and reputation lead selection factors while Gallup shows advisors hold far more confidence than AI. The firms that make fees legible keep their pricing.

Advisors have a calendar hook to fix a quiet risk: only about a quarter of American adults have a will, and many existing plans are outdated.

WealthManagement.com's new checklist gives advisors the topics to raise with donor-advised fund holders, from succession plans to non-cash contributions.

Average balances rose 9.6% in the second quarter, and Roth adoption keeps climbing. The firm's data shows steady plan design doing the heavy lifting.

At the Nov. 5 Women Advisor Summit, she will make the case that the RIA channel needs more women owners, not just support staff.

Advisory mix climbs to 60.6% even as total client assets fall to $2.55 trillion.

Proposed IRS regulations would limit Trump Accounts to index-tracking mutual funds and ETFs with annual expenses at or below 10 basis points.

CurrentClient won Best in Show at XYPN's AdviceTech Competition, then won over the network's members one by one. The formal deal makes that adoption official.

RFG Advisory's Shannon Spotswood says advisors going independent should pick a long-term partner, not a vendor.

The $367 billion manager's ETF lineup now has four income-focused funds.

A 1,000-investor survey ranks trust and transparency ahead of price, a cue for RIAs competing on custody and disclosure.

Meeting-capture specialists are racing to stay useful as the CRM platforms they plug into build the same features.

A guided workflow has clients execute the recommended trades themselves, giving advisors a way to serve 401(k) money that never shows up on a custodian statement.

A Conference Board report maps Treasury yield paths through 2036 as the 30-year hits pre-2008 levels.

NewEdge gave advisors a raw AI platform, and the people in client meetings did the rest.

Clients are filing early on a 17-year guess; the Trustees' projection is roughly a decade shorter.

The two-decade trade of custody for client referrals is losing its smallest tier.

Eighty-nine percent of advisors plan to hold or raise allocations. The new buyers are mid-sized RIAs.

Interns watch real client meetings and one came back as an advisor.

The Phoenix RIA is testing whether law-firm-style ownership can handle $1.5 billion without a sale.

At AE Wealth, 12% organic growth comes from advisors who defer good ideas and build complementary teams.

The trust funds are set to empty in 2032 or 2033, and current law then cuts benefits by 19% to 23%. Retirement plans should be built on that case now.

A $1 trillion annual decision now has a documented process. Advisors who follow it can show their work; clients who read it know what to ask.

WealthManagement.com's guide walks advisors through an option-to-purchase structure that lets children decide the family house's fate at the second spouse's death.

A federal lawsuit traces how the wirehouse handled her accommodations and confidential address, giving independent firms a recruiting document with a compliance warning.