Articles published 1/2024
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Charles Schwab filed in November under New Jersey WARN laws for October layoffs in Jersey City -- the former TD Ameritrade RIA custody headquarters; the layoffs become official Feb. 5 under NJ labor laws
The Westlake, Texas company disclosed the planned February cuts in a state filing and their relation to big cuts first reported in July, and executed in October
January 31, 2024 at 2:14 AM
Schwab IMPACT is back in San Francisco -- its old stomping grounds -- a boost for the city after Schwab dumped it, and it struggled post-COVID
Pushed to perhaps its latest date ever, Nov. 19-21, the 2024 event will swing from Right Coast Philadelphia to Left Coast 'Frisco, at a venue yet to be announced.
January 30, 2024 at 3:17 AM
Schwab only platforms third-party spot Bitcoin ETFs, mostly Fidelity and BlackRock, but don't be surprised if it 'shocks the world' with deep-cheap ETF, analyst says
The Westlake, Texas $8.5 trillion giant avoids conflicts and marketing costs, but could it go 'big and disruptive' at any time in a fee-sensitive market
January 27, 2024 at 2:59 AM
Manish Khatta joins forces with HiddenLevers co-founder Praveen Ghanta to launch GuardRails, a risk analysis play that rejects raw 'risk numbers' -- a 'game-changer' in the scale-minded RIA space, analyst says
The new Miami, Fla. venture will be the first, but not the last one launched by Potomac Fund Management, which has roughly doubled its managed assets in the last 12 months.
January 26, 2024 at 4:42 PM
Familiar faces -- Bill, Eric, Oleg and Joel -- dominate Day One at T3 but Syntax Data and SoraFinance get their moment -- and Oleg brandishes app marvel
The big companies like Orion, Envestnet and Invent cement the 20th anniversary of the Joel Bruckenstein event with bundle-ism, but green sprouts of new firms are everywhere; the kids get AI
January 24, 2024 at 6:27 AM
After three years -- and $2.5 billion -- trying to make an Envestnet killer out of InvestCloud, Motive Partners goes owner-operator when CEO search comes up empty
Motive hopes Jeff Yabuki, 66, can restore magic after old InvestCloud management put the 'icing before the cake' in the eyes of one analyst.
January 23, 2024 at 2:07 AM
RightCapital conversions from MoneyGuidePro are a catalyst for Commonwealth's move to put paraplanners at advisor fingertips
The Waltham, Mass., IBD with 2,200 reps is latest, after LPL, to create a paraplanner bank of people for advisors to use -- and pay for -- as they go, and switch software vendors smoothly
January 20, 2024 at 3:03 AM
Goldman Sachs salvages $349-million 'gain' from its United Capital misadventure that may also be a $400-million haircut
The New York City investment bank managed a sale and jailbreak of its in-house mass-affluent RIA but was able to get enough assets transitioned to Peter Mallouk's Creative Planning for the accounting win
January 19, 2024 at 1:45 AM
CEO Walt Bettinger had to explain why retention of TD Ameritrade assets is so good yet Schwab's fourth quarter net new assets still took a nosedive
Schwab is experiencing little slippage at all from TDA investors but unseen, largely inexplicable, investor malaise took a bite out of the triumph
January 18, 2024 at 4:06 AM
Tim Buckley hazards Gen X, Y, Z blowback and catches Vanguard investors off-guard with last-second, anti-Fidelity policy to actively 'steer assets' away from Bitcoin
The Vanguard CEO stripped all third-party Bitcoin funds from its market, even though many young investors see them as table stakes portfolio spice.
January 17, 2024 at 4:56 AM
The classic RIA era is sputtering and firms must 'decentralize,' hiring non-advisors to specialize, new Cerulli report shows, or RIAs will 'limp along,' a second consultant says
RIA principals have killed Wall Street with semi-solo shops -- only 35% have 'specialized staff' -- but the comfort zone must evolve for growth
January 13, 2024 at 2:24 AM
Reed Colley reports $20-billion AUA RIA win -- a legacy Envestnet-Tamarac shop -- as proof point Summit Wealth software is ascendant
The San Francisco-based Black Diamond founder has Summit Wealth playing hardball among elite RIAs with Brighton Jones as pioneer.
January 12, 2024 at 3:23 AM
Gary Gensler post-exchange listing approval for Bitcoin ETF includes a stark '1940 Act' warning to RIAs not to read too much tolerance into it
The SEC head bent to the will of the Stamford, Conn, fund firm's lawsuit and rivals -- BlackRock, Fidelity and eight others -- piled on for the ride, but ETF price spreads are wide and likely headed for a shakeout.
January 11, 2024 at 3:35 AM
After many beta tests, Vanguard finally launches bank cash product for non-Vanguard investors, a U-turn but also likely thorn in the side of Schwab, Fidelity
High-yield but low frills, the Malvern, Pa., giant's long tip-toe back to cash makes it a me-too filler product but perhaps effective.
January 10, 2024 at 3:11 AM
Bill Crager is dropping CEO role after multiple shoes dropped; the company insists it was his 'decision' but vision, Yodlee future uncertain
The co-founder of the $5.3-trillion AUA outsourcer of software and investments was pressed to take the job under the most adverse circumstances, then second-guessed by stakeholders as he managed the cards he was dealt.
January 9, 2024 at 4:09 AM
Loaded with teeth and better crafted, the latest 'DOL Rule' attracts 19,000 comments -- and SIFMA, Charles Schwab Corp and Fidelity wrote words by the thousands in fierce opposition
Last time around, in 2016, federal regulators imposed a very RIA standard on brokers and insurance agents but it failed in court; now, the DOL is determined to avoid that mistake again, ERISA lawyer says.
January 6, 2024 at 3:52 AM
Social Security is already a huge problem for financial advisors in 2024 because their faith in its long-term existence is too low to plan for
With zero reserves looming in nine years, and political headwinds, financial advisors who can't afford to have investors outlive their savings often prefer to punt on trying to predict such a wild card
January 5, 2024 at 1:59 AM
Fisher Investments is again part of a public firestorm after media heavyweights report it has entered sale talks; Fisher fires off heated denial, but one analyst still sees smoke on the horizon
The Plano, Texas RIA with $236 billion of AUM -- worth perhaps $10 billion -- flamed The Wall Street Journal for anonymously sourced report, without checking with firm, but did not condemn nearly identical Bloomberg report.
January 4, 2024 at 2:37 AM
RIAs remain wirehouse kryptonite in 2024, and by 2027, JP Morgan, Merrill, Wells and UBS will see market share tailspin -- RIAs the obvious culprits, Cerulli data shows
'RIAs' will control nearly one-third of advised assets by 2027, up from 27% today, virtually switching spots with wirehouses in a statistically zero-sum battle for market dominance, Cerulli projects.
