Trader Talk

As advisors increasingly outsource investment management to focus on things like financial wellness, comprehensive planning and growing their businesses, fintech firms are introducing new ways to meet the demand beyond digital model portfolio marketplaces. Morningstar announced earlier this month that it would bring new data, research and its popular star rating system to the growing

When brokerages and wealth management firms began sending their retail customers a new type of regulator-mandated disclosure last year, it was supposed to erase investors’ confusion about how their financial advisors make money. Instead, the required forms have made it even harder for ordinary investors to understand the fees they pay, as well as a

Vanguard, one of the world’s largest money managers, says it cares “deeply” about the long-term impact of climate change. It joined an investor group that announced a net zero-emissions target and oversees pension funds for technology companies, where employees have a long tradition of being environmentally conscious. But Vanguard, with $8.1 trillion in assets, is

There are three things Jim Dickson, CEO of Sanctuary Wealth, looks for when acquiring advisors: “Culture, culture, culture.” “It’s either a fit, or it’s not,” he said. “You can try to make things work that you know in your heart aren’t going to work. I think each of us have unique cultures and each of

Doug Elstun had an investment idea for his wealthiest clients, many of them professional athletes, including former LA Lakers forward Rick Fox and retired Philadelphia Eagles running back Darren Sproles. In the four years since the 2008-09 financial crisis, the stock market had roared back. Elstun, a gregarious financial advisor who parlayed his Division 1

JPMorgan bought college financial planning platform Frank, the latest in a string of acquisitions the largest U.S. bank has made this year to compete with both big technology firms and fintech upstarts. Frank will help JPMorgan bolster its relationships with college students, the New York-based bank said in a statement Tuesday. The platform, which offers

Markets are a means, not an end. Access to investing, therefore, is a means to achieving an outcome. The debate around payment for order flow seems to have lost that critical point, centering on whether the increased access to free trading for retail investors is worth the money wholesalers earn to execute their orders. This

As a result of four financial advisors launching an internship program this past summer, 20 aspiring planners who are Black or Latino have jobs with fee-only RIAs. The BLatinX Internship Program’s first year spanned 38 placements for college students, recent graduates or career-changers at 26 different firms, according to co-founder Luis Rosa of Henderson of

A dozen years after launching her independent RIA, financial advisor Zaneilia Harris is glad she made the decision to drop any brokerage affiliation. “A lot of opportunities opened up that I just wasn’t aware of,” said the founder of Upper Marlboro, Maryland-based Harris & Harris Wealth Management. “I know that if I had stayed on

Count an SEC commissioner and the CEO of FINRA among those calling for a single public database for financial advisors’ and broker-dealers’ regulatory disclosures rather than the current patchwork. In a panel at the North American Securities Administrators Association’s annual meeting, SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee and FINRA CEO Robert Cook said they would like

Without changes, those who rely on Social Security income will have to tighten their belts in about 13 years. The reserve depletion date for the combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Funds was lowered from 2035 to 2034 as a result of employment, earnings, interest rates and GDP dropping substantially

If not for the challenges of gaining scale as a socially responsible investing startup, financial advisor Marci Bair might have another connection to Martina Navratilova. Bair’s high school tennis teammates used the nickname of “Martina” for her to the point that they still call her that 37 years later, according to the founder of San

As usual, advisors were on the move, breaking away from wirehouses and switching firms. But we also have news of an unregistered Boston advisor getting jail time, Fidelity offering third-party cybersecurity to its clients, the FPA’s Heart of Financial Planning Award and CFP Board scholarships for diverse CFPs. Scroll through to find what you might

Like so many Canadian snowbirds who move to Florida for the winter and buy property, a Toronto-based asset manager made another deal for a multibillion-dollar American firm and agreed to site its first U.S. headquarters in the Sunshine State. CI Financial is buying Portola Partners Group, a Silicon Valley-based RIA with $5.2 billion in client

Social Security beneficiaries face a troublesome future if Congress does not pass legislation to keep the system solvent. One bill, authored by Rep. John Larson, D-CT, was first introduced in the 2019-2020 legislative session and had over 200 co-signers. A spokesperson for Larson said he plans to reintroduce an updated version of the legislation this

Most retirement plan participants aren’t finding what they’re looking for in the digital tools of their 401(k) providers, according to a new J.D. Power survey. Only 24% of retirement plan participants strongly agree that their 401(k) provider “offers proactive guidance and help,” and just 43% find it very easy to locate the information they’re seeking

Fidelity Investments urged the SEC to approve its Bitcoin ETF in a private meeting, listing the virtues of an idea that the regulator has been slow to embrace. Executives including Tom Jessop, president of Fidelity Digital Assets, met with SEC officials in a Sept. 8 video call, filings show. They laid out reasons why the

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Source: NYSE The land mines for the markets are becoming more numerous. Seasonal weakness is combining with continuing uncertainty over the impact of the delta variant on consumer behavior, high labor and material costs affecting pricing and delivery of goods, and poor data out of

MML Investor Services, the broker-dealer and RIA owned by insurer MassMutual, will pay $4 million and overhaul its social media practices after allegedly failing to supervise the online activities of Keith Gill, a former agent who, under the names “Roaring Kitty” and “DeepF***ingValue,” was a prominent leader of the so-called meme stock frenzy earlier this

When a billion-dollar practice wanted to leave Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, the firm’s custodian, First Clearing, suggested a Focus Financial Partners RIA that also uses its services. The M&A deal illustrates the trend toward succession-planning moves as advisors get older, as well as an unusual step taken by a giant custodian to avoid losing

Farewell to backdoor Roth conversions, a mainstay of large retirement accounts and estate planning for the wealthy. And goodbye to half of a massive tax break for many entrepreneurs and their original investors. A plan by top Democrats to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations would axe two of the most lucrative benefits in

Elizabeth Warren wants the Federal Reserve to break up Wells Fargo. That is sort of funny and silly in equal measures. The U.S. senator wrote to Fed Chair Jerome Powell to demand that Wells Fargo ditch its investment bank so management could focus solely on fixing the problems in its Main Street business. The latter

Legal troubles are mounting for Charles Schwab’s robo advisor. Two months after the Westlake, Texas-based brokerage announced it was setting aside $200 million for an SEC probe into Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, a group of clients have filed a class action lawsuit alleging the digital advisor violated its fiduciary duty by over-allocating portfolios to cash. While

One of the largest fee-only RIAs added a multibillion-dollar private bank team from the firm that has been taking it to arbitration and court for three years over its recruiting. Financial advisors Kevin McGuire, Vanessa Ramich, Sarah Burney, Jake Schwinn and Dan Biondi joined the Denver office of Cresset Asset Management, a multi-family office and

The New York Stock Exchange is helping develop a new class of publicly traded assets tied to services that are beneficial to the environment, amid a boom in demand for sustainable investments. NYSE has partnered with Intrinsic Exchange Group to create Natural Asset Companies, which hold the rights to “ecosystem services” provided by corporations such

Interactive Brokers is introducing cryptocurrency trading, adding to competition for self-guided virtual currency traders among brokerages. The Greenwich, Connecticut-based company will allow users to buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash through a partnership with crypto brokerage Paxos Trust, according to a statement Monday. Customers will pay a commission of 0.12% to 0.18%

The fight in Congress over emerging tax increases on the wealthy took a dramatic turn on Monday with a slew of unexpected proposals from lawmakers. A House committee tasked with drafting the tax law needed to pay for the Biden administration’s $3.5 trillion spending plan issued a detailed look at what increases on wealthy individuals

Fresh off of attracting a new private equity investor, Wealth Enhancement Group unveiled an agreement to make its 11th deal of the year, and its largest ever. Carroll Financial Associates, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based hybrid RIA with 39 financial advisors managing $4.7 billion in client assets, will fold into PE-backed Wealth Enhancement, the firms said

A referral network that has connected hundreds of Black and Hispanic clients and financial advisors less than two years into its launch has a new advisory board that’s in line with its founder’s larger vision. Dana Wilson of Changing How Individuals Prosper (CHIP) appointed 11 advisors and other professionals to the network’s first advisory board

Two offices managing over $1 billion in assets are joining employee firm Alex. Brown, a division of Raymond James. “Coupled with the breadth of resources at Raymond James — from sophisticated wealth planning expertise to forward-looking technology — the boutique feel at Alex. Brown continues to attract experienced client advisors throughout the U.S., including these