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Fidelity Investments plans to make 9,000 new hires across the U.S. by year-end as the company sees record growth amid a surge in stock trading. The hiring push is the Boston-based fund manager’s third in less than a year, reflecting a boom in individual investing that has lifted the entire trading industry. The majority of

(Bloomberg) — A former Wells Fargo executive at the center of the company’s fake accounts scandal is asserting her right to remain silent amid SEC claims that she misled investors. Carrie Tolstedt, who was a senior vice president before she left the bank in 2016, cited her Fifth Amendment right not to be a witness

Financial Planning’s 2021 Technology Survey revealed a clear demand and need for tech in financial advising. Effective tech solutions are integral to advisors’ growth and ability to serve more clients. Yet, adoption gaps remain. Why? Advisors are struggling with how to communicate the value tech brings to the financial planning process. They need to build

The IRC Section 529A Plan entered U.S. Federal law with the signing of Public Law 113-295, The Stephen Beck, Jr., Achieving a Better Life Experience Act on Dec. 19, 2014, also known as the ABLE Act. The creation of a 529A or ABLE Account allows a person with a disability (that had an onset before

Consolidation in the wealth management space is real. The same can be said of the financial services landscape overall. Mariner just bought Advice Period. Bain just took a large stake in Carson. Goldman purchased United Capital not too long ago. There is more investment capital in the independent channel now than there has ever been.

Jude Erondu is good at everything he does — from social impact research, to financial planning, to axe throwing. Born in Abuja, Nigeria, Erondu grew up in an impoverished community that struggled to provide education and clean water. He moved to the United States to attend Green Mountain College, then to London for a graduate

Over time, the financial services industry has blurred the line between the terms financial “advisor” and “planner,” often at the expense of the client’s experience. A financial planner can be — broadly — defined as someone who sits down with a client and does lifelong financial planning. Financial advisor is a more general term. An

A Canadian investment manager that’s backing one of the most active acquirers this year is gaining a stake in another one of the big consolidators driving the record volume of deals. Under an agreement announced on Aug. 24 between the Onex Corporation’s private equity arm and TA Associates, RIA consolidator Wealth Enhancement Group’s current majority

The co-founder of London-based Blue Whale Capital, which has made big consistent gains from Silicon Valley bets, has some advice for market veterans warning of another tech bubble: calm down and buy the dip. As Stephen Yiu’s main fund nears 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) after doubling its money in four years, the likes of

Will Hershey is playing hardball. He flat-out rejected $100,000 and shrugged at $250,000. Fine, I said. What if someone offered you $500,000? “Hold on,” he said. “Let’s take a step back. I don’t own the ticker.” Wait, what? That’s not what I’ve heard. Shares in companies that go viral on social media, like AMC, are

Spiking COVID-19 numbers and concerns about the Delta variant have caused the FPA to cancel its September conference. Advisory Services Network topped $5 billion in AUM. And LPL Financial’s Strategic Wealth Services has attracted a dozen breakaways now. Scroll through for a look at what happened this week in the world of financial advice.

Four hundred investors, 20 states, 10 years, $110 million in lost principal. Those are the big numbers that figure in an alleged Ponzi scheme perpetrated by a Georgia-based advisor, his RIA and the fund he controlled for over a decade, regulators say. Last Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint in the U.S.

A stock exchange hatched out of Silicon Valley that’s taking on established rivals in New York and Chicago is listing its first two companies. Twilio Inc., a $63 billion cloud-based software company, and Asana Inc., a work-management platform valued around $12 billion, will list their shares on the Long-Term Stock Exchange Thursday, LTSE said in

As traditional financial institutions continue to embrace digital assets like Bitcoin, consumer interest in cryptocurrency continues to increase. Some are turning to their financial advisors for guidance, but it can still be difficult to find trusted answers to their questions. Amy Arnott, a portfolio strategist at Morningstar, is drawing on 30 years of experience researching

One of the wealth management industry’s toughest critics on behalf of clients has a new role that could upend fiduciary standards once again under the Biden administration. Barbara Roper, the longtime director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America, will serve as a senior advisor to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the regulator said

When the Treasury Department first explained in late spring how a proposed higher tax on investment profits would work if approved by Congress, it left some financial advisors and tax experts scratching their heads. A new capital gains rate, nearly double the existing 23.8%, would kick in on profits and qualified dividends banked by earners

In a new episode of the Financial Planning Podcast, tennis legend Martina Navratilova explains a new method for investing in LGBTQ equality. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova is on the board of LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings, a research firm and impact investment product company.LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings The winner of 59 Grand Slam titles is a board member

We’re delighted to announce the winners of a new award: Financial Planning’s 2021 Rising Stars. This list celebrates 10 early-career financial planners who embody the values of the profession and are on a trajectory to make a difference in the field. Selected from among nominees across the country, the winners are both young advisors and

Before joining Moneta, I spent three years as CIO of the Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago. During this time, the fund hovered between $2.6 billion and $2.9 billion, was approximately 24% funded and had a negative cash flow drag every year (cash inflows < outflows) of around $120 million, or approximately 5% of

It’s the seven-figure number spooking affluent investors the most in the Biden administration’s proposed tax increases. It’s also the number that’s confusing some financial advisors. $1 million is the hurdle at which high-income earners would pay nearly double the capital gains rate on their long-term profits and so-called qualified dividends. Seems like an equal-opportunity tax

The nation’s largest independent broker-dealer is losing a longtime member of its executive leadership team. Burt White, LPL’s chief investment officer and managing director of investor and investment solutions, announced plans to retire in March 2022. White first joined LPL in 2007 after spending a decade with Wachovia Securities. In 2009, he was named CIO

Top-ranked Merrill Lynch advisor Dane Runia — and his $3.2 billion team—- have left the wirehouse for Morgan Stanley. Provo, Utah-based Runia had worked for Merrill since 2006, serving ultrawealthy clients, according to BrokerCheck. As of December 2020, the average net worth of his 85 clients stood at $100 million, Barron’s reported. Dane Runia left

The independent broker-dealer industry’s massive growth slowed considerably in 2020 amid the impact of the coronavirus on the U.S. economy. While the 10 largest firms didn’t sustain the steep declines among industries structured around live events or in-person services, their combined annual revenues ticked up by only 1.5% from the prior year to $25.01 billion,

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to buy the asset-management arm of Dutch insurer NN Group NV as the bank gains a toehold in the fast-growing sustainable-investing industry and boosts its European ties. The U.S. lender will pay about 1.6 billion euros ($1.9 billion) for NN Investment Partners, according to a statement Thursday. The unit has

Recently, Tom Sporkin, the CFP Board’s newly hired director of enforcement, contributed a column here titled “What a former SEC executive has learned about the CFP Board’s Enforcement program,” which was itself a rebuttal to Allan Roth’s earlier op-ed contribution, “The CFP Board has given up on protecting the public from unscrupulous advisors.” As Mr.

Charles Schwab said it will increase employee pay by 5% and push back its return-to-office plans to no sooner than January as the COVID-19 delta variant spreads across the U.S. The pay raise, affecting most of Schwab’s 32,500 employees, will take effect in late September, the Westlake, Texas-based brokerage said Thursday in a statement. “This

A New York investment advisor and the two entities he controls violated antifraud provisions of the federal securities law by misappropriating millions of dollars from investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges. Martin Ruiz is accused of inducing at least 56 investors, many of whom are elderly clients of Ruiz’s New Mexico-based RIA Carter Bain

A $500 million Merrill Lynch team is joining Sanctuary Wealth, the broker-dealer announced Friday. Ausperity Private Wealth, a Moorestown, New Jersey-based team, is led by founder and senior managing partner Rory O’Hara. It is the eighth group to join Sanctuary from Merrill Lynch this year. Ausperity Private Wealth. Each member of the four-person team is

Strategic Blueprint, a corporate RIA of SFA Partners, topped $1 billion in assets under management. Orion Advisor Solutions is allowing advisors who do pro bono work to use its Orion Planning tool for free. And Schwab is giving scholarships to improve diversity, equity and inclusion. Scroll through for a look at what happened this week

The spread of the coronavirus’s delta variant is threatening the return of in-person industry conferences. Originally slated to return to Denton, Texas on September 27, the Technology Tools for Today, or T3, advisor technology conference has been postponed to the spring of 2022, according to an email from president Joel Bruckenstein. “Unfortunately, the delta variant