Trader Talk

Technology vendors are offering special discounts to entice financial advisors scrambling to find a new digital platform before Oranj closes its doors on Dec. 31. The fintech marketplace is a competitive one, and Oranj’s short notice to advisors that it was shutting down at year’s end provides a truncated period to win over new business

LPL Financial plans to acquire Waddell & Reed’s wealth management business for $300 million. The purchase is part of a larger deal for Macquarie Group, Australia’s largest investment bank, to acquire Waddell & Reed for $1.7 billion to expand its presence in U.S. asset management. Following completion of the deal, Macquarie will sell the wealth

Banks are in no rush to bring their employees back to the office. Last month, as novel coronavirus infection rates surged nationwide, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp and M&T Bank once again delayed their target dates for large-scale office reopenings. Fifth Third Bancorp, which started to bring thousands of employees back in mid-October, halted

Custodial M&A deals made headlines this past year, but the real work — and big changes for advisors — will come in the months ahead. Financial planners, particularly those with small practices, will be faced with a custodial marketplace very different from the one they’ve experienced in recent years. And Charles Schwab, already an industry

J.P. Morgan Wealth Management expanded its advisor talent pool in two offices. In New York, J.P. Morgan Advisors promoted Cayman Wills to regional director, according to the firm. Wills will now oversee a staff of 115 advisors and focus on driving growth as well as new client acquisition and talent, the firm says. She will

Equity ETFs have overtaken their fixed-income peers for inflows this year thanks to November’s epic stock rally. After lagging bond funds for most of 2020, ETFs tracking equities lured a record $81 billion last month, bringing their total haul for the year to $196 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That catapulted them ahead

CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk reacts following the company’s initial public offering at the NASDAQ market in New York June 29, 2010 Brendan McDermid | Reuters S&P’s action on Tesla showed the growing power of indexers and passive investing. S&P Dow Jones Indices has announced that Tesla will be added to the S&P 500

Looking at any job or career path, a natural question arises: What am I going to be paid? For advisors, the answer isn’t always straightforward. In fact, it’s quite complex and changing. That’s why Financial Planning has dedicated this issue to examining a complicated topic: What’s next for advisor pay? To get a better handle

RBC Wealth Management has added yet another former UBS team to its roster. Westlake Wealth Management Group, which manages roughly $350 million in client assets, has left the wirehouse for RBC’s office in Cleveland, according to the firm. The team, which includes advisors Samuel Martello and Brian Sullivan and senior registered client associate Adrienne Kittle,

Santa Claus pays a visit on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange. Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters A big year-end rally? Don’t get too excited yet. December is traditionally an up month: Since 1945, the S&P 500 rose nearly 1.5% in all Decembers and advanced in price 73% of the time, according to Sam Stovall

Speculation that vaccines and a possibly peaceful presidential transition are steps toward normalization in the economy ignited another rally in shares ravaged by the pandemic, pushing the Dow past 30,000 for the first time. Boeing, a chronic drag on the 124-year-old index most of the year, surged almost 5%, while JPMorgan Chase, American Express and

JPMorgan Chase will pay a $250 million fine for poor risk management practices and conflicts of interest in its advisory business, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Tuesday. The $3.2 trillion-asset company had warned in early November that it might have to pay a penalty for shortcomings in internal controls and internal

In LPL Financial’s fifth recruiting grab this year moving at least $1 billion in client assets, the firm added a 30-advisor enterprise from a rival’s largest independent broker-dealer. Stephen Bull and Zach Mason of Verus Capital Partners dropped Advisor Group’s Securities America to affiliate with LPL, the firms said Nov. 23. After nearly a decade

Financial wellness isn’t a “nice-to-have” benefit anymore — it’s a critical offering for employers who want to keep their most talented employees, UBS executives say. The wealth management giant recently surveyed more than 1,200 U.S. employees across multiple industries to determine how financial wellness programs impact employee experience. Conducted in April and May — some

An insurer and wealth manager has tapped a veteran executive who will be the first woman, Black person or member of any minority group to be its CEO. The 111-year-old Ohio National Financial Services is promoting Barbara Turner from COO, effective Jan. 1, after the retirement of current CEO Gary “Doc” Huffman, the firm said

The slump in annuity sales stemming from low interest rates hasn’t extended to some products designed for protection and a little bit of upside during economic turmoil. Fixed-rate deferred annuities such as multi-year guaranteed annuity products, as well as registered index-linked annuities — also known as structured or buffered variable annuities — are moving at

The 20 worst-performing small-cap funds of the last 10 years, nearly all of which are value strategy funds, had an average return of roughly 6.7%, Morningstar Direct data show. So far this year, the same funds have a loss of more than 5%. Pitted against the broader industry, this lineup of mutual funds and ETFs

Q: During the pandemic I’ve been working from home like most of my co-workers. Instead of having in-person meetings with clients, we’ve been using videoconferencing. I know that if I was meeting these clients in person I wouldn’t have to keep any documents but when I’m having a videoconference, is there any requirement that I

A former LPL advisor is heading to prison for three-and-a-half years for his role in orchestrating a long-running scheme that bilked dozens of investors out of nearly $5 million. James Booth, 75, ran what prosecutors described as a Ponzi scheme in which he made a series of “misrepresentations and lies” about how he was handling

The spotlight on racial justice and equity in America following the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and others has renewed calls for change in the wealth management industry. Industry leaders have laid out a plan for how action can become permanent and sustainable at the CFP Board’s Center for Financial Planning Diversity Summit,

Alternative investments such as hedge funds will become essential parts of post-pandemic portfolios due to low interest rates and fewer opportunities for diversification, according to JPMorgan Asset Management. The fund giant said nontraditional investing can span private equity, alternative credit, real estate and infrastructure, as well as adopting strategies like short selling and leverage. Such

As the automated advice market matures, it’s increasingly clear that not all robo advisors are created equal. Despite criticisms of using commoditized and one-size-fits-all approaches to investing, these firms are making unique portfolio choices that can have serious implications over the long term, according to research firm Backend Benchmarking. With nearly five years worth of

As he sits in his office at Janney Montgomery Scott’s Philadelphia headquarters, Private Client Group President Jerry Lombard has one word to describe it: “lonely.” Since employees who want to work remotely can do so, about 85-90% of headquarters staff are working from home on any given day. But while their absence may be felt

The lack of Black representation in the financial services stems from two interconnected problems. Black professionals face significant hurdles once they break into the industry. And the presence of nearly 175,000 Black financial professionals displays that their widespread absence at the upper executive ranks isn’t a product of an insufficient talent pool. Featured guests: Suggestions

Similar to large-caps, funds tracking smaller companies found success over the past decade in growth stocks. The 20 top-performing small-cap funds of the last 10 years recorded an average return of 16.11%, Morningstar Direct data show. This year, the same funds notched an average gain of more than 35%. “There’s no surprise that all of

Stifel landed its biggest hire of the year, an ex-Wells Fargo team that oversaw $1.15 billion in client assets. The group joins the regional BD in a newly opened office in Midland, Michigan, a city of more than 41,000 people. This is the second office that Stifel has opened in Michigan this year, bringing its

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have issued guidance to clear up the tax treatment of expenses when a loan from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program hasn’t been forgiven by the end of the year, while groups including the American Institute of CPAs are complaining about a new, lengthy questionnaire from

Allianz’s Pimco was sued by a pair of female workers who allege the money manager operates as a fraternity that favors white males. Sue Collazo and Lisa Anthony, employees at the firm’s Newport Beach, California office, say the company culture marginalizes, demeans and undervalues women and male leaders overtly favor other men regardless of their

With the dust settling from the elections and a new administration incoming, the independent financial services industry is prepared to see some changes in the regulatory and policy environment. At the same time, there are areas where existing regulations are working to protect investors and to deliver clarity for our industry and it will be

Day traders have terrible track records.  Academics who study stock pickers have long observed that the vast majority of professional money managers – about 85% – underperform their benchmarks over a multi-year period. Now those professionals are turning their sights on retail day traders, warning that the same poor results apply to them as well.