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Summary: Countless books and movies have been written about the point at which computers shift from being our friend to becoming the enemy. For financial advisers, the battle lines are being drawn right now.Over the course of our careers, computers have helped elevate the services we provide to clients and have driven down costs.
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Summary: Advisers spend a lot of time thinking about their growth strategies. Two years ago, when InvestmentNews fielded the 2012 InvestmentNews/Moss Adams Financial Performance Study of Advisory Firms, we identified a subset of firms that were deemed “top performers." These firms were defined as the top quartile of participants across a range of metrics including revenue growth, cost control and profitability. The study found that the fastest-growing and most profitable firms sometimes take an unconventional approach to their business models.
Added on May 2014 in M&A Issues
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Summary: Should RIA founders sell to an outside buyer or to junior partners already in the firm? The internal vs. external sale debate proved to be one of the liveliest at the recent Deals and Deal Makers Summit in New York.
Added on May 2014 in M&A Issues
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Summary: Almost every advisor must come up with a valuation for their firm at some time or another—whether it’s to sell or merge with another firm. And for some, it’s more of an art than a science. How do you put a price on your firm? The five most important factors that go into a valuation include financial management, growth, scale, business model, and clients, said Dan Seivert, CEO of ECHELON Partners, during a Laserfiche workshop in New York.
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Summary: The language of finance is complicated, and sometimes intentionally so. From the “turgid dialect” of Fedspeak to the intentionally tortured and complicated mouse print disclaimers on investment prospectuses, the industry embraces verbosity. So when a New York Times best-selling author appears on 60 Minutes to declare that the stock market is “rigged,” it stands in stark contrast to the usual hedging, sidestepping and equivocating.
