Knowledge and Insight

Wharton Professor Gives Advisory Model Radical Makeover

Added on February 2012 in Join an RIA

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Summary: Kent Smetters, a Wharton Professor, has created a platform for advisors to be able to scale their practice while serving the underserved Middle America. Veritat is a platform that does the client scheduling, collection of client information, creation of the personalized plans and the portfolio management. The advisor must approve and can slightly alter before it is presented to the client.

Fed up wirehouse advisors more eager to leave than ever, study says

Added on February 2012 in Join an RIA

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Summary: Three out of four wirehouse advisors would take action if a recruiter called them about the prospect of joining an RIA, according to a study released today by The Charles Schwab Corp. Of those surveyed, 67% of wirehouse advisors worry about job security and report that added responsibilities make it hard to meet clients’ needs. Moreover, 51% said they find the idea of becoming an RIA appealing. “

Don't ask advisers what their firms are worth, they don't know

Added on February 2012 in M&A Issues

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Summary: Three-quarters of advisors have never conducted a formal evaluation to nail down the value of their firm according to a preliminary finding from IN Adviser Solutions' first-ever study of Succession Planning in the financial advisory business.

Knowing the actual value of a firm is a critical element of a succession plan. And incidentally, just one-in-three advisory firms actually have a succession plan in place, according to the IN Adviser Solutions group's 2010 Financial Performance of Advisor Firms Study.

Finding Success in Succession Planning

Added on July 2011 in Plan for the Future

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Summary: Two stories, one in the broker dealer world, one in the RIA space.

Kim Nourie, of San Antonio-based Cross Financial Services became her father’s succession plan and found her successor through her local FPA chapter. Their broker dealer, United Planners Financial Services has a platform called Connectup to help their advisors. 

Like Nourie, Aspiriant CEO Rob Francais says the RIA’s succession planning policy was born of necessity. The firm, with 42 owners and 120 employees, has a structured policy in place for associates to achieve equity and security, but it wasn’t always the case. 

For succession to be success, advisers must face their fears

Added on February 2012 in Plan for the Future

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Summary: Writing a succession plan isn't too difficult. Overcoming the concerns that inhibit advisers from tackling the project in the first place is. The chief stumbling blocks that stand in the way of advisers' creating a plan include concerns over sharing client records, fears about giving up control and getting past the anxiety of dealing with younger advisers. It also takes much longer to plan and execute a succession than generally thought.  

Succession plans are new recruiting tool

Added on February 2012 in Manage Your Practice

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Summary: Advisory firms that lack a documented career development path may jeopardize their chances to recruit the best young talent, according to some industry experts. “The larger firms are getting better at institutionalizing the process of training and development, and can tell a candidate, "Here is what we will teach you and here is the career track at the three-, five-, and 10-year mark,'” said Michael Kitces, a principal with New Planner Recruiting LLC, which specializes in placing early-career planners. 

Rough markets cull the advisory herd but in a healthy way, new Cerulli data shows

Added on August 2011 in Thought Leadership

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Summary: Fourteen thousand advisors fell by the wayside from 2009 to 2010 but dually registered advisors and RIAs have bucked that trend, gaining strength in numbers, analysts with Cerulli Associates say in a new study. In that time period, the number of advisors dropped from 334,160 to 320,378 – a loss of 4.1%, according to the Boston-based company its annual Advisor Market Sizing analysis.  Dually registered advisors grew a whopping 10.2% from 11,591 to 12,773.  

Have an aversion to succession plans? Consider a continuity pact as a vital baby step

Added on February 2012 in Plan for the Future

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Summary:  All advisors should have a continuity agreement, even if they do not have a final succession plan in place. Every year, we hear of advisors who die unexpectedly. Untimely deaths without a contingency plan translate to a distressed sale price for family left behind. The clients too are left without a critical service.  The initial plan does not have to be perfect. 

TD Ameritrade Institutional Attracts a Record Number of Breakaway Brokers in 2011

Added on October 2011 in Join an RIA

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Summary: TD Ameritrade attracted a record 348 breakaway brokers in 2011, up nearly 20 percent from the previous fiscal year. 

TD Ameritrade Institutional Advisor Index Survey

Added on October 2011 in Thought Leadership

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Summary: According to a survey conducted by TD Ameritrade Institutional, more independent registered investment advisors (RIAs) are making the move to develop a formal succession plan and most say they will identify an internal successor.  According to the quarterly survey of 502 RIAs, 62 percent of advisors say they have or are in the process of developing a succession plan, up from just 43 percent in2010.