Thought Leadership
Become aware of the recent trends. Position your practice to take advantage of the knowledge ahead of the curve.
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Business model cracked but not broken
Added on February 2012 in Thought Leadership
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Summary: For many, 2011 will be remembered as the year the broker-dealer model cracked. Scores of independent firms shut down, unable to keep up with rising legal and compliance expenses. Dozens were simply buried under the cost of lawsuits from clients who bought suspect private investments when the market was roaring in the middle of the last decade.
Schwab encourages RIAs to adopt client segmentation but some don't approve
Added on June 2011 in Thought Leadership
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Summary: Schwab is launching a client segmentation program to aid advisors in analyzing their clients and grouping them to determine which services to offer each client group with the ability to measure profitability.
RIAs and online brokers are winning the market-share game
Added on July 2011 in Thought Leadership
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Summary: The Aite Group's most recent study, New Realities in Wealth Management: From Dust till Dawn, gives the current market share breakdown in wealth managment and the changes that have occured between late 2009 and early 2011.
Marketshare Wealth Management Provider Change
11% RIAs +1.2%
19% On-line Brokerage +3%
38% Wirehouses -1.1%
16% Independent Broker Dealers -4%
The number of commission-only brokers has fallen 40% between late '09 and early '11.
Big Schwab survey: RIAs surpass 2007 former peaks in assets and revenues
Added on July 2011 in Thought Leadership
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Summary: Schwab Advisor Services and the RIA channel have surpassed revenues and asset levels where they were pre-2008 meltdown and the stage is set for a new era of growth, according to the 2011 RIA Benchmarking Study from Schwab. Median standardized operating income recovered to 18.3% up from 14.9% in 2009. This, combined with strong revenue gains, produced a surge in profits of 45% at the average firm since 2009. Schwab’s Bernie Clark believes that RIAs are poised for growth after the challenges of the past few years. Palaveev feels that advisors now need to raise prices on their services which they expanded during the financial crisis.
Barron's top advisor shares the secrets to his success with rapt RIAs at TD event
Added on June 2011 in Thought Leadership
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Summary: Ric Edelman’s view of the RIA world: The key to growing an advisory business into a corporate brand is scalability. Referencing the Starbucks model, he noted that “Clients must be secure in the knowledge that you can resolve issues with the same level of success.” Make sure your infrastructure is in place before you advertise. You will master technology or be crushed by it. Between the potential of technology to increase scale and the aging demographic, the industry can look forward to a massive increase in assets.
