The stakes are high and the outcome is still uncertain; here's what we know

New technology puts advisors and clients literally on the same virtual page

Early to the integration game, the Boston giant will seek to pad its lead -- but it could take a while to execute

The San Jose-based firm targets advisors with as little as $100 million and it doubled in size in the last year

The Chicago company is also opening the call to any advisor - regardless of whether they do business with its TAMP

As competition for RIA time and money grows, many events are catering to more defined niches

The Boston RIA put the big New York aggregator under a microscope and used high-end lawyers and investment bankers for added vetting

Dislocation at places like UBS and Merrill Lynch helps recruiters until the point where clients are thoroughly spooked

Hanson McClain is switching over from Schwab PortfolioCenter and Envestnet was the runner-up

The audit may come remotely from a state where the advisor doesn't have a place of business

The Chicago aggregator has already tied last year's annual recruiting with more than three months to pad the mark

The effort should yield quantities of quality content that firms can use

Outgoing robo-calls, 1-900 advice shouldn't be dismissed as tools

PriceMetrix survey covering advsiors with $900 billion AUM shows clients are mostly attuned to trustworthiness, not basis points

A range of strategies, including the tax-free 1031 exchange, enable investors to tax-efficiently monetize their real estate investments

The advisor has encountered bigger challenges than even he imagined and, during Hurricane Irene, learned the true definition of working remotely

Technology companies, Chubb, TD Ameritrade and BrightScope get special notice

Bernie Clark tells crowd at national FPA conference that it's not about Schwab

Patrick Horan more than doubles his ROI on seminars with a disciplined process

Seth Abraham is motivated by the way he saw some boxers manipulated by unscrupulous handlers

Unlike Actifi technology used by TD Ameritrade, the Boston giant's gizmo declines to suggest vendor names

The merged companies still maintain a vision of converting Axys users to BlueSky in a few clicks of the mouse

The defection of five advisors will allow $16-billion Oxford Financial Group to open a Minneapolis office

Salesforce, Junxure, and other CRM companies look to tap the rich vein of information on Facebook

The Advent Software division will still collaborate with RedBlack and iRebal but some RIAs will switch to the new Black Diamond offering

The process was not without pitfalls, but the longterm gains outweighed the pain

The Rockville, Md.-based company was early in the high-end of the market but other outsourcers are catching on

A big part of the new hire's job will be to make sure RIA clients make good use of the Dynasty platform

The brokerage chief's departure last week marks the end of the experiment of a semi-autonomous Merrill Lynch

The embattled Omaha IBD did not go down without a fight and it may be effectively slowing further losses with retention bonuses

But recruiters say all comp factors don't necessarily show up on the official payout grid

The TAMP is making the former Schwab and Citi executive its head of marketing

It's like 2008 all over again with some brokers just wanting out as clients question choice of employer, recruiter says

Weaned on U.S.Trust talent, the New York-based RIA now has a Midwestern foothold and a formula for big-time poaching

Fidelity keeps flexing its muscles as Schwab raises its hybrid-friendly profile, reaches out to IBDs and rolls out an ambitious vendor platform

Salesforce's annual event was a city in a city for a cult-like following of 45,000, including many financial advisors

Flush PE firms see the broker-dealers as poised for growth, but others fear such purchases could lead to 'pump and dump' scenarios

Company execs tell Wall Street analysts that in-house Axys migrations will be more likely and more profitable