Articles published 3/2020
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What RIAs should NOT say to clients during the coronavirus pandemic
March 30, 2020 at 4:47 PMThis crisis has already spawned insincere cliches, 'Stay safe!', false wisdom and other told-ya-so atrocities that advisors need to stop grabbing for
Imperfect social distancing efforts may suffice to save the U.S. economy -- and our 401(k) accounts, says hard data from China's bout with COVID-19
March 27, 2020 at 10:09 PMThe nation of 1.4 billion people is statistically pretty unscathed -- and its data not so fishy -- suggesting U.S. investors might lean toward optimism
Abby Salameh tells how to stay RIA productive amid teens, TikTok and the drooling dogs
March 25, 2020 at 10:08 PMThe Hightower exec is banished to a New Jersey burb, determined to be a stuck-at-home mom with a Manhattan-office output
As the sky falls, Addepar raises $40 million, at least in part because its software was built for rainy-day investors
March 25, 2020 at 2:06 AM'Ready' CEO Eric Poirier finds a backer in WestCap, which simultaneously inked a deal for stake in iCapital, the super roll-up of alternative investment platforms
Letter to Our Readers: What to think about the unstoppable RIA movement meeting an immovable black swan
March 23, 2020 at 11:12 PMFor RIAs the roaring 2020s had a feverish first eight weeks until COVID-19 hit a reset button
After riding Black Diamond's coattails from near zero to $2 billion of AUM, SMArtX raises $4 million to compete as a 'Vestmark'-model firm
March 20, 2020 at 7:10 AMThe Jacksonville RIA software firm gave the Palm Beach, Fla. fund manager a shot at the fast-track that worked -- but now the three-year contract is almost up
Under withering staff pressure, Walt Bettinger course corrects to shut all Schwab branches and to let Charles Schwab Corp. non-branch employees work from home
March 19, 2020 at 1:21 AMThe Schwab CEO is also coughing up a $1,000 comp check to each staffer and the company is still contending with makeshift technology to enable employees to work from home, but it may have had a breakthrough today -- making its choices easier
As COVID-19 crisis grows, Schwab charts own course, orders office workers to stay put, while Fidelity, other firms urge employees to work from home
March 16, 2020 at 4:09 PMFidelity CEO Abby Johnson tells 45,000 staff to stay home, if possible; Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger says it's neither practical nor technologically feasible for most of his 19,000 staff to telecommute
Fidelity Institutional looks like a big TAMP after Mike Durbin removes last internal walls between products and advisors after 'meteoric' 2019 leap; two Fido RIA sales legends depart amid the shift
March 13, 2020 at 10:36 PMRich Policastro and Tom Valverde are out after Fidelity Custody & Clearing assets leap to $2.6 trillion AUA, restructuring gets the credit -- and so restructuring gets extended.
Behind the scenes, Ben Harrison's rise to replace Mark Tibergien at Pershing was more shock and awe than a symphonic succession
March 13, 2020 at 7:22 AMHarrison's appointment was baked in the cake -- or not -- and Tibergien departed with Swiss-watch precision in Moss Adams-style--or not.
Michael Kitces and Adam Birenbaum are now on the same $50-billion Buckingham team after the blogger called the young CEO with a multi-pronged proposal
March 12, 2020 at 1:45 PMKitces is leaving Pinnacle - after 17 years - for fewer conflicts and more opportunity
Mark Tibergien sets up Ben Harrison to challenge Schwabitrade with a $150 million cut to Pershing's minimum and millions more to develop Veo-busting technology
March 11, 2020 at 7:58 AMThe CEO suite hand-off in Jersey City pulls a trigger on a plan to bypass Fidelity's and eventually Schwab's custody units by luring disaffected RIAs.
Women can thrive in 'kill-to-eat' RIA culture with good mentors, advocacy and inclusiveness to counter toxicity to innate feminine strengths
March 10, 2020 at 8:03 PMLori Hardwick shares unvarnished thoughts about women's 'voices' falling on 'deaf ears' after joining 75 women to talk about the 'brutal truths' facing them in the RIA business at The Dynasty Women’s Network Event in St Petersburg, Fla.
E*Trade, TD Ameritrade and Legg Mason deals look dicier, after share crashes crush market caps of merging firms
March 9, 2020 at 11:22 PMSchwab and Morgan Stanley are using their stock as currency; Franklin Resources is buying Legg Mason, mostly with hard cash
Pershing finally matches Schwab on zero-fee trades but it offers big incentives to pay a subscription fee to score perks like auto-sweep to in-house Flourish/Stonecastle-type FDIC cash manager
March 6, 2020 at 3:34 AMThe Jersey City, N.J. custodian is seeking to disrupt custody's Big Three on value and price by giving RIAs a much better cash choice than having it swept to an in-house bank
A woman who survived Wall Street's 'liquid lunches' and 'boom, boom rooms' of the 1970s and 1980s weighs in on the Ken Fisher sexism fracas
March 5, 2020 at 8:24 PMMaria Marsala is surprised, concerned and ultimately hopeful that the #MeToo movement will finally allow women to thrive in finance
The great Mark Tibergien is set to step down from CEO of Pershing Advisor Services to make way for heir apparent Ben Harrison
March 4, 2020 at 4:16 AMThe RIA custody chief is a tireless and personable leader, consultant and guru who leaves BNY Mellon's RIA custody unit as its mission radically shifts
Mincing no words, Vanguard chief economist slams Fed for failure to make hard data the basis of massive rate cut
March 3, 2020 at 7:23 PMRoger Aliaga-Diaz says that such a 'rare measure' by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell was likely used 'prematurely' and could send just the 'wrong signal'
Addepar hires Advent genius then launches 'Advent Converter' to court the RIAs still on Axys and APX ; PortfolioCenter 'easy button' comes next
March 3, 2020 at 5:05 PMThe tactic by the Mountain View, Calif. firm and Advent co-founder and code avatar Steve Strand comes a decade after Orion, Black Diamond and Tamarac began feasting on the legacy corpses, but Addepar insists meat remains on the bone.
T. Rowe Price takes on the risk of its target date fund retirees outliving their savings -- by jacking up equity exposure even on the glide path
March 2, 2020 at 6:13 PMThe Baltimore patriarch is using both actuarial and behavioral science as the basis for the contrarian move whose downside is accentuated as coronavirus gives the approach a rough start
