The pre-meeting audit is the new first meeting
A 1,000-investor survey finds half of the $5 million-plus cohort chose an advisor without a referral, making the digital trail the real first impression.
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All Wealth Advisor Daily reporting, newest first.
Read retention before you read the growth ranking
IBD Elite growth is driven by market lift and M&A; the retention line is the due-diligence test advisors should run.
Vanguard's Altruist deal turns custody into a pricing event
The platform that holds client assets now sets the outer limit on what a practice can deliver.
Vanguard 500 at 50: the case for a boring core
Fifty years after a disappointing launch, the anniversary numbers give advisors a ready script for defending a low-cost, broad core-equity position.
Complexity pricing is how flat-fee advisors scale
A Kitces analysis finds flat-fee hourly advice nets about $100 an hour after unbillable work. The fix is pricing for complexity, not abandoning the model.
Cetera lands Sierra Ridge's $2.1 billion with an OSJ runway
Thirteen months after praising LPL, Sierra Ridge left for Cetera's enterprise channel — a sign that transition promises expire when growth plans outgrow the platform.
Tax planning's liability line is the new competitive front
Kitces breaks down how 'tax planning' shades into 'tax advice' in the live session — and why the firms that draw the line deliberately will own the tax conversation.
Slott's Roth screen makes conversion a standing call
Six client categories, anchored by the outside-cash test, give advisors a repeatable Roth conversion agenda.
The $100-an-hour tax on flat-fee advice
A Kitces analysis finds flat-fee hourly pricing nets about $100 an hour, and the first step to repricing by complexity is a month of time tracking.
The 4% withdrawal drain is eating the inheritance
Two retirement-industry warnings put the 4% withdrawal drain at the center of the Great Wealth Transfer.
State-registered advisers now number 16,897, and oversight follows the rep
NASAA's annual report sizes the sub-$100 million practice and shows why changing a firm's registration doesn't move its people out of state reach.
NASAA cuts third-fail retest wait to 60 days
Candidates retesting after three failures will wait 120 days less, starting Jan. 4.
A $35 option on returning to advice
NASAA's exam-extension program keeps lapsed Series 65s alive — pending state adoption.
NASAA puts trusted contacts at the center of senior fraud prevention
The Serve Our Seniors campaign gives advisers a no-cost step to protect older clients—if they treat the trusted contact as more than paperwork.
Custody is an access problem, NASAA reminds state RIAs
New state-regulator guidance urges state-registered RIAs to map every point of access to client money before the custody rule does it for them.
Tax leakage is the quiet killer of mass-affluent wealth
A study of 371 wealth managers shows where mass-affluent money leaks — and what a systematic fix looks like.
Boomers spend the inheritance, advisors feel the drain
With 4% of AUM leaving annually and boomers spending the kids' inheritance, the plan becomes the product and the drain becomes the referral fee.
BlackRock's EM downgrade warns advisors to look past the geographic label
Before treating an EM fund as a diversifier, check how much of it sits in the same AI supply chain.
RIA AI dies on three versions of the truth
A household AUM query returns three answers depending on the system, and no model can fix a stack that can't agree with itself.
A Miami RIA funds partner buy-ins with appreciation rights
Element Pointe's vesting structure lets key team members pay for partnership with the value they help create.
Financial Advice 3.0 turns planning into a diagnostic business
Kitces maps the next decade from reactive advice to proactive diagnosis, and the practices that keep selling documents will watch the market move past them.
Respect the client's mental hierarchy to win retirement plans
Mental accounting explains the annuity paradox, drives over-saving, and argues for designing plans inside the client's buckets.
Probability-based guardrails would require 3% where Guyton-Klinger implies 28%
Kitces's analysis finds a 3% reduction can do the job where the classic framework imposes 28%.
The plan is the product. Advisor calendars haven't caught up
Kitces Research will revisit how advisors actually build plans. The 2018 benchmark — 26% in preparation, 19% with clients — is the number to watch.
The cap table now decides who wins $1B teams
Ownership equity, not the wirehouse checkbook, is deciding which firms land the next $1 billion team.
Feathery's AI assistant makes bespoke proposals an operations problem
The real test is whether a firm can codify its pitch without boiling it down to a template.
The pet-trust gap is a doorway back into estate plans
Most planned estates ignore the dog; advisors who ask first win the trust conversation.
OBBBA rewrites the Roth conversion calendar
In the OBBBA's wake, advisors treat Roth conversions as a year-by-year deduction-timing decision.
Altruist advisors should audit pricing and product shelf before the Vanguard deal closes
A Vanguard-owned Altruist will test whether the platform's independence was real. Advisors should negotiate protections now.
Digital tools stop where the stakes rise
New MDRT research on trust hands advisers a playbook: automate the routine, keep a person on the big moment.
Let the sale date pick the OZ version
Financial Planning's year-end guide shows why the closing date, more than the tax terms, should drive the opportunity zone conversation.
Vanguard's Altruist deal is a contract window for advisors
The real question for advisors on either platform is whether Altruist keeps its speed inside the $4.6 billion parent — and what the contract says about it.
Vanguard's Altruist bet reprices every RIA custody renewal
The $4.6 billion deal doesn't move assets today, but it hands advisors leverage at the next renewal.
The match is the retention lever owners underprice
A bigger retirement match ranks first among reasons employees stay, which advisors can turn into a benchmarking wedge at the next plan review with a business-owner client.
Schwab's SIPC sweep switch demands a client cash policy
The FDIC-to-SIPC conversion is a coverage change first and a yield event second; advisors who do not move idle cash deliberately will explain it twice.
Trust decides who stays when 13% of widows leave
The old 70% widow-turnover rule has given way to a 13% departure rate, and the advisor who asks personal questions in the calm years is the one who keeps the account.
The public-sector advice gap is a confidence play
New MissionSquare research shows how rarely public-sector workers seek professional advice—and what it takes to close the gap.
EA designation is a sticky client-retention play
The IRS credential gives advisors permission to own the tax conversation, but the entity structure decides whether that becomes a moat or a liability.
Vanguard's $4B Altruist bet is really about Hazel
For advisors shopping custody, the price tag says the AI engine, not the clearing platform, is the asset Vanguard is buying.
Roth conversions don't require earned income; RMDs can't be combined
IRA owners can convert without taxable compensation, but IRA and 401(k) RMDs still cannot be combined.
The 11.6x median masks a two-tier market
Fewer deals and record asset volumes mean only prepared firms collect the premium.
Bitcoin's $1 million ETF swap beckons advisors
The in-kind exchange mechanism lets clients move concentrated crypto into a managed ETF wrapper without an immediate sale, shifting the advisor's job to custody and fee due diligence.
Vanguard's Altruist deal is a negotiation window, not a transfer call
Advisors should lock pricing, product independence, and an advice-funnel carve-out before the standalone promise expires.
Culture joins the payout grid in recruiting wars
A $1 billion breakaway team weighing three offers shows why the share of women advisors now belongs on the term sheet, next to payout.
Retirement plans fail when the client's identity retires
Advisors who treat the 12 months around retirement as a planning deliverable keep both the relationship and the assets.
Put the whole family on the mass-affluent balance sheet
Advisors who turn the sandwich squeeze into a planning engagement will own the relationship and the next generation.
July CTA drawdown puts manager selection to the test
The trend index gave back half its 2026 gain in July; the funds with the most concentrated factor bets took the steepest losses.
Vanguard-Altruist deal hands RIAs a custody negotiating lever
Advisors should treat the planned purchase as a reason to reprice their custody relationship, not a call to transfer assets today.
IBD Elite's women-advisor ranking gives breakaway teams a culture benchmark
The share of women advisors at independent brokerages is a metric worth demanding in any affiliation conversation, alongside payout grids and transition packages.
Scale commands record prices as RIA deal count falls
Fidelity's first-half report shows a two-tier sale market—fewer transactions, record asset volumes, and a narrowing queue for smaller practices.