The Practice Desk 23 stories this week · 217 total

IBD Elite growth is driven by market lift and M&A; the retention line is the due-diligence test advisors should run.

The platform that holds client assets now sets the outer limit on what a practice can deliver.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A study of 371 wealth managers shows where mass-affluent money leaks — and what a systematic fix looks like.

With 4% of AUM leaving annually and boomers spending the kids' inheritance, the plan becomes the product and the drain becomes the referral fee.

A household AUM query returns three answers depending on the system, and no model can fix a stack that can't agree with itself.

Element Pointe's vesting structure lets key team members pay for partnership with the value they help create.

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.

Kitces Research will revisit how advisors actually build plans. The 2018 benchmark — 26% in preparation, 19% with clients — is the number to watch.

The real test is whether a firm can codify its pitch without boiling it down to a template.

New MDRT research on trust hands advisers a playbook: automate the routine, keep a person on the big moment.

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.

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.

New MissionSquare research shows how rarely public-sector workers seek professional advice—and what it takes to close the gap.

The IRS credential gives advisors permission to own the tax conversation, but the entity structure decides whether that becomes a moat or a liability.

Advisors who treat the 12 months around retirement as a planning deliverable keep both the relationship and the assets.

Advisors should treat the planned purchase as a reason to reprice their custody relationship, not a call to transfer assets today.

The pause gives advisors a rare opening to rebuild their brands around verifiable client outcomes instead of a logo.

The deal keeps Altruist standalone for now; advisors should weigh the next contract against what independence was worth.

The platform says it stays standalone; Vanguard's $12 trillion advice push gives advisers three questions to ask before renewal.

The September launch adds the compliance and communication layer that lets RIAs and broker-dealers turn workplace retirement accounts into billed relationships.

The hybrid robo undercuts Fidelity and Vanguard on price, but the lasting test is whether small accounts graduate into planning relationships.

Sheri Fitts's brand-building play is to mine the yeses, size the segment, and test the match — a marketing discipline most practices skip.

A 411-firm survey finds 48% can point to a human-review policy for AI output, leaving the rest to answer an exam letter built on Regulation S-P.

DOL Fact Sheet #17G on white-collar exemptions is a classification checklist for client associates and paraplanners—one best used before a wage claim forces the question.

A Senate letter puts transfer locks on the industry's timetable, turning a back-office safeguard into a client-retention issue.

Luma's platform updates push alternative investing into the tools advisors already use, and the rest of the month's releases follow.

Pontera's September launch turns held-away 401(k)s into billable work, and the HSA and Medicare numbers show which practices will collect.

RIAs on either platform should watch for one stack to swallow the other.

RIABiz's three-way review shows why implementation speed and ease of use can outweigh feature breadth.

Four quiet pilot branches 'caught fire,' and now Schwab plans 30 Schwab Wealth Advisory offices by 2027—on the same street corners as the 16,000 RIAs whose $5.2 trillion it holds in custody.

Financial Advisor Magazine's 2025 RIA survey offers RIAs a playbook: automate the preparation, keep the human judgment.