Feature Story
By Matt Oechsli
Dallas—“If we are going to develop the reputation we want within the affluent centers of influence, we need to raise our game,” Robert told me. “What do the elite teams you’ve coached do that sets them apart?”
Robert had asked what I refer to as the proverbial $10 million question. Where is that magic bullet? What is that one thing I can replicate that will take me to the next level? We are asked questions of that nature all the time. And the reality is that there is no one simple answer. Every advisor’s practice is different and every advisor is at a different place with his career.
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Today's News
By Jerry Gleeson
Charles Schwab Corp. is still leading the race for advisor assets, but a muddled economic recovery is taking the steam out of its stride.
In its fourth-quarter earnings report yesterday, the company reported net new assets for its Schwab Advisor Services of $9.2 billion. That still is well ahead of competitor TD Ameritrade’s net new asset growth of about $6 billion. But Schwab’s asset growth rate is down 44 percent year over year and 13 percent from the previous quarter (Stripping out the $1.5 billion that came from Schwab’s late 2010 acquisition of Windhaven Investment Management, the year-over-year decline is actually larger.)
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By Charles Paikert
Given the chaotic financial environment of the past few years, innovative wealth management firms see a real business need to improve the softer side of how they interact with clients.
“It’s clearly become more important after the 2008 financial crisis and the Madoff debacle,” said Marla Bace, principal and chief marketing officer for the Madison, N.J.-based firm Brinton Eaton. “There’s more emphasis on the approach, on transparency, on comfort for the client and what is the optimal fit.”
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By Lauren Barack
Registered reps using BrightScope’s (www.brightscope.com) platform, which rates advisors and 401k plans and helps investors connect with reps, can now automatically archive static content, interactive media and additional social media posts through a partnership with social media archiving firm Arkovi (www.arkovi.com).
The firms inked the deal within the last three months, as BrightScope’s small community of advisors had been asking how they could ensure that content they created would be recorded for regulators. BrightScope’s CEO and co-founder Mike Alfred said Arkovi stood out for its ability to work with reps at firms of all sizes.
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By Alan Lavine
The age group projected to show the greatest percentage increase in the United States and Western countries is the centenarian population. Are your clients financially equipped to live a century or more?
“Modal ages for death (the age which the largest number of people die) have continued to increase and are now in the late 80s for many populations,” says Chris Bone, the actuary with Edith Ltd LLC, Flemington, N.J. Bone delivered this projection at a recent Society of Actuaries annual meeting in Chicago. That’s the good news—and the bad news.
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Featured Blog Posts
By Kristen French
Wells Fargo’s wealth, brokerage and retirement group earned $325 million in the fourth quarter, up 12 percent from the third quarter. This growth was driven by a 6 percent increase in revenue, which was primarily propped up on the sale of H.D. Vest plus investment gains in deferred comp plans.
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By Jerry Gleeson
After acquiring most of the business of Talon Asset Management in Chicago last summer, BNY Mellon is raising its profile in the Windy City by hiring someone for their wealth management business whose name is a household word in Illinois.
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