Top Story
By Jerry Gleeson
Financial advisor Rick Bloom is better equipped than most to handle an SEC audit. Both a lawyer and a CPA, Bloom runs Bloom Asset Management in Farmington Hills, Mich., a registered investment advisor with $830 million in assets under management. When the regulators stopped by for a review of his operation this year, Bloom made time in his schedule to accommodate their needs, a process that took about a week. Handling such work internally is not something he plans to do again the next time they come knocking, he says; he’s now talking with companies that can manage his compliance responsibilities.
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Featured Stories
By Kristen French
The highly politicized industry battle over who will oversee investment advisers—SEC, the government regulator, or FINRA, a privately run group—heated up Thursday as Boston Consulting Group, an independent research firm, issued a report on an important piece of the debate that has been missing until now: how much each option will cost.
According to BCG’s report, which was sponsored by firms and groups who support having the SEC oversee investment advisers, including TD Ameritrade, setting up FINRA to oversee investment advisers would be twice as costly as giving the SEC the funding it needs—in part because the SEC would need to oversee FINRA’s new activities.
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By Jerry Gleeson
Affluence and peace of mind no longer automatically go hand in hand, a new survey sponsored by Wells Fargo & Co. indicates, and the implications are sobering. In a survey of 800 Americans with investable assets of $100,000 and up, 23 percent said they are not confident they will have saved enough for retirement, compared to 75 percent who said they were confident. The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive with people age 25 to 75 in August and September, also suggests that even affluent investors appear to misunderstand their options for ensuring their security in retirement. For example, 12 percent of those surveyed said they expected to work until 80, either at their current job or something similar, in order to cover expenses that their retirement savings couldn’t fund, says Karen Wimbish, executive vice president at Wells Fargo’s Retail Retirement unit.
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By Charles Paikert
Regional wealth management firms are accelerating their efforts to expand nationally next year.
Leawood, Kansas-based Mariner Wealth Advisors exemplified the trend among well-capitalized RIAs, bringing on 20-year Fidelity veteran Brian O’Regan last month to lead its ambitious national growth strategy. Other regional RIA powerhouses including Aspiriant, Presidio Financial Partners, U.S. Capital Advisors and Tiedemann Wealth Management all have plans to add offices in new markets next year.
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By Jerry Gleeson
When Frank Maiorano took over in January 2010 as chief executive at Trust Company of America, he told Registered Rep. shortly afterward that company Chairman Stephen A. Finn wanted him to be “the face of the company,” to get out in the field and meet with the advisors who were clients of the Colorado-based custodian. Now Maiorano has left the company and a fellow board member, David Barry, has succeeded him as CEO and president, effective this past Monday.
Chief Marketing Officer Jennifer Nealson told Registered Rep. today that Maiorano, who married several months ago, resigned last month in order to spend more time with his family. Nealson described Maiorano’s departure as amicable, and praised Maiorano’s leadership during his two-year tenure, citing revenue and client growth as well as his oversight of the new Liberty technology platform that Trust Company rolled out about two months ago.
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Featured Blog
By Jerry Gleeson
Advisors often recommend that their clients set up financial plans. An RIA benchmarking study by Fidelity Investments suggests advisors could use some plans of their own when it comes to managing their businesses.
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