Practice management: archive
Every Practice management story in Advisors, newest first. 313 stories
4 stories
Triad's compliance chief says onboard Anthropic's Claude like a new employee
The framework runs vendor due diligence, a named AI policy owner, approved-user lists and supervised logs for Claude for Financial Advisors, WealthManagement.com reports.
Evertern Wealth sends advisors to meet clients as seasonal stays lengthen
The Naples firm says clients split the year across several states and weeks abroad, and it reported $1.6 billion in regulatory assets across 1,153 accounts.
Wealthy U.S. investors' interest in advisor guidance more than doubles, UBS survey finds
Eighty-four percent of respondents also say they want more guidance than usual from their advisor during an election year.
Kitces & Carl argue an irrevocable decision can beat a reversible one
Episode 201, published October 15, suggests asking what a client would do if the default option disappeared.
5 stories
Map client task flow before an RIA operations manual, WealthManagement.com column argues
A firm should be able to name, in order and under ten seconds, who handles each step of a $20,000 client withdrawal.
Goldman Sachs survey: 36% of workers earning more than $300,000 live paycheck to paycheck
Two advisors told InvestmentNews they work through liabilities, benefits and reserves before touching a portfolio for high-income clients.
InvestmentNews columnist splits RIA sale reasons into founder readiness or capped growth
The first-person column says most RIAs have an intention problem rather than a growth problem, and the writer's firm is exploring a first acquisition.
Logan Paul's $16.5 million Pikachu sale pushes trading-card collections into planning meetings
Florida planner Thomas Ruggie's 10-point scorecard covers documentation, insurance and exit planning.
Financial Planning column: why advisors often abandon AI note-takers after a month
The author, writing from decades of coaching senior operators, blames habit and the brain's caution about anything new rather than the software itself.
5 stories
FINRA Q4 agenda lists 21 priorities and four SEC rule proposals
The regulator says it has advanced more than 20 SEC rule filings since April 2025 and plans an effective date for its collective investment trust exemption.
OpenArc and SageSpring build in-house advisor training programs
Financial Planning reports a three-year OpenArc class and a two-year SageSpring mentorship as alternatives to sending new advisors out alone.
BNY INSITE conference poll: 67% have AI budgets, 65% lack a metric
The Oct. 13 WealthManagement.com column argues connecting advisory technology matters more than adding it.
Anthropic announces Claude plugin connecting to Schwab, Orion and advisor systems
The plugin connects to providers including Schwab, Orion, Addepar, BlackRock, Envestnet, iCapital, Wealthbox, Wealth.com and Zocks, with advisors choosing which services to connect during setup.
Gunder Wealth pays for 60 virtual assistant hours monthly instead of a full-time hire
Ashlee deSteiger tells the Financial Advisor Success podcast she paused new client onboarding for nine months to review performance metrics.
4 stories
Behavioral finance is cognitive psychology applied to finance, Klontz and Horwitz argue
The article lists four client behaviors it calls ubiquitous and the cognitive biases it says explain them.
Twelve states and DC impose estate taxes; five levy inheritance taxes
Maryland is the only state with both taxes; Washington's estate-tax exemption is $3 million, versus $5.49 million in Hawaii.
Kitces article: prospects want the firm's fees and minimums, testimonials on websites
Sydney Squires describes two rounds of screening, and a cited report finds even referred prospects leave a site that cannot answer their questions.
Pathstone plans 77 client events in 2026 as assets reach $200 billion
The firm credits the events for referrals, while acquisitions account for much of the asset growth.
5 stories
XYPN AdviceTech judges press six finalists on fit with existing systems
Six vendors demoed roughly seven minutes each at XYPN LIVE in San Diego on September 30, and the panel's questions turned on data access and CRM overlap.
Pathstone credits client events for referrals as assets reach $200 billion
CEO Matthew Fleissig says the firm will host 77 client events in 2026; acquisitions account for much of the asset growth.
Nearly 40% of retirement investors want a detailed income plan, Cerulli finds
The 1,740-person Cerulli 401(k) survey polled active account owners and retirees; Bento Engine launched an MCP layer for compliant AI content.
Wealth Solutions Report commentary says platforms overlook mid-sized advisors
The commentary's practical tests are whether one team supports investment and insurance needs and whether an advisor can reach someone who understands the practice.
WMIQ advisor market sentiment falls to 115 as economic outlook improves
The economy reading rose to 106, while 39% of respondents expect a six-month market decline.
4 stories
Coalition Greenwich finds 22% of $100,000-to-$5-million households use both advisors and DIY accounts
Hybrid and DIY-only investors raised more cost concerns than advice-only clients, and hybrid clients were more likely to say they could soon leave their advisor.
IRIC’s Kevin Crain urges plainer retirement income language for client talks
He cites a 2013 NBER study where 72% of respondents wanted an annuity framed as spending payments, versus 21% when it was framed as an investment.
More than 60 million children auto-enrolled in Trump accounts; stock-donation proposal out for comment
The Oct. 7 announcement brought the total to nearly 70 million accounts, from about 7 million before auto-enrollment, according to a Treasury official.
Orion to charge vendors a Connected Ecosystem Support Fee for platform data
Vendors told WealthTech Today that quoted fees reach as high as $20,000 a month; Orion says the program funds infrastructure, governance and connectivity.
10 stories
Ewen Harris says AI should buy time for client conversation, not replace it
Janus Henderson found 79% of investors would see undisclosed AI use as a problem.
InvestorCOM finds 44% of rollovers occur before savers turn 59½
Panelists say advisors must reach plan participants years before a job change or rollover decision.
Tax Foundation counts roughly 40 state tax measures on November ballots
The Oct. 7 podcast episode covers proposals on top-earner rates, constitutional rate locks, property tax relief and a Missouri fund that could replace every state tax.
Kitces publishes Clearnomics' seven charts for Q3 client conversations
The quarter the deck covers included a 10-year Treasury yield that touched 5.30%, the Fed's first rate hike in three years, and the S&P 500's 27th record high of 2026.
Marie Swift, Ashten Legg and Matt Ackermann on RIA podcast launch prerequisites
The Wealth Solutions Report panel's four prerequisites for a launch: a fitting host, a repeatable production process, compelling guests and a way to tell whether the show creates value.
What RIA consolidation means for G2 advisors' windfalls and succession paths
A column notes the second quarter of 2026 was reported as the most active ever for RIA M&A, and that more recent data suggests third-quarter activity slowed.
SEC settles Zoe Financial referral-algorithm case with a $450,000 penalty
The order says salespeople often recommended advisers beyond the algorithm's list, and that a conflict created by an affiliated service went undisclosed until December 2024.
FINRA bars ex-Wedbush broker William Sandeman over $3.5 million in complex ETP losses
The Seattle broker recommended volatility-linked and non-traditional products to 81 clients, 59 of them seniors and most moderate or conservative, between December 2020 and January 2025.
Advisers rank growing wealth eighth among women's priorities; women rank it first
In a new BlackRock survey, advisers most often traced women's wealth to inheritance or marriage, while 79% of the women credited their own salary or career earnings.
87% of firms use or pilot AI; 6% run agentic tools inside workflows
F2 Strategy's Q2 2026 Trend Report surveyed 40 leading RIAs, wealth management firms and broker-dealers representing $8.6 trillion in assets and found a very weak correlation between AI technology spending and measurable business value.
3 stories
SEC sets Nov. 19 virtual compliance seminar for advisers and funds
Enforcement's asset management unit is among the sponsors, and panel questions can be submitted in advance through the agenda.
SEC exam division replaces its brochure with a stage-by-stage handbook
The guide runs from the division's risk assessment to the disposition letter, and the SEC says the aim is a more consistent and predictable exam.
Altruist prices Hazel planning agent at $3,600 per advisor annually
The custodian is selling the planning tool to advisors regardless of where they custody, and RIABiz reports buyers may need to supply PDFs if rival planning vendors refuse API access.