Advisors archive
Every Advisors story, newest first. 837 stories
10 stories
- Practice management
Devon Klumb tells advisors to expect AI questions before meetings
A 2026 Betterment Advisor Solutions survey of 1,001 U.S. advised investors found 75% use AI for financial tasks and 3% would consider replacing their advisor with an AI-powered alternative.
- Tax & estate planning
Allianz survey finds 34% of Americans expect Medicare to cover long-term care
The survey of 1,000 adults also found 23% believe Medicare is free; Fidelity projects $185,000 in retirement medical costs, excluding long-term care.
- Tax & estate planning
Taxable assets reach $66 trillion, nearly double retirement savings, H&W finds
The report counts 133.4 million U.S. households holding $102.4 trillion in investable assets, with the allocation decision most contested among households with $100,000 to under $3 million.
- Succession & selling a firm
Wolfe Research's Steve Chubak explains how investors separate recruiting and organic growth
In an Oct. 22 WealthManagement.com episode, he outlines the investor questions on growth sustainability, cost and capital deployment.
- The Advisor's Note
Beacon Pointe to buy $1B WorthPointe without founder Van Slyke
Terms were not disclosed, and the Austin and Tyler offices become new Beacon Pointe locations.
- Tax & estate planning
Musk's SpaceX share pledge can't enter an unclaimed Trump Account
Treasury opened the accounts Oct. 1, 2026, and until a parent claims one it can take only government and charity money plus the $1,000 pilot contribution.
- Tax & estate planning
NARSA survey: 73.5% of advisors say clients want early Social Security over cut fears
The August poll of 189 Registered Social Security Analysts also found nearly 59% say clients doubt Congress will fix the program's finances.
- Practice management
Visionary Square will cover FINNY AI subscription costs for 250-plus advisors
The hybrid RIA, which has $24 billion in assets under supervision, will cover seat costs for the AI prospecting tool at its 140 partner firms.
- Tax & estate planning
Healthspan Wealth opens early access to AI longevity planning tool
Founders Thomas C. West and Suzanne Schmitt started the company in 2025 and hold five patents on compliant information sharing.
- Products & portfolios
Blue Owl halts OBDC II redemptions, shifts to return-of-capital payouts
Robert A. Stanger's Michael Covello reads the move as an orderly liquidation and expects a first distribution of about 30% of NAV; later payouts are unquantified.
28 stories
- Products & portfolios
Morningstar: A hypothetical basket of leveraged ETF reference stocks would have beaten the market
The equal-weighted portfolio would have trailed the leveraged ETFs themselves by about 5 percentage points a year, and Morningstar says it would not have fared as well lately.
- Succession & selling a firm
RIA acquisitions through Sept. 22, 2026, ran 19% below 2025 pace
Cerulli estimates 35% of advisors, responsible for 40% of industry assets, expect to retire within the next decade.
- Tax & estate planning
Tax-loss selling pushes record $5 billion into muni ETFs in week ended Oct. 14
Open-ended muni mutual funds lost $3.4 billion in the same week, their largest weekly outflow since June 2022.
- Recruiting & transitions
Wealthcare, Mariner pitch 1099 affiliation to advisors fed up with Form ADV work
Matt Regan and Rob Sandrew said solo advisors are weighing platform support against keeping their own Form ADV registration.
- Practice management
FTC flags fake Evite invitations as a route into client accounts
The scheme asks recipients to enter their email login to see event details, and advisors warn a compromised inbox can reset the passwords to financial accounts.
- Practice management
PHP releases fixes for critical PHP2Shell flaws after details leak online
Patched versions are 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36 and 8.2.35; exploit attempts were recorded the same day.
- Tax & estate planning
Tax Foundation: bonus depreciation shifts corporate tax burden to economic profits
The Oct. 21 analysis says immediate expensing preserves a deduction's full value and removes the tax burden on the return needed to break even.
- Practice management
SEC lets lone commissioner act when all other sitting members are disqualified
The rule took effect Oct. 2, the day Commissioner Hester Peirce left, as the agency weighs letting RIAs charge performance fees of up to 20%.
- Succession & selling a firm
Alaris banker warns slow AI adoption could lower RIA sale multiples
Median RIA valuations reached a record 11.6 times EBITDA in 2025, per Advisor Growth Strategies, and Darby said buyers may read an AI laggard as overstaffed.
- Tax & estate planning
Treasury auto-opened Trump Accounts Oct. 1, 2026; parents must claim them
Until a parent claims, the account can accept only government and charity money plus the $1,000 pilot contribution for certain children born 2025 through 2028.
- Succession & selling a firm
Meira Wealth's Jorge Padilla describes intern-to-owner succession
The Coral Gables firm holds $318 million in regulatory assets and six employees, WAD records show.
- Products & portfolios
Advisors Put Annuities in Bond Sleeves as Retail Sales Reach $464 Billion
Pacific Life's Steve Goldberg says higher rates let insurers offer better crediting rates and downside protection, and he explains four structures with different trade-offs.
- Tax & estate planning
Tax Foundation says California billionaire tax pitch keeps shifting
An Oct. 16 op-ed focuses on advocate Gabriel Zucman's description of Proposition 40 as a one-time levy, without offering a new revenue figure.
- Products & portfolios
Musk's SpaceX child-share pledge raises Trump Accounts lockup question
Musk said in an Oct. 19 post he will give one SpaceX share to every U.S. child next year, about $10.5 billion at the $146.03 Oct. 16 close.
- Practice management
Kevin Harnisch: SEC off-channel focus moving from sweeps to exams; Finra still scrutinizes
The Norton Rose Fulbright partner and former SEC enforcement branch chief says firms that discover substantive off-channel messages must investigate and remediate.
- Succession & selling a firm
Beacon Pointe buys $1B WorthPointe; founder Van Slyke won't join
Terms were not disclosed; WorthPointe's Austin and Tyler offices become new Beacon Pointe locations.
- Tax & estate planning
Treasury and IRS put donor-advised fund guidance on 2026-2027 priority plan
WealthManagement.com reports the 6033 reference is new and may point to additional reporting for donor-advised fund sponsors.
- Tax & estate planning
WealthManagement.com guide lays out three paths and four questions for family business succession
The guide says many analyses value the coming shift of privately held U.S. businesses at $5 trillion or more.
- Tax & estate planning
IRS grants estate late opt-out from automatic GST allocation on GRATs
Private Letter Ruling 202633002, dated Aug. 14, 2026, allowed the elections after missed opt-outs surfaced at the taxpayer's death.
- Tax & estate planning
Ed Slott: same-property rule can void a 60-day IRA rollover
Returning a different asset of equal value instead of the exact cash or shares distributed makes the distribution taxable, Ed Slott writes in an IRAHelp column.
- Succession & selling a firm
SEC adds advisors involved in RIA mergers to fiscal 2026 exam priority list
Legacy billing errors, undisclosed conflicts and incomplete records can outlast an RIA deal, Wealth Solutions Report says.
- Practice management
Ezra Group's AI connector directory grows from 69 to 244 in ten weeks
The directory's 244 listings include 123 agents and 121 MCP servers, following a September wave of official connectors from wealthtech platforms.
- The Advisor's Note
BofA survey: 37% of incoming U.S. family office principals said they were very prepared
A quarter of 355 U.S. family offices surveyed had a leadership transition in the last decade.
- Products & portfolios
BlackRock Q4 fixed income outlook says similar yields carry different risks
The firm says a portfolio yielding more than 7% with less than three years of duration and an A-minus average rating is now possible.
- Tax & estate planning
BofA study: 37% said incoming principal was very prepared when transition occurred
A quarter of the 355 U.S. family offices surveyed have had a leadership transition in the last decade.
- Practice management
Nerd's Eye View lays out a two-pronged client review approach for RIAs
Amplify Reviews' 2026 report, cited in the article, finds 79% of top RIAs are not actively using testimonials or online reviews in marketing.
- Tax & estate planning
US pension system graded C+ as sustainability score slips to 57.1
The 2026 Marsh CFA Institute index puts the US at 61.6 overall, behind six A-grade systems with near-universal coverage and funded structures.
- Products & portfolios
8VC files $20.4M fund with zero sold; Bregal reports $80.8M co-invest sold
Coatue, Ares and D. E. Shaw also filed zero-sold offerings; Buccaneer and Almanack reported fully sold funds.
2 stories
- Products & portfolios
Charles Schwab plans its own long/short SMA, CEO Rick Wurster says
Wurster gave no launch date on the Oct. 15 call; DGS Capital's Ashish Sharma expects a second-quarter 2027 rollout.
- Practice management
Michael Kitces: AI's main effect will be deeper client engagements
At the eMoney Advisor 2026 Summit, he argued time saved on plan preparation flows into additional client work and can support higher fees.