From shopping for better interest rates to tax strategy to cash flow, financial planners can play a vital role in helping clients prepare to take out a mortgage.

"The Listening Advisor" author John Gatewood preaches a five-part framework that he says can help financial advisors build deeper relationships with their clients and open valuable careers to aspiring planners.

Two years after Hurricane Helene hit his hometown, Earth Equity Advisors founder Pete Krull argues advisors need franker conversations about where clients invest and where they retire.

As a subscriber to Financial-Planning.com, you can earn up to 12 hours of CE credit from the CFP Board and the Investments & Wealth Institute.

Clients with concentrated stock holdings might be better off turning their portfolios into ETFs in a tax deferral transaction called a Section 351 conversion.

Even though some firms have been able to command top dollar selling themselves to large aggregators, plenty of variables are still helping to hold purchase prices in check.

Advisors who fail to build relationships with adult children before they inherit risk mass defections later.

Sitting on company stock just to avoid capital gains can expose concentrated positions to undue risk.

When AI providers use the increasingly vague catchphrase "human in the loop" as a verbal safety net, client outcomes and firm reputations are at risk.

These10 advisors are redefining what it means to serve clients and communities.

The largest firm in the independent brokerage channel is also the fastest growing. But the industry's rapid expansion alongside rising equity values over the past three years may be hiding some firms' vulnerabilities.

Osaic expected advisor departures during its massive consolidation of nine separate broker-dealers within its corporate structure. But CEO Jamie Price says the effort positioned the firm well for a future liquidity event. Here's how the independent broker-dealer is rebuilding.