Charles Paikert

"BlackRock is potentially a very powerful partner for advisors," says Sean McDermott, Corporate Insight analyst.

"The D.C. metro area is a hot market," says Savant Chief Executive Brent Brodeski.

Clients are understandably worried, but smart advisors can calm their nerves. Here’s how.

People are looking at social security more strategically… it's heavily nuanced [and] if you make the wrong decision it has significant implications for the future," Howard Schneider, president, Practical Perspectives.

The Bronfman-Highline deal is the 74th RIA M&A transaction this year, and is unlikely to be the last for the firm going forward. "We love this business…and we have capital," says Matthew Bronfman, chairman.

The firm will "re-focus" its business on Cetera, which will enter into a "strategic relationship" with Apollo Global Management to offer that firm's sponsored alternative investment products.

Creating a high-end brand from scratch is a daunting prospect, says Jeff Spears, chief executive of Sanctuary Wealth Services.

"We are reasonably confident that going into 2016 regulatory expenses will be down substantially," says LPL's acting chief financial officer Tom Lux.

Could talent shortages and old-school compensation plans clip the wealth management industry's wings?

"Make no doubt about it, we are not near a recession," says LPL chief investment officer Burt White.

The independent broker-dealer knows it’s in a dogfight to stay competitive in a sellers’ market.

Recruiting "is as competitive as I've seen it in the last 10 years," says LPL exec.

“The changes we announced today makes the [robo] cost issue go away,” LPL Chairman and CEO Mark Casady tells Financial Planning.

With more than $23 trillion in high-net-worth investor assets still held outside of the industry, advisors still have "a huge opportunity," says Jonathan Beatty of Schwab Advisor Services.

Eight months after Boston Private bought Banyan Partners, superstar Peter Raimondi is no longer CEO, key advisors are gone and asset growth has stalled.

Mike Greene will serve out the term of Joe Votava, who resigned earlier this year as chair-elect due to personal and business reasons.

Focus now has 34 partner firms nationally and three in the suburban Chicago market with the addition of Relative Value Partners.

"Branding initiatives are critical today, and the CFP Board should be applauded for its effort, but it's really difficult to assess the effectiveness of a national campaign on a local level," says marketing expert April Rudin.

"LPL is a different place than when we started there 11 years ago," says CBD Wealth Management partner Robert Comeaux, Jr.

Business development and investment management are the most difficult positions to fill, a new Schwab study found.