Donna M. Mitchell

The new unit will service advisors dedicated to mass-market clients, a segment the company believes does not get enough professional financial advice.

Lincoln Financial Advisors had abruptly terminated Jeffrey Concepcion in August 2008, according to the arbitration filing, and then withheld severance after he refused to agree to a non-competition agreement.

The move reflects the ongoing erosion of wealth management market share in the wirehouse channel, the firm says, citing numbers from Cerulli Associates.

Matt Lynch, a principal at Tiburon Strategic Advisors, has joined the board of directors of client account aggregation firm ByAllAccounts.

The partnership taps into the enormous potential for referral business between CPA firms and embedded wealth management firms, says Shirl Penney, CEO and founder of Dynasty Financial Partners.

Now, Prima Capital’s due diligence and other research services will reach RIAs and financial planners via the Envestnet wealth management platform.

Only 30% of investors surveyed knew that target-date funds do not provide guaranteed income in retirement.

The independent broker-dealer is betting that grouping women by life events, not their ages, is the better way to reach them.

“All stockholders receive the special cash dividend, and many are financial advisors and management, so this is a bit of a bonus,” says Chip Roame, managing partner at Tiburon Strategic Partners.

Here’s an interactive slide show featuring the six firms that scored above the national average in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2012 U.S. Financial Advisor Satisfaction Study.

William Greiner has more than 25 years of experience in financial services, and was chief investment officer of Scout Investment Advisors before joining Mariner Wealth.

Raymond James managed to straddle both the RIA and employee channels, placing second in both.

Raymond James manages to straddle both the independent and employee channels and places second in both.

Women as a group are less satisfied than men with the performance of their investment professionals.

A typical fee-based advisor undercharges clients by about $20,000 each year, according to a presentation on the PriceMetrix site.

The uncertainty is ‘unbelievably disruptive’ for advisors at a time when clients are beginning to have more confidence in the markets and investing. Likely candidates to buy could include Cetera and Lincoln Financial, observers say.

The findings provide several opportunities for planners to build trust in their business models. Hint: Find an academic to support points you’re trying to get across to clients.

Kitces is co-author of The Annuity Advisor, and is a contributor to Financial Planning magazine, as well as a string of major consumer publications.

High-net-worth investors who are intently interested in those opportunities should pay particular attention to time horizons and investment styles.

Qualified accounts, such as 401(k)s and IRAs, retained 42.5% of the $37.6 billion that flowed into the accounts for a net asset inflow of $22.4 billion.