Rachel F. Elson

At the group's national conference in Orlando, president Tom Nally announces several new initiatives aimed at helping advisors expand their businesses.

As the cost of recruiting new advisors has soared, says CEO Erica McGinnis, such small-scale growth has become more difficult -- and more expensive.

A pair of longtime Suntrust financial advisors have hooked up with LPL Financial to form their own practice.

A new HighTower project tries to determine whether the aggregated opinions of advisors and staff can offer meaningful insight into portfolio allocations.

November's hot stories were a wide ranging lot. Check out this month’s big winners.

In the wake of this summer's Supreme Court ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act and Prop 8 -- as well as ensuing federal clarifications related to tax rules, employee spousal benefits and more -- same-sex couples now say they need help with financial planning.

The independent broker-dealer network, which would be the nation's fourth-largest IBD if all its component businesses were consolidated, has named a 42-year-old internal candidate.

Advisors may say they're comfortable developing retirement income strategies -- but none seem to agree on the right way to create an income stream.

RIAs have a new top cop in Washington.

Carson's coaching firm, Peak Advisor Alliance and digital content firm, Faulkner Media Group have joined forces to create a new digital content service for advisors.

One key element separates the fastest-growing RIA firms from their peers, according to a new Schwab report.

"If an advisor wrote a piece of business and hasn't called the client in over a year, it can't really be considered stealing," says advisor Jeff Arber. Agree?

A strong majority of advisors (86%) said they had acquired more clients than they lost in 2012, according to a new advisor survey from Russell Investments, with nearly a half saying they had brought on more than 10 households. And 87% said they were "optimistic" about acquiring new clients in 2013.

“I think probably the No. 1 area of angst for advisors running their own firms is the efficiency of their business,” Pershing's Mark Tibergien said Thursday during an interview at the Pershing Insite conference.

Sallie Krawcheck scolded advisors last month for their attitudes towards female clients. "Talking to husbands and nodding to wives no longer cuts it," she said.

A great wealth transfer may indeed be looming, but advisory firm executives are still focusing their creative energy on their boomer (and older) clients.