Toby is a veteran journalist with more than a dozen years of experience in the field who joined Financial Planning in 2017 after prior tenures with the New York Daily News, Commercial Observer and City Limits. He earned an undergraduate degree in the humanities from the University of Texas at Austin and a master's degree in journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. He has won a dozen business journalism awards during his time with Financial Planning, including those received for the 2020 podcast series "
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Founders Elissa Buie and Dave Yeske are leaving a legacy in the profession and at the firm under three successors taking over in 2026.
December 16 -
An increasingly popular form of lending enables financial advisors and their clients to offset capital gains and find other tax savings.
December 15 -
Steve Lockshin and Michael Kitces tied what they view as some mistaken assumptions around fees to the competitive need for more estate planning services.
December 11 -
Consolidation has been ongoing for more than a decade in wealth management, but it accelerated to unprecedented levels this year.
December 10 -
Separate from any transactions involved with succession, financial advisors who want to retire face challenges that make exiting the business difficult.
December 9 -
Morningstar's study of this growing area of asset management suggests that 529 plan quality is rising, despite the research firm's lackluster grades for it.
December 8 -
Nearly all the brokers who dropped their FINRA registration in the wake of tougher rules kept their insurance licenses, according to newly published research.
December 4 -
When a client's insurance needs change, the opportunity to sell their life policies to outside buyers should not be overlooked.
December 3 -
Preparation is everything: If clients are aware of the transition well in advance, experts say the risk is pretty low they'll leave the firm.
December 2 -
A tweak to the deductibility of gambling losses may not bring in a lot of tax revenue, but it could certainly alter a lot of wagers next year.
December 1 -
One of the most consequential M&A deals in years leads this roundup of the many ways big independent firms grew in 2025 and how they plan to continue growing in 2026.
November 28 -
Savant Wealth Management, Moneta Group Investment Advisors and EP Wealth Advisors lead a group of fee-only firms with headcounts well above their peers.
November 25 -
Experts say RIA owners often resist making themselves replaceable. But they'll have to choose between an internal or external deal someday.
November 24 -
This year the top three firms in FP's exclusive study of RIAs that do not do any commission business manage nearly $120 billion combined.
November 19 -
The printable PDF includes rankings based on the firms' AUM as well as statistics on each firm's employees, client accounts and financial advisors.
November 18 -
Fiduciary laws trace their roots to ancient times, but the terms of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act are still evolving today.
November 18 -
The implications to taxes, hiring and the very legacy of a financial advisor's career demand much more formal documentation than most RIAs have undertaken, experts say.
November 17 -
Financial therapist Rahkim Sabree wove his personal experiences into a detailed manual on a problem he and others say is often glossed over by the industry.
November 13 -
The higher standard deduction since 2017 has dramatically reduced itemization. But the new law provides incentive for teachers to consider whether that's feasible.
November 12 -
Minority transactions are increasingly appealing to sellers who are wary of giving up the full control of their firms. But experts say the deals do come with strings.
November 11
