RIAs

As advisors look to mergers and acquisitions to fuel growth strategies and succession plans, firms need to look beyond the transaction itself and think strategically about how a combined firm will operate, experts said this week at the FSI's financial advisor summit.

Wealthfront can become the "leader in a new emerging market" if it focuses on millennials the way Charles Schwab zeroed in on Baby Boomers, says CEO Adam Nash.

The Foundation for Financial Planning and Give an Hour discuss partnership to deliver planning interventions for service members and veterans.

Only about 20% of the mass affluent market have a financial advisor, notes FutureAdvisor CEO Bo Lu, compared with around 60% of individuals with more than $1 million in investable assets.

A wirehouse advisor team managing about $400 million in assets has left UBS to join Snowden Lane Partners, an independent firm.

'This is a boom time for these markets,' says Adrian Flambard, deVere's area manager in San Francisco.

FSI sees the new insurance coverage as an added benefit the group hopes will help it increase membership and amplify its advocacy efforts.

Rather than fighting off digital competition, RIAs should bet on Betterment's "robo advisor" technology, says industry veteran Steve Lockshin.

The industry is losing about 3,000 to 4,000 advisors annually who aren’t being replaced, says Pershing CEO Mark Tibergien.

“There’s a very low supply of advisory firms with more than $1 billion in assets under management,” says Echelon CEO Dan Seivert.