RIAs

Average assets under management for financial advisors in North America hit a record $81 million last year, according to a new report.

Increased compliance requirements, regulatory changes, and an aging client base are just some of the obstacles RIAs will face this year, but advisors still see a bright future for their assets under management.

The dually registered and registered investment advisor channels were the fastest-growing for assets under management from 2010 to 2011, Cerulli Associates reported today -- but the two are still dwarfed by assets in the wirehouse channel.

The three-year-old Tampa-based broker-dealer and RIA has opened a new office in Sebring, Fla., bringing on 17-year Merrill Lynch veteran Kelly Connelly as a financial advisor and first vice president of investments.

Jeffrey Rubin, a Florida broker, was barred from the securities industry after more than 30 National Football League players including Terrell Owens lost at least $40 million on an Alabama casino project that went bankrupt.

Growth can mean a number of things: professional development, growing assets, increasing enterprise value of the business, raising revenue or expanding profits. Shirl Penney examines a few lessons learned from the Dynasty Network on what advisors are doing to raise revenues and widen margins.

What if you could outsource all of the burdensome administrative tasks and focus on growing your bottom line? Convergent Wealth Advisors has introduced a program with that in mind.

Call it a generation-skipping succession plan. When 62-year old industry veteran John LaPann decided it was time to hand over the reins of Federal Street Advisors, observers may have expected his successor would emerge from the ranks of firm veterans now in their 50s, but instead the firm chose some younger leaders.

CIC Wealth Management, a Maryland-based RIA, plans to grow by targeting single and divorced women as clients.This demographic currently represent about 35% of the $300 million firm's client base, but could its plans to increase that percentage significantly be thwarted by the fact it only has one female advisor?

Large companies will get larger and smaller firms will be acquired, but consolidation and growth of large RIAs is not necessarily a bad thing.