RIAs

Amid the driving wind and rain, advisors battled back with generators, data backups ... and chainsaws.

Financial advisors on the East Coast have solid reasons to be worried about Hurricane Sandy – and even those far from the wreckage should be concerned, too. Advisors’ and clients’ safety rank first, but advisors also have to be concerned about their offices and property, as well as those of their clients’ and their clients’ relatives. As vital as proper insurance coverage is, it often will not cover all losses, nor losses from the disruption of business. How prepared are you and your firm to deal with a major disaster, like Sandy? Far too many advisors have no disaster recovery plan to rely on for times like this. Here are 5 questions to consider regarding you, your firm and your clients after the worst of the hurricane strikes.

For a new RIA to be managing $520 million for some 3,000 investors within six years is noteworthy. When that RIA was founded by an estate planning attorney, there must be a surprising reason.

Brown Advisory, a Baltimore-based independent investment management firm, hired Christopher Bartlett as a partner in its Baltimore office.

Almost one in two consumers (47%) say they keep the majority of their assets with banks, up from 44% in 2011. Self-directed firms and full-service brokers, in contrast, had only 28% and 15% of the market, respectively.

The hybrid RIA firm says it chose LPL after a 'Bachelor'-style bakeoff.

The value of RIA mergers and acquisitions activity for 2012 looks set to top 2011 totals, according to a new report.

Compared to other types of advisors, 40% of wealthy investors in that range were likely to choose a full services brokerage (such as a wirehouse or regional broker-dealer) over another advisor such as an RIA or accountant.

“We see RIAs increasing market share by 0.5% to 1% a year,” said Scott Smith, an associate director at Cerulli. “as the full-service firms experience an erosive but not a catastrophic decline.”

A team of six financial advisors have left Prudential to form Capstone Affluent Strategies, an independent wealth manager that has partnered with LPL Financial.