RIAs

The Financial Planning Association announced the winners of its top awards, which will be presented at its annual conference in Texas. The FPA honored David M. King, with its 2012 P. Kemp Fain, Jr. Award; retirement researcher Wade D. Pfau with the inaugural Montgomery-Warschauer Award; and 10 influencers in the profession with Heart of Financial Planning Awards. Check out more information on each of the honorees.

"As breakaway brokers continue to seek the benefits of the independent RIA model and a large number of RIAs near retirement, we're seeing unprecedented opportunities to create mutually beneficial relationships between advisors," said Ben Welch, Ameritrade's director of advisor business development. "RIAConnect meets the increasing demand for a more effective way to connect firms and helps support advisor growth potential."

In an effort to give smaller RIAs access to a broader array of services, Ron Carson has launched Carson Institutional Advisory. The new platform includes a succession planning strategy as an added attraction.

TD Ameritrade announced Wednesday it will introduce access to a full range of competitively priced annuities to help independent registered investment advisors meet increasing client demand for retirement income solutions.

For a startup firm, attracting $150 million in assets under management within nine months is impressive. The entire story, though, of PWM Advisory Group goes back more than a decade.

Washington Wealth Management added Domari Wealth Management, a breakaway team from Wells Fargo with $135 million in AUM and $1.4 million in revenue, to its newly formed Woodland Hills, Calif., office.

"Confidentiality is critical," says Mary Ann Buchanan, a 25-year industry veteran and founder of Purcellville, VA-based RIA Match. "[Advisors] need to be able to look around anonymously. They need to have the ability to stick their toe in the water and see who is out there. Names and addresses [collected from users] will never, ever be sold."

"We provide all the tools a broker needs to thrive," said Russell Gebhard, president of Sovereign Investment Group in Houston."If the advisor is successful, it's more than likely the clients will be, too."

A survey from the Oechsli Institute reveals that advisors are underusing the personal aspects of social media to build client rapport.

CFO4LIFE, a Coppell, Texax, financial planning firm with more than $450 million in assets, announced Thursday it is departing from LPL Financial to become an RIA.