RIAs

Drawn by the independent business model, Douglas King is leaving a 25-year career at Merrill Lynch in Minnesota to become the Los Angeles-based president of Financial Network Investment Corporation, a Cetera Financial Group company.

Now, Prima Capital’s due diligence and other research services will reach RIAs and financial planners via the Envestnet wealth management platform.

“I am very excited about this transaction. In addition to increasing our assets under management, it gives us some new and interesting fund offerings, and access to a premier distribution system,” says Steven M. Graziano, president of Touchstone.

Milwaukee, Wisc.-based CliftonLarsonAllen Wealth Advisors has teamed up with Academy Asset Management, a Philadelphia, Pa.-based investment advisor to launch Innovator Management LLC, purveyor of the new Innovator Matrix income Fund.

“All stockholders receive the special cash dividend, and many are financial advisors and management, so this is a bit of a bonus,” says Chip Roame, managing partner at Tiburon Strategic Partners.

Here’s an interactive slide show featuring the six firms that scored above the national average in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2012 U.S. Financial Advisor Satisfaction Study.

Here’s an interactive slide show featuring the six firms that scored above the national average of 774 points in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2012 U.S. Financial Advisor Satisfaction Study.

A typical fee-based advisor undercharges clients by about $20,000 each year, according to a presentation on the PriceMetrix site.

The advantages of having both an RIA and broker-dealer relationship include ownership of the business while having the support of a full service broker-dealer.

Running a planning practice takes you into a lot of chicken-and-egg situations, such as needing to have scale before you can get the tools you need to grow. Bob Veres has answers for RIAs starting out or struggling to grow their firms.