Practice management

When he's not preparing to climb the world's highest mountains and run the major marathons, Joe McQuaid, managing director of platform solutions and advisor experience, ensures Concurrent Investment Advisors' tech stack has stamina.

The mega bank says more than half of its roughly 300,000 are already back in the office every day of the work week.

The asset management giant called out the method of offsetting capital gains in this year's edition of its oft-cited study tracking the "alpha" of financial planning.

The answer depends first and foremost on how much time financial advisors have for an emotionally and technically challenging process, experts said.

The most precipitous drop of any category was in asset allocation, as advisors signaled they would be less aggressive with investments in the new year.

Edward Jones stood accused of not properly supervising advisors who were charging clients commissions for mutual funds and then moving the fund shares over to fee-generating accounts.

A recent Smarsh survey found that although 79% of finserv firms view AI as critical to the sector's future and 81% of large firms feel pressured to adopt AI to stay competitive, only 32% have formal AI governance programs in place.

Industry experts say the new team of 25 investment specialists seems designed to tackle the more esoteric aspects of working with wealthy clients and leave asset gathering and relationship management to advisors.

If there's one thing we should have learned by now, it's that the constant state of change in our industry is driven by advances in technology.

But even as many firms' tech budgets are likely to increase, experts say carefully spending that money to increase efficiency will be paramount to maintaining a nimble tech stack.

While not denying the benefits of PE backing, a subset of RIAs and wealth managers remain determined to go it alone.

Even though some firms have been able to command top dollar selling themselves to large aggregators, plenty of variables are still helping to hold purchase prices in check.

Experts in the finance and wealth management industries say AI saves time and helps synthesize large amounts of data, but technical and ethical limitations remain.

Like any ranking, the list from SmartAsset comes with some caveats. But these firms are catering to a lot of high net worth and ultrahigh net worth clients.

Getting healthy. Networking. Drawing the line on prices. Here are the ways wealth managers want to improve their practices — and their lives — in the new year.

The No. 1 state effectively charges 1.88% on the value of a residence, according to a realty firm's analysis of a frequent and growing concern among clients.

From classic standbys of business and finance to motivational self-help to modern fiction and more, check out 15 books that helped financial advisors in their practices this year.

More than five dozen stories from the past year reflect an era of building controversy and pushback amid ongoing efforts to remove barriers and promote careers.

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors President Eric Housman thinks his bank's $2 billion advisory practice still occupies a distinct position in the industry. But it's not likely to stay that way.

From trending independence to the rise in AI in wealth management, these stories and series dove deep on issues of utmost importance to financial advisors in 2024.