Practice Management

It started with bonds. Now even collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) come in green.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether the marketing of the TerraUSD stablecoin before it crashed last month violated federal investor-protection regulations, according to a person familiar with the matter.

My staff told me that we have “become totally focused on AUM and fees. It isn’t a nice place to work anymore.”

The advisors who figure out how to work with Generation Z will take your wealthy Baby Boomer clients away. Stop rolling your eyes and listen to why.

To the brokerage firms that require their branch managers have their own production, did you really think you’d be the first in nearly 500 years to find a way to have your cake and eat it too?

I’ve done what many people dream of doing in their lives, but I’m ill at ease.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is concerned that retail investors are being duped by “greenwashing.”

How can you put the “know, like, trust” element of relationship marketing to work for your business at scale?

As an advocate of advisors working closely with tax preparers, and as a tax preparer myself, I hear the complaint of unreciprocated referrals all the time from financial advisors. Typically, I respond with questions such as…

How are advisors coping with the new Department of Labor (DOL) rollover rules? Here are a dozen observations.

The widespread adoption of remote work across the US has left local employers learning to compete with out-of-state companies offering big-city salaries.

Cryptocurrencies are the exact opposite of a prudent investment: They’re volatile, have little practical use beyond speculation and crime, often get lost or stolen, and lack the real-world cash flows that underpin the values of stocks and bonds.

He bullies team members, the other partners and most of our vendors.

RIAs can be paid to service trails-paying annuities without a broker-dealer.

What can you do about an overly restrictive compliance department? Or a non-responsive compliance department? Or one where you get different answers depending on who you ask?

It can take three years before a niche focus takes off for your financial advisory business. This article covers seven marketing steps for year one to ensure you lay a solid foundation for success.

Is it odd some newer people would have such negative things to say about me?

Whenever I surf television cable news channels, I see the plethora of ads for financial planning. But they are run by companies that sell financial products or are owned by huge insurance companies.

Advisors face an uphill battle to get attendance to their events.

Since the 1990s, the CalPERS sold LTC policies to its residents. The lawsuit over claims related to those policies illustrates the dangers clients face with government-sponsored insurance programs.

Feeling a bit cheated when you look down at your plate? It’s not just a figment of your imagination — portions at US restaurants are indeed getting smaller. Call it shrinkflation: when sizes shrink, but you’re paying the same price, or sometimes even more, for the meal or product.

Problems occur when a market shift reduces investment opportunities after a period when investor capital has been scaled up. The current climate portends such a shift.

The issue is that she doesn’t listen. She interrupts clients.

I don’t care how many PhDs are going to argue against me; direct indexing is Wall Street’s attempt at squeezing more fees out of the America public using advisors as the pawns.

While I am not a practice management guru, an experience I had this past year warrants sharing. it led to adding value to your clients in a way few of you do.

The new Investment Advisor Rep CE requirement isn’t just more training required by regulators; it’s an opportunity for advisors to start or continue on the right path with clients.

Does conducting your firm’s internal annual review have to cause annual stress, work overload, and a headache?

Advisor Perspectives has announced its Venerated Voices™ awards for commentaries published in Q1 2022.

LinkedIn statistics show that members who include a professional photo receive 21x more profile views and up to 36x more messages.

Dutch power company TenneT Holding BV sold 3.85 billion euros ($4.06 billion) of green debt across four maturities Tuesday, to fund greener electricity grids across Europe. It’s the largest deal for the environmental debt from a company, topping previous efforts from Honda Motor Co. and Engie SA, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Whether it’s because of tight Covid restrictions, separation from family or the frustration of closed borders, a growing number of people living abroad have made the choice to move closer to home. In the process, they’re facing the reality of inflation and pandemic-related transportation snags, not to mention the possibility of lower-paying jobs and higher taxes in their new location.

We have a woman on our team who seems to enjoy stirring things up.

Let’s look at 10 must-haves for financial advisor websites.

From organizing your closet to deep cleaning your kitchen, we're sure there's plenty for you to do. But we've got one more item to add to your list – spring clean your business plan.

Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 have fallen for four consecutive weeks, and the S&P’s 8.8% drop last month marked its worst April performance since 1970. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 13% for its worst month since the financial crisis in 2008.

Here is the just released our 2022 T3/Inside Information Software Survey. It ranks, by market share, the leading software solutions in advisory-firm tech stacks in 35 different categories.

Forward-thinking advisors have been searching for and employing analytics very carefully. This series will explore some of these metrics, along with their benefits and pitfalls. Today’s topic is capital markets assumptions.

Firms often consider launching multiple niches rather than focusing on just one. Though sometimes successful, this approach can dissipate your marketing efforts. This article offers guidelines to determine whether having multiple niches is for you.

Few corners of the financial universe have been surrounded by as much marketing froth as ESG, which by some estimates represents more than $40 trillion in assets. According to Morningstar, genuine ESG funds held about $2.7 trillion in managed assets at the end of the fourth quarter.

We were planning on an in-person event, but some of our team members were exposed to people who tested negative. How are firms solving for this issue now that we are not really back and still getting sick?

I will present several studies that explain the broad increase in online video usage, along with “how-to” instructions.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler wants to slash the amount of time that traders have to report many bond transactions as part of a bid to increase visibility into fixed-income markets.

Here are five ways to win new business and clients for life by creating urgency, so your prospects want to create a financial plan now with you.

“Banks are forever going to be trying to play catchup,” said Michael Moro, CEO of digital currency prime brokerage Genesis. “Crypto is going to move way faster than banks can. We have every bank in the world pretty much having some sort of crypto, blockchain working group.”

Your firm’s digital messaging and visual expression must all align with your ideal clients’ needs, goals and objectives. Here is how four top advisors achieved that goal.

Hire before you need help. You’ll win no awards for all the extra work you’re doing.

Our words help us dress up or dress down for the occasion.

An outdated website will tarnish your brand and cause you to miss opportunities to grow your reputation, reach, and revenue.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on strategies to become more time efficient. Since that time, I have been inundated with advisors asking questions such as…

Many of you are struggling to decide whether you should breakaway and form your own RIA. I confronted the same decision many years ago. Here’s my story.

Depending upon the annuity that is being recommended and its purpose, your discovery process should include these questions. This article is written for clients and can be forwarded to them using our Premium Membership Service.

Comparing advisors to big-rig truck drivers makes more sense that you think, once you consider the eerie similarities in their business models.

Does the scenario below sound likely? If so, you are among the thousands of RIAs who are likely to lose significant assets over the next decade.

Give yourself a year to implement a marketing plan, and it will promote procrastination and won’t be nimble. Instead of planning out your advisory firm’s marketing tactics for an entire year, create a plan that spans just 12 weeks.

For years, small accounts have been overcharged and underserved. I’m encouraged, however, by what I see some advisors doing, I wish the rest of the profession were inspired to similarly elevate the value provided for the price charged small clients.

Many advisors don’t understand risk. They apply different standards when it comes to assessing risk in their business and personal lives.

When does researching someone’s background and looking for ways to connect become uncomfortable for a person, wherein they might accuse us of stalking them?

This article discusses how to build a prospect list, from generating leads to getting potential clients to meet with you.

Here’s how to customize your calendaring system so that you weed out unqualified prospects and spend your time talking to qualified ones.

The SEC staff has issued a statement saying to investment advisers that their fiduciary status is “extraneous.”