What best practices can financial professionals use to market their practice and accelerate their business growth? We review multi-channel solutions that are gaining visibility today for wealth professionals, RIAs and more.
Let's take a contrarian viewpoint regarding success. Much has been written about the typical qualities required for success. (In fact, I covered those in this column last month.) But consider a favorite phrase of the great algebraist, Karl Jacobi...
John Ritter is an unusual case, but he may also be a harbinger of things to come. A fee-only advisor with Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory, an RIA in Cincinnati, Ritter has over $2 million of client assets in annuities, and says he plans to put...
Despite current laws that reduce the estate-tax bite, survivorship life insurance is making a comeback as an estate-planning tool among some advisors. With Democrats in control of Congress, and a good chance that a Democrat will take the White...
Are closed-end fund preferred-auction securities safe? We consider CFPs to be the conservative's conservative security. Defaults are even rarer than failed auctions. We are comfortable with the safety of auction securities from closed-end funds...
A few weeks ago I had one of those blinding glimpses of the obvious. It dawned on me that despite the grinding intensity with which some advisors focus on attracting, serving and developing loyal relationships with affluent clients, a very...
Deal making in the wealth-management space has been rampant lately, and some holding companies and individual RIAs are beginning to see opportunities in Europe. Focus Financial Partners, a two-year-old holding company with 15 RIA partners and over...
Something is wrong with this picture. Consider the following: When talking about the state of the financial advisory industry with many veteran advisors today, you often hear one of following three things: I don't want my kids getting into the...
RBC Dain Rauscher continued its recent streak of acquisitions in February, announcing plans to acquire Ferris, Baker, Watts (FWB), a full-service broker/dealer in Washington D.C. The acquisition strategy is part of an effort by Canadian parent...
Business - purposeful activity. Plan - a method for achieving an end. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary In the early months of a new year, I have always found it helpful to take a quick reassessment of one's current business plan to use NASCAR...
With 77 million baby boomers approaching retirement, advisors are surely looking for ways to win their business. One way? Financial gerontology. That's according to a recent survey by Rydex AdvisorBenchmarking, whose study specifically addresses...
