Happy Friday, readers! Professional DC plan advisers will know the importance of surveying client satisfaction and promoting positive perceptions of the firm. But there is often less attention paid when it comes to assessing the satisfaction and coordination of one’s own staff resources. This week’s roundup mailing features a handful of articles examining the staff management strategies and best practices of top-performing firms.
A confluence of generational, technological and consumer preference trends is driving a sea change in the traditional investment advisory business, according to J.D. Power researchers.
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PLANADVISER and Hartford Funds sat down to discuss some upcoming “roundtable research” the investment services firm is putting together, looking specifically at the experiences and expectations of Millennials working in the financial advisory field.
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Financial advisers of the future will have to cope with serving a workforce (not to mention maintaining their own employee base) that is much more mobile and does not necessarily spend much time tethered to a given employer.
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AssetMark is out with a new analysis of advisory practices with AUM growing 20% or more each year. There are clearly a few common best practices, especially when it comes to managing staff roles and workflows.
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As an adviser to advisers, Steven Miyao, president of financial research and consulting firm DST kasina, has a unique and informative platform from which to view the U.S. asset management industry.
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Despite a market “teeming with better-performing alternatives,” the plaintiffs say, Walgreen selected the Northern Trust Funds, which already had a history of poor performance.
Low and middle-income Americans struggling to save for retirement are depending on the U.S. Senate to pass the SECURE Act, advocates say. At present, one roadblock seems to the law’s treatment of “stretch IRAs.”
Washington insiders say Senator Ted Cruz is probably the biggest roadblock to the SECURE Act being passed in the near-term under unanimous consent; among other issues, he wants the bill to allow people to use tax-advantaged 529 college savings accounts to pay for home school expenses.
A new IRS private letter ruling essentially conforms the tax treatment of properly structured advisory fees from non-qualified annuity contracts to those paid out of qualified accounts, which typically are not treated as taxable distributions.
There is precious little time remaining for the proposal and adoption of any new advisory industry conflict of interest rules that the DOL hopes to make effective during this presidential administration.
