Happy Friday, PLANADVISER readers. Today’s announcement that Merrill Lynch is underscores the tremendous pressures bearing down on advisory and brokerage businesses, stemming from deep regulatory change and a shift in client expectations. Collected below you will find articles and analysis identifying the top challenges and opportunities advisers face.
Enterprise-level adviser technology providers are just fine with winning new business behind the scenes; two industry executives explain why “traditional advisory firms” should embrace them.
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Internal investment product wholesalers are pursuing advanced degrees and designations to improve their image as “knowledge partners” in the eyes of advisers, according to new Cerulli Associates research.
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More than half of broker/dealers surveyed by the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute believe some of their advisers will retire rather than sell under the new.
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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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Advisers polled said their top three concerns are, first, a lack of focus on driving firm value, followed by the inability to grow client AUM/revenue and the inability to change client demographics.
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Findings from a Capital One survey about why employees do not participate in their employer-sponsored retirement plan offers opportunities for education, according to Stuart Robertson.
The language of “inertia” and “disengagement” are often used to describe the natural state of retirement plan participants, but new research from Wells Fargo suggests plan sponsors are also prone to settling with the status quo.
The complaint specifically calls out the 11 T. Rowe Price target-date funds (TDFs) offered by the plans, saying they are all adviser or retail class funds—as opposed to investor or institutional class funds.
