Tag: Practice management

With industry statistics showing that 25% of advisers have changed firms in the last four years, there are clearly many advisers in pursuit of the right business model.

Once again this year, in an attempt to minimize the number of surveys we ask you to complete, we have combined the Top 100 questionnaire with our annual Retirement Plan Adviser Survey. The deadline has been extended through the end of the day.

New at this year’s conference, advisers will have the ability to earn their PLANSPONSOR Retirement Professional designation while in attendance, and we are particularly excited for our opening evening speaker, the award-winning comedian and actor Jason Alexander.

According to the firm, the new suite of service offerings and tools will assist advisers across Ladenburg’s independent advisory and brokerage subsidiaries in achieving their strategic business goals through practice acquisitions and the development of continuity plans.

At the end of the day there just aren’t all that many people working on retirement plans, so it is only natural that firms will compete for and trade talent.

Polling its members, the Investment Adviser Association finds broad optimism about business prospects in the year; many firms report plans to grow headcounts by up to 10%.

The firm is launching a new adviser support program featuring dedicated coaches and customized online tools to support firm growth and improve the client experience.

The underlying technology will be provided by Retirement Plan Advisory Group and delivered to advisers with the support of a centralized team of retirement specialist consultants.

New at this year’s conference, advisers will have the ability to earn their PLANSPONSOR Retirement Professional designation while in attendance, and we are particularly excited for our opening evening speaker, the award-winning comedian and actor Jason Alexander.

“What actually is a strategic plan termination?” This is a question Dan Kravitz hears quite a lot from both defined benefit plan sponsors and retirement specialist advisers.

Through the MX partnership, participants with access to the Questis platform can see all of their finances in one place in a clear, organized, visual manner.

Independent advisory shop founder Joe Gordon talks about winning new plan business from brokers and bank advisers who are “seriously fumbling the discussion with clients about fees and fiduciary change.”

This will mean shifting their current focus from Baby Boomers, TD Ameritrade learned in a survey. 

Almost half of advisers who left their firm moved along with a larger team in 2017, versus 34% in 2012, according to data shared by Fidelity Clearing and Custody Solutions; advisers moving to an independent broker/dealer more often depart as a team versus other movers.

Financial advisers almost universally report the use of social media has changed how they communicate with and win new clients; however, they disagree to some extent about the real impact social media use has on the quality of client relationships, and by extension, business performance. 

Advisers are using new planning models and smarter technology, including automation, so that they can offer personalized service, SEI finds.

Looking to 2018 and beyond, traditional advisers, brokerage firms and banks are widely (and aggressively) seeking to integrate digital advice into their service offerings; the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning offers a digital advice road map to help make sense of it all.