Nerd's Eye View

MARCH 24, 2025

For smaller firms – especially those with little to no experience onboarding new advisors – creating a well-paced financial plan can feel daunting. However, a structured and flexible onboarding plan not only helps an associate advisor ramp up efficiently but also ensures a smooth transition into an autonomous and fulfilling role!

Planning 130

Planning Clients Financial Planning Communication 130

Nerd's Eye View

DECEMBER 17, 2024

What's unique about Fran, though, is how she decided to transition from the independent broker-dealer model to a 'supported independence' corporate RIA platform in order to avoid the compliance headaches involved in being a totally independent RIA while reducing the drag of platform fees on her firm's profitability by finding a platform that wouldn't (..)

Compliance 243

Compliance Financial Advisor Financial Advice Clients 243

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 5, 2024

If they want to continue to grow and increase their capacity, they'll need to make several important decisions and address a plethora of legal and compliance requirements not only to avoid potential legal issues but also to ensure that their business will continue to operate smoothly.

Compliance 189

Compliance Clients Consulting Accounting 189

Nerd's Eye View

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

In this guest post, Chris Stanley, investment management attorney and Founding Principal of Beach Street Legal, discusses in depth the various stages of buying, selling, and merging an investment advisory and financial planning business.

Compliance 245

Compliance Sales Financial Advisor Financial Planning 245

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 17, 2024

Which suggests that advisers have an opportunity to leverage the power of online reviews, which can act as "evergreen referrals" and drive more prospects to seek out the firm’s services, all while adhering to their firm’s compliance requirements. Next , by taking a proactive approach to reinforcing where they add value (e.g.,

Financial Advising 246

Financial Advising Compliance Advertising Marketing 246

Nerd's Eye View

MARCH 6, 2023

Which at best will still be a substantial uphill battle, given the hassle of switching from one financial planning platform to another (and the fact that most advisors are generally satisfied with their current financial planning software in the first place!).

Compliance 246

Compliance Financial Planning Planning Clients 246

Nerd's Eye View

MARCH 17, 2025

This is largely because, for financial advisors, it's not 'just' about capturing notes from the client meeting itself, but also about managing everything that follows: recording meeting notes in the CRM for compliance purposes, assigning post-meeting tasks to the team, and sending the client a post-meeting recap email.

Financial Advisor 137

Financial Advisor Clients Financial Planning Professional Services 137

Nerd's Eye View

JULY 31, 2024

Even firms with robust compliance programs that do a good job following their required policies and procedures can struggle with examinations if they don't have the information that examiners will ask for readily available.

Compliance 246

Compliance Ethics Advertising Clients 246

Nerd's Eye View

NOVEMBER 6, 2023

And be certain to read to the end, where we have provided an update to our popular "Financial AdvisorTech Solutions Map" (and also added the changes to our AdvisorTech Directory) as well!

Compliance 246

Compliance Valuation Financial Advisor Clients 246

Nerd's Eye View

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

While some are looking to gain a first-mover advantage by leveraging client testimonials and third-party endorsements (and adjusting their compliance programs before doing so), others are taking a wait-and-see approach. Also in industry news this week: Why “SECURE 2.0”

Financial Planner 243

Financial Planner Retirement Planning Compliance Clients 243

Nerd's Eye View

FEBRUARY 1, 2023

Which, in fact, often meets the definition of an ‘endorsement’, subjecting many third-party relationships to the Marketing Rule’s compliance regulations.

Advertising 240

Advertising Compliance Marketing Marketing 240

Nerd's Eye View

OCTOBER 30, 2024

The conflicts themselves can range from compensation models that impact how much money an advisor might earn as the result of a recommendation (such as specific product recommendations for advisors compensated on commission and 401(k) plan rollover recommendations for AUM-based advisors) to less direct conflicts such as 'soft dollar' benefits provided (..)

Advertising 246

Advertising Commission Marketing Marketing 246

Nerd's Eye View

MARCH 13, 2023

However, the reality is that it’s very expensive to build and maintain technology, especially when considering the full range of CRM, portfolio management, financial planning, and more than a dozen other sub-categories of technology that financial advisors use in their firms. broker-dealers, RIA aggregators, TAMPs, etc.)

Compliance 245

Compliance Portfolio Management Planning Financial Advisor 245

Nerd's Eye View

APRIL 17, 2024

Compliance!), And while all may appear well on the surface – the client rarely contacts the advisor with problems but they show up for every annual meeting – they may actually be feeling quite disengaged with the financial planning services being provided. Prospecting! Onboarding! – important goals.

Clients 246

Clients Financial Planning Planning Compliance 246

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 6, 2023

Adam is a principal with RubinGoldman and Associates, and the Founder and CEO of Asset-Map, a financial planning tool that helps financial advisors create a visual representation of their clients’ financial situation, reaching over 1.25 Welcome back to the 336th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast ! million users.

Assets 246

Assets Financial Advisor Financial Planning Insurance 246

Nerd's Eye View

JULY 12, 2022

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how, after years of working in an environment where she saw first-hand how ultra-high-net-worth clients keep and grow their wealth (and the lack of diversity among those clients), Kamila decided to build a practice that focused on providing holistic financial planning to communities of color with emerging wealth, (..)

Financial Advisor 246

Financial Advisor CFP Clients Financial Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

JANUARY 1, 2024

This month's edition kicks off with the news that held-away asset management platform Pontera has raised $60 million in venture capital funding as advisors increasingly seek to directly manage clients' 401(k) and other outside assets – although an ongoing investigation by Washington state regulators over whether advisors' use of Pontera violates (..)

Retirement Planning 246

Retirement Planning Startup Compliance Clients 246

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 3, 2024

This month's edition kicks off with the news that 'startup' custodian Altruist has completed a $169 million fundraising round as it continues to rebuild the RIA custodial tech stack layer-by-layer while positioning itself as the biggest RIA custodian built from scratch and solely for advisors – which, while making it the clear #3 custodian behind (..)

Risk Tolerance 246

Risk Tolerance Communication Startup Financial Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 5, 2023

This month's edition kicks off with the news that Riskalyze has completed its previously-announced rebranding, and will now be known as “Nitrogen”, a ”growth platform” for advisory firms – which represents less of a shift in the platform’s core function (given that Riskalyze’s risk tolerance tool was always (..)

Risk Tolerance 245

Risk Tolerance Retirement License Retirement Planning 245

Nerd's Eye View

MAY 2, 2023

We also discuss why Jake and his team not only create long-term financial plans for their clients, but also focus on a 10-year vision to help his younger, travel-loving clientele start achieving more of their immediate goals so they're more likely to retain as clients by feeling like they're making near-term financial planning progress.

Financial Advisor 246

Financial Advisor Financial Planning Clients Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

AUGUST 7, 2023

This month's edition kicks off with the news that estate planning platform Wealth.com has launched Ester, an AI-driven 'legal assistant' that uses machine learning to help advisors quickly review and extract the key information from clients' estate planning documents, as it joins FP Alpha in the competition to become 'Holistiplan for estate planning (..)

Estate Planning 246

Estate Planning Wealth Management Financial Advisor Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

JULY 31, 2024

Even firms with robust compliance programs that do a good job following their required policies and procedures can struggle with examinations if they don't have the information that examiners will ask for readily available.

Compliance 189

Compliance Ethics Advertising Clients 189

Nerd's Eye View

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

What's unique about Bridget, though, is how, as a solo advisor, she found herself overwhelmed with the pressures of having to manage different aspects of her business while also providing great service to her clients as she quickly grew to $77M of AUM in 7 years, and has decided to not to "scale" her firm by hiring more advisors but instead leverage (..)

Financial Planning 246

Financial Planning Financial Advisor Clients Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 26, 2023

Firms seeking acquisitions may talk up their values prior to the sale, but the reality is that at a firm that is rapidly acquiring other businesses – particularly when funded by private equity ownership – the focus is often on the growth of assets and profitability, no matter what the core values are purported to be. Read More.

Compliance 246

Compliance Sales Planning Media 246

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 7, 2023

Additionally, it’s worth remembering that, save for certain personal information like home addresses and birthdates, much of the information on Form U4 is made public on the SEC’s website.

Compliance 246

Compliance Advertising Media Investing 246

Nerd's Eye View

FEBRUARY 17, 2025

In order to deliver the best service to their clients, financial advisors often take on responsibilities beyond giving financial advice, including compliance, marketing, team management, and other operational duties.

Compliance 159

Compliance Financial Advice Management Financial Advisor 159

Nerd's Eye View

APRIL 22, 2024

Notably, different affiliate platforms have different payout rates; those that pay out the most (and thus have the lowest fees) tend to cover relatively few functions such as compliance and technology, while those that pay out the least (and therefore have the highest fees) cover a significant amount of the advisor's overhead costs.

Compliance 246

Compliance Clients Financial Advisor Numbers 246

Nerd's Eye View

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

But by being aware of the varying requirements and filing documents in an accurate and timely manner, new firms can navigate their way through the registration process and (finally) begin offering planning services to clients! Read More.

Compliance 130

Compliance Investments Investing Government 130

XY Planning Network

JUNE 5, 2023

We rounded up some of XYPN's best resources for advisors who want to launch their own financial planning firms. From tackling compliance to creating a business plan and everything in between, this roundup of resources will set you up for firm launch success.

Financial Advisor 89

Financial Advisor Compliance Financial Planning Business Planning 89

Nerd's Eye View

MAY 1, 2024

A lot has changed over the ensuing 20+ years since the issuance of the Internet Adviser Exemption , and after observing numerous instances of non-compliance (and issuing a Risk Alert to that effect in 2021), the SEC issued an amendment to the Exemption on March 27, 2024.

Investments 246

Investments Investing Compliance Clients 246

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 21, 2023

In addition to collecting the required reports, the firm’s Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) also has certain review requirements.

Ethics 244

Ethics Fiduciary Duty Compliance Clients 244

Diamond Consultants

DECEMBER 4, 2024

Therefore, it’s wise for advisors to think proactively and strategically about their businesses to avoid being caught off-guard and then scrambling to figure out a Plan B. Protect Yourself We live in a world of zero-tolerance compliance and risk management. Plus, the path to success is often not a linear one.

Compliance 52

Compliance Clients Education Retirement 52

Nerd's Eye View

MAY 15, 2024

In practice, the DoL's Final Rule means that financial advisers who advise clients about rolling over assets from an employee retirement account like a 401(k) plan into an IRA are now subject to ERISA fiduciary obligations.

Retirement 246

Retirement Commission Banking Financial Advising 246

Nerd's Eye View

JANUARY 30, 2024

So, whether you're interested in learning about how Tim's ongoing investment into a healthy and a SEO-reputable website resulted in a multi-dimensional prospecting in-flow, how Tim manages SEC marketing compliance while still consistently asking clients for referrals, and how Tim has built a 'fireproof' hiring process putting people in roles that matched (..)

Financial Advisor 246

Financial Advisor Clients Compliance Engineering 246

Nerd's Eye View

DECEMBER 4, 2024

In the competitive market for financial advice, advisory firms often seek to find ways to differentiate themselves from one another.

Clients 215

Clients Financial Advice Investing Investments 215

Nerd's Eye View

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

Hearsay Systems rolls out a new small-to-mid-sized RIA platform for social media compliance and website design. Riskalyze signals an intent to rebrand itself away from ‘just’ risk tolerance assessments to a broader focus on helping advisors grow clients and assets.

Risk Tolerance 239

Risk Tolerance Startup Compliance Clients 239

Nerd's Eye View

AUGUST 24, 2022

a single person, a couple, a business, or a retirement plan) and the date on which the agreement will become effective. To start, the agreement should contain basic information about the adviser-client relationship, including who the client is (e.g., The agreement should also lay out some acknowledgments for the client to review.

Electronics 241

Electronics Clients Retirement Planning Financial Advice 241