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Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (September 12–13)

September 11, 2026 01:30 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the news that a recent survey from Vanguard investigates the perspectives of men and women when it comes to investing and working with a financial advisor, finding in some cases that assumptions about these groups might not always hold. Overall, respondents expressed greater confidence in making a range of financial decisions when working with a financial advisor, though women who had left an advisor were most likely to cite the advisor not working in their best interest as the reason for doing so. Both men and women expressed a range of preferences in terms of communication styles from financial professionals, with an educational approach topping the list for women and a data-driven/analytical approach leading for men (though the preference gaps for men and women on individual styles weren't particularly large). Which, altogether, demonstrates the value of exploring each prospect's and client's unique goals and preferences, as they very well might diverge from an advisor's assumptions.

Also in industry news this week:

An examination of Form ADV filings finds that firms that disclosed AI use actually saw higher staff headcount growth, indicating that for a subset of firms AI adoption is intended to complement, rather than supplant, human team members
While the SEC under chair Paul Atkins appears to be less interested in pursuing broad enforcement actions related to advisory firms' use of off-channel communications with prospects and clients than in years past, an attorney and former SEC official suggests that implementing and enforcing policies toward electronic communications (and their storage) could help firms avoid client harm (which could make them subject to an enforcement action) or, in the case of broker-dealers, continued FINRA scrutiny of communication failures (even if no client harm has occurred)

From there, we have several articles on retirement planning:

An analysis of Social Security claims data and self-reported health amongst retirees finds that those who are in poorer health tend to claim Social Security earlier (in many cases, correctly identifying a shorter expected lifespan)
While wealthier individuals often are able to delay claiming Social Security benefits (to receive their maximum monthly benefit), those who are particularly wealthy might choose to claim earlier to fund insurance policies that could, amongst other purposes, help heirs pay for estate taxes owed
How the ability to claim six months of retroactive Social Security benefits after reaching Full Retirement Age can both be an opportunity (by giving a client more confidence in delaying benefits) and a potential trap (by having a permanently lower monthly benefit if retroactive lump-sum benefits are taken)

We also have a number of articles on client communication:

How financial advisors can support clients in riding the 'waves' of emotion (both positive and negative) that can arise during meetings
A step-by-step framework for working with a client who has recently experienced the loss of a spouse to both give them space to grieve and to prepare them to make key planning decisions
Strategies for advisors when working with a client experiencing "ambiguous loss", such as a loved one suffering from dementia

We wrap up with three final articles, all about the tradeoffs of being a 'maximizer':

How certain tax planning strategies could lead to a lower lifetime tax bill but also less enjoyment of one's wealth
Why much of one's health and financial success is determined by getting the 'big things' right and how trying to optimize for the rest could lead to greater stress
The value of jumping off the "hedonic treadmill" and taking a step back to recognize when key goals have already been met

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

Compliance Issues When Clients Won’t Take Your Advice: Duty To Follow Instructions, When To Refuse, And When To Exit The Relationship

September 9, 2026 07:05 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Client Trust & Communication, Regulation & Compliance

When a client asks their advisor to place an investment trade or execute another planning action, it typically comes as a result of a consultation with the advisor (and often reflects the advisor's recommended course of action). However, sometimes a client might request that the advisor take an action the advisor believes isn't in the client's best interests (e.g., moving their entire portfolio to cash amidst a market downturn). Which can create a delicate situation, not only with regard to the client's financial wellbeing and compliance issues, but also for the future of the advisor-client relationship.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) 2019 interpretation of the standard of conduct for investment advisers under the Advisers Act highlights that investment advisers and clients have a principal-agent relationship, under which an agent (in this case the advisor) has a duty to follow the lawful instructions of the principal (here, their client). Similarly, CFP Board's definition of a fiduciary, a CFP professional has a duty to follow instructions (along with a duties of care and loyalty), which includes complying with all reasonable and lawful directions of their client.

Amidst this backdrop, an advisor considering a client request that they believe isn't in the client's best interest is required to follow through on it as long as they determine that the client is able to make decisions for themselves (e.g., isn't showing signs of mental incapacity) and the request is lawful (e.g., they have the authority to make trades on the account in question).

That said, advisors can still first offer their recommendation, based on their professional judgment, that the client not follow through with their request, and perhaps pause before making a rash and impactful decision (fulfilling the advisor's duty of care), as well as confirm that the client is making a direct request and isn't merely expressing frustration (which could avoid a costly misunderstanding). Also, documenting the conversation and the final decision made can create a record describing both the client's request and the advisor's response to help mitigate against misunderstandings down the line (and could include an "Against Advisor's Advice" letter signed by the client acknowledging they directed their advisor to implement an action that the advisor did not recommend or outright recommended against).

While stopping at this point would fulfill the advisor's duty to follow the client's instructions, this scenario also raises the question of whether the advisor wants to continue their relationship with the client. For instance, a client instruction to move their entire portfolio to cash could call for a reassessment of the client's risk tolerance and investment policy statement. Going a step further, an advisor who fields regular trading requests from clients (against the advisor's advice) might prefer to change the scope of their engagement with the client to be planning only. And if an advisor feels their relationship with their client has become particularly misaligned, they might choose to terminate the engagement altogether.

Ultimately, the key point is that a situation where a client makes a request against their advisor's recommendation presents two questions: whether the advisor must comply with the instruction and whether the advisor wants to continue the relationship under its current terms. By separating these questions, advisors can make decisions regarding the request in line with relevant compliance requirements and whether the relationship with the client is likely to be productive going forward.

And if you want to go deeper on this topic, hear directly from the author on the Financial Advisor Technician podcast.

Building A ‘Killer’ Scorecard To Track Key Weekly Metrics On The Path To $275M AUM: #FASuccess Ep 506 With Jenna Biancavilla

September 8, 2026 07:06 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Jenna Biancavilla Podcast Featured Image FAS

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 506th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Jenna Biancavilla. Jenna is the founder of Pearl Capital Management, an RIA based in Phoenix, Arizona, that oversees approximately $275 million in assets under management for 110 client households.

What's unique about Jenna, though, is how she leverages a ‘scorecard’ that tracks key weekly and quarterly metrics that help keep her on track to achieve company goals, which range from new client growth to days taken off by team members.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Jenna’s scorecard starts with metrics that measure engagement with clients (for example, how many client touchpoints an advisor had) and work done to attract new clients (such as meetings with key centers of influence), how Jenna also includes metrics targeted at employee retention (including tracking the number of days team members took off where they weren’t contacted by someone at the firm), and how Jenna tracks other metrics quarterly, including the close ratio on prospects, total AUM, AUM per household, and revenue per household.

We also talk about how implementing practices of the Entrepreneurial Operating System relatively early on has helped Jenna and her team better address business issues that pop up during the week (and run more efficient meetings in the process), how Jenna and her team set and prioritize quarterly "rocks", which typically represent projects that will help the firm grow into the future but might otherwise have been ignored amidst day-to-day responsibilities at the firm, and how Jenna incorporates team member input and the firm’s meeting calendar when setting scorecard targets and rocks to ensure that they are actually achievable.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Jenna shares why she is willing to share planning insights during prospect meetings (rather than waiting for them to become a client), how Jenna’s fee structure has changed over time (including how she found offering a flat-fee model didn’t work well for her firm), and how Jenna has saved time and reduced her stress during her career by recognizing that not every prospective client she meets is the ‘right’ client for her.

So, whether you’re interested in learning about effectively identifying and tracking key firm metrics, using a structured system to organize major firm projects, or how to incorporate team members into the goal-setting process, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Jenna Biancavilla.

Altruist’s Acquisition By Vanguard Is More About ETF Costs Than Custodial Tech (And More Of The Latest In Financial #AdvisorTech – September 2026)

September 7, 2026 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

Welcome to the September 2026 issue of the Latest News in Financial #AdvisorTech – where we look at the big news, announcements, and underlying trends and developments that are emerging in the world of technology solutions for financial advisors!

This month's edition kicks off with the news that Altruist has been acquired by Vanguard, representing a major shift for an RIA custodian that had previously been untethered to a retail financial institution – but the bigger industry implication is that by owning its own custodian, Vanguard can undercut and effectively push back on the insistence of other custodians to charge revenue sharing payments on ETF assets, which could have a profound impact on those custodians' revenue models and potentially trigger another round of consolidation in the custody business.

From there, the latest highlights also feature a number of other interesting advisor technology announcements, including:

The AI prospecting solution FINNY has revamped its pricing model, switching from a flat-fee annual subscription to primarily a 20bps revenue share for new client revenue brought in through the platform – which shows how FINNY sees itself as more of an automated business development 'employee' than a SaaS platform, but the question remains how much of the prospect sourcing and cultivation process FINNY can truly automate (since advisors have proven willing to pay a revenue-share percentage to people or platforms that can reliably get prospects on their calendar, but may not be willing to do so if they're still responsible for doing most of the work of sourcing and developing those prospects)?
Startup CRM providers Slant and FinTurk both launched new forms-related tools – Slant's for building forms, and FinTurk's for filling forms out – that eliminate the need for their users to buy standalone tools for those purposes, and reaffirm how CRMs can still be useful in the era of AI by building new functions that help advisors better leverage the data they have
Pontera, the platform aiming to enable advisors to directly manage their clients' assets within 401(k) plans, has announced a new non-discretionary 401(k) advice tool for advisors who can't or prefer not to manage their clients' 401(k) assets directly (perhaps as a response to state regulators and 401(k) recordkeepers like Fidelity cracking down on Pontera's original technology)

Read the analysis about these announcements in this month's column, and a discussion of more trends in advisor technology, including:

Wavvest, which built an 'all-in-one' AI technology solution for financial advisors, has also launched an in-house RIA based on that technology, which in light of the growth and funding success of 'digitally native' RIAs like Savvy and Farther (which are built on their own proprietary technology platforms) suggests that the economics of running an RIA might be better than those of selling all-in-one technology to RIAs
Even as surging AdvisorTech categories like AI notetakers have raised hundreds of millions in investment capital over the last two years, platforms related to alternative investment distribution and support for RIAs have raised over $2 billion – showing that even though advisors may only allocate a small amount of clients' portfolios to alternatives, the revenue opportunity of participating in asset distribution still far outpaces that of selling SaaS solutions

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!

*To submit a request for inclusion or updates on the Financial Advisor FinTech Solutions Map and AdvisorTech Directory, please share information on the solution at the AdvisorTech Map submission form.

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (September 5–6)

September 4, 2026 02:00 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the news that a survey has found that, at a time when many financial advisors are leaning into comprehensive wealth management services, more than half of RIA client assets amongst respondents are invested in model portfolios. That said, advisors aren't necessarily taking a hands-off approach to portfolio construction, with advisor-built models representing the most commonly used (51% of model assets), followed by home-office models (20%), standard third-party models (17%), and third-party custom models (12%). Which suggests that many advisors are seeking ways to free up time to focus on other planning (and business management) responsibilities while remaining 'hands-on' with the investment management process.

Also in industry news this week:

A significant increase in the minimum asset size for referrals in Charles Schwab's Advisor Network program could lead some firms to reevaluate their participation (and perhaps their overall custodial relationship with Schwab)
The SEC this week submitted a proposal that would expand retail investor access to private market investments that have long been the purview of institutional and wealthier investors

From there, we have several articles on retirement planning:

How safe withdrawal rates can increase significantly as retirees' time horizons shorten
How putting a financial plan for a retired couple through a 'widowhood stress test' could identify potential weaknesses when one spouse (unexpectedly) passes away
Why some retirees might gain peace of mind by creating an asset 'bucket' for potential long-term care expenses

We also have a number of articles on practice management:

A five-step process to better delegate 'outcomes' within an advisory firm (and why doing so could be more impactful than 'just' handing off individual tasks)
Ways advisory firms can integrate new planners into client meetings, from identifying good-fit clients to leaning into their cash flow expertise
Six ways firms can get a faster return on investment from a new associate advisor, including by delegating responsibilities in areas such as client onboarding and plan updates

We wrap up with three final articles, all about the costs of home ownership:

How financial advisors can help clients consider whether to follow through with a major home remodel, from identifying the tradeoffs from making such an outlay to determining the best source of assets to pay for it
While many homeowners enjoy having green space on their property, lawn upkeep can come with significant 'hidden' expenses
How prospective home buyers can conduct due diligence on a homeowners or condo association to avoid stress and save money down the line

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

The Temptation To Take On More Clients To Build (3X) Enterprise Value: Kitces & Carl 198

September 3, 2026 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Kitces & Carl Podcast

If the initial stages of building a firm are mostly about survival and prospecting, and the middle stages are about scaling teams and processes, then the latter stages of the firm become about determining what is "enough". This is especially true as the firm is able to do more complex work for higher-paying prospective clients, meaning that each new client can pay a not-insubstantial amount… to say nothing of the headline-grabbing promises of acquisition multiples from private equity.

Given that firm revenue (and valuation) can have such meaningful consequences, advisors may be reluctant to slow their firm growth. After all, even if they personally feel that they have 'enough', advisors may (reasonably) be reluctant to leave money on the table. In this 198th episode of Kitces & Carl, Michael Kitces and client communication expert Carl Richards discuss how to navigate the urge to grow for just a 'little' longer against the real-world multiples. After all, the issue is less maintaining growth for a year or two… but that advisors may continue to move the goalposts to justify growing for a "little more" before they dial their work back. This can create a perpetual cycle where the advisor is 'almost' to the end all the time.

Advisors can start with clarifying their business purpose and their end goal. There is nothing wrong with continuing to build a larger business – or even enjoying the challenge of growth – so long as advisors are clear with themselves as to what they are building towards. There can always be another tier of clients, fees, team, and revenue to reach – so advisors must carefully consider where they direct their energy. This mindset can be especially clarifying when presented with new business opportunities as advisors consider what will move them closer or further from their goal.

Ultimately, after a certain point, advisors must clarify within themselves what purpose their business growth ultimately serves. Whether that purpose is building a legacy, helping as many families as possible, or spending more time in the community, that in turn can be used as a guiding light… not the promise of 'more'. In the end, advisors who can be discerning and consistent may find themselves building a practice that enables them to live more of the life they imagined!