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Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (December 6–7)

December 5, 2025 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 CFP Board survey finds that while the vast majority of advisors believe their clients are confident in their ability to achieve their short- and long-term goals, many of these clients are feeling cautious or uncertain as the new year approaches, with political and economic concerns weighing on their minds. Nonetheless, amidst this backdrop, many advisors appear to be taking the opportunity to empower their clients by encouraging them take action on areas that they can control (e.g., tax planning in the wake of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) rather than focus on an uncertain (and uncontrollable) external environment.

Also in industry news this week:

Research from Cerulli finds that while advisors are offering increasingly comprehensive planning services, clients aren't necessarily using all of them (or perhaps don't recognize the full scope of work their advisor is performing on their behalf)
A survey from Fidelity finds a gap between aging parents and their children when it comes to communication around estate and long-term care planning, presenting a potential opportunity for advisors to encourage such conversations to ensure that clients' plans in these areas are executed seamlessly when the need arises

From there, we have several articles on insurance and tax planning:

How the scheduled expiration of the 'enhanced' Premium Tax Credit for Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance plans could lead to significant premium hikes for clients, particularly those whose income exceeds a key threshold for eligibility
The planning opportunities advisors and affected clients can consider to maintain eligibility for the Premium Tax Credit, including strategic retirement account contributions and income timing for working clients and careful distribution management for retired clients
Why the increased cost of health insurance costs is a particularly thorny issue for clients who retire early, and how advisors can increase the chances that these clients will be prepared for a range of contingencies

We also have a number of articles on client communication:

How financial advisors tend to play a variety of roles in different client situations, from a "mirror" who helps clients clarify their goals to an "intellectual sparring partner" who helps clients understand the pros and cons of different courses of action
How advisors can apply the psychological practice of "chunking" to help clients focus on the big picture of their financial situation rather than focus on short-run market challenges
Why offering too much "emotional empathy" for clients could lead to advisor burnout and how using more "cognitive empathy" could help clients make it through challenging situations without overstressing their advisor as well

We wrap up with three final articles, all about practical uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools:

While a new crop of AI-powered tools can help professionals organize busy email accounts and draft responses to relatively simple requests, they so far haven't been able to crack the code of replying to more complex matters that require the "tacit knowledge" and experience of those using these tools
Driverless ride-hailing service Waymo has expanded within and across cities, potentially offering a new competitor into this market (and possibly improving safety in the process), though it faces challenges in scaling and achieving broader adoption
How general and retailer-specific AI tools can help shoppers save time (and find the best deal) this holiday season

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

How The SEC Is ACTUALLY Enforcing The Marketing Rule: A Checklist To Ensure Compliance Policies Meet The Mark

December 3, 2025 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Marketing, Regulation & Compliance

As financial advisers strive to communicate value and differentiate themselves in a competitive landscape, the SEC's new Marketing Rule has significantly reshaped the compliance obligations tied to how firms advertise and promote their services. Now, three years into its implementation, the rule has proven to be more than a technicality: it represents a foundational component of the SEC's regulatory framework. With several high-profile enforcement actions already announced, it's increasingly clear that the SEC considers Marketing Rule compliance a top-tier priority. The rule fundamentally redefines how firms communicate with prospects and clients, making it essential for advisers to engage directly with the rule's requirements rather than delegate them entirely to compliance departments.

In this article, Isaac Mamaysky, Partner of Potomac Law Group and Cofounder of QuantStreet Capital, explores the key takeaways from the SEC's enforcement of the Marketing Rule – and how advisory firms can implement their marketing strategies confidently without fear of regulatory action.

At its core, the Marketing Rule reinforces the general anti-fraud principles that underlie the Federal securities laws. These principles include ensuring that advertising is not misleading, material statements of fact can be substantiated, and all investment advice is presented in a way that is fair and balanced.. The rule also governs how performance results can be presented in advertisements and how advisers may use client testimonials and third-party endorsements.

However, in the years since the Marketing Rule's compliance date, the SEC's enforcement activity has also underscored the areas of greatest regulatory focus. Hypothetical performance – especially when shared via publicly accessible websites – has consistently triggered enforcement actions, highlighting concerns about misleading unsophisticated investors. Firms have been penalized for sharing backtested or model performance with general audiences without vetting the recipients. The SEC has also brought charges over unsubstantiated claims, misuse of third-party ratings without proper disclosure, and paid endorsements or testimonials lacking requisite transparency. Collectively, these actions reflect a broader regulatory theme: marketing practices must reflect not only technical compliance but also fair, honest, and substantiated communication consistent with investor protection goals.

Advisers can take several steps to assess and reinforce their marketing compliance. Reviewing the Marketing Rule itself – surprisingly accessible at under 3,500 words – can help clarify its intent and applicability. Updating compliance manuals to reflect the new rule, rather than legacy advertising and solicitation guidance, is essential. From there, a detailed checklist covering definitions, prohibited practices, disclosures, performance standards, and documentation can help ensure policies are comprehensive and current. Testing those policies against hypothetical scenarios – such as athlete endorsements, mass mailings of hypothetical performance, or adviser-requested online reviews – can further refine understanding and reveal implementation gaps.

Ultimately, the key point is that the Marketing Rule is now firmly entrenched in the compliance expectations governing advisory firms' external communications. Advisers who approach the rule not as a compliance formality but as a guidepost for transparency and professionalism will be better positioned to communicate effectively, avoid regulatory pitfalls, and strengthen client trust. By aligning marketing practices with both the letter and spirit of the rule, advisers can elevate their messaging and reinforce the integrity at the heart of every great client relationship!

Doubling AUM From Under $300M To Over $600M In 3.5 Years By Making Investments To Systematize For Scale: #FASuccess Ep 466 With Morgan Nichols

December 2, 2025 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Morgan Nichols Podcast Featured Image FAS

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 466th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Morgan Nichols. Morgan is the CEO of LifeBranch Wealth Partners, an independent broker-dealer practice based in Grapevine, Texas, that oversees approximately $630 million in assets under management for 830 client households.

What's unique about Morgan, though, is how she has been willing to make hard-dollar investments in her firm that have pinched profit margins in the short run but have allowed her to double the size of her firm in three and a half years and set it up to reach her $2 billion AUM goal.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Morgan strives to hire new team members before a need becomes critical (even though each new hire is costly) to both ensure a consistent level of client service and provide her additional capacity as her client base grows, how Morgan invested $20,000 in rebranding her firm (including moving away from having her last name as the company name) to better reflect what it offers clients and to attract new advisors in the process, and how Morgan made the decision to bring on on a business development director (one of the more expensive roles she’s hired) a move that has paid off both through his ability to network and to train other team members on business development best practices.

We also talk about how Morgan created defined career paths for employees to show how they can advance in the firm as they develop their client service and business development capabilities and build their technical expertise (including CFP certification as well as portfolio management and behavioral finance credentials), how Morgan crafted compensation models that reflect the desire for stability amongst more junior employees (in the form of a larger base salary) and more upside potential for those bringing in and serving new clients for the firm, and how Morgan is now rolling out a long-term incentive plan to give employees a chance to grow their total compensation alongside the firm’s success (while also incentivizing them to stay with the firm over the long haul).

And be certain to listen to the end, where Morgan shares how she holds group training sessions that include case study discussion where team members shares ideas on how they would handle a particular scenario (allowing more junior employees to contribute their own ideas and learn from multiple senior advisors), how Morgan’s participation in a coaching group of fellow female entrepreneurs has helped her weather the hard times on her journey and ultimately move her business forward, and how Morgan, at a time when many advisors are moving towards the RIA channel, has decided to remain with a broker-dealer due in part to the infrastructure and compliance support that allow her to spend more time focusing on the client experience and growing her business.

So, whether you’re interested in learning about weighing the tradeoffs of investing hard dollars in an advisory business, creating career paths and compensation models to attract and retain the employees needed to help a firm scale, or about the benefits of building a network of like-minded advisors and professionals to serve as sounding boards and a support network through the challenges of growing a business, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Morgan Nichols.

Vanilla Launches “Starter” Tier For Less Complex Estate Planning Needs (And More Of The Latest In Financial #AdvisorTech – December 2025)

December 1, 2025 07:01 am 1 Comment CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

Welcome to the December 2025 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 the estate planning software provider Vanilla has launched a new "Starter" subscription tier, which provides estate documents and basic estate planning tools without the sophisticated planning capabilities of Vanilla's core product – which may be an acknowledgement of the reality that the types of clients whose needs are served by technology-driven estate document creation are usually those in less complex situations that don't require high-end planning capabilities, so it makes sense to unbundle document creation from planning so that those who just need documents can get them without having to buy the entire software package.

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

FP Alpha has launched a new "NextGen Tax Insights" tool, which analyzes a client's tax return and other financial data and identifies planning opportunities, which come from a predetermined list of strategies created and vetted by tax and financial planners – offering a potential model for how more planning tools could incorporate AI that doesn't generate new planning ideas from scratch but instead simply expedites the process of analyzing data and brainstorming ideas (with the advisor still being in charge of the final recommendation)
A new AI-driven prospecting tool called WealthReach uses "de-anonymized" data from visitors to an advisory firm's website to identify prospects who may be interested in the advisor but didn't book a meeting – although the main problem for advisors isn't usually that they're getting too many visitors who don't book a meeting, but that they don't get enough visitors to their website to begin with, which means that it might make more sense to invest in a better marketing strategy that can bring in visitors before using a tool like WealthReach
A recent influx of investments by advisor platforms into alternative investment-related technology suggests that more advisors are adopting alternatives, making it worthwhile for platforms to build out their alternatives infrastructure (because even if alternatives make up only a small percentage of overall AUM, the basis point fees on even a fraction of that amount could generate a healthy return on the investment)

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

Why Altruist's announcement that its Hazel AI notetaker will start to pull in client custodial data from Altruist raises the question of when AI notetakers will start to usurp CRM software's traditional role as an interface between advisors and client data – and if CRM systems will even be needed if AI is able to weave together client data from all sources without needing to store it in a centralized spot?
In light of the news that pre-AI meeting transcription service Mobile Assistant reportedly considered (but ultimately turned down) an offer to sell its meeting transcript data to other vendors for AI training purposes, it's worth it for advisors to ask their technology vendors what they can and cannot do with their clients' data, since the data privacy issues that advisors might have considered years ago when they signed their vendor agreement might be completely different in today's AI-dominated landscape

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 (November 29–30)

November 28, 2025 01:57 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 Charles Schwab (following a similar move as Fidelity and in a bid for greater revenue at a time when trading costs have plummeted and interest rate spreads on cash are being squeezed) is planning to introduce ETF platform fees as soon as early 2026, with the custodian expected to charge funds 15% of their ETF fee revenues or have them face a ticket charge of about $100. While aimed directly at the asset managers whose funds appear on Schwab's platform, such a move by Schwab could have secondary effects on RIAs, including the potential for some fund sponsors to pass along (a portion of) the increased costs to investors in the form of higher fund expenses.

Also in industry news this week:

The Department of Labor announced this week that it plans to drop its defense of the Retirement Security Rule (aka Fiduciary Rule 2.0), with a new proposal expected to be released in 2026
A survey finds that small changes in how advisors frame certain retirement planning decisions can impact the likelihood of their clients accepting their recommendation

From there, we have several articles on investment planning:

Why diversification (and not short-run inflation protection or absolute returns) could be the most significant benefit to holding gold in a portfolio
9 charts analyzing the strong performance of gold this year and whether these trends might continue in the future
An analysis finds that while gold is not a particularly effective short-run inflation hedge, it has held its purchasing power over the (very) long run

We also have a number of articles on practice management:

How a financial planning client service calendar can help a firm show how it meets the unique needs of its ideal target client (and differentiate it from other firms)
How advisors can use a first-year client service calendars to show prospects the level (and type) of service they can expect to receive if they become clients
Real-world examples of client service calendars show how firms can tailor this tool to their unique personality and ideal client profile

We wrap up with three final articles, all about shopping:

Why thoughtfulness (rather than price) is often the name of the game for financial advisors looking for the 'perfect' client gift this holiday season
An analysis suggests that some skepticism is merited when considering whether certain Black Friday 'deals' are, in fact, sales
How a recent settlement between payment processors and merchants could lead to more limited acceptance or new surcharges when using a credit card

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

Helping Retired Clients To Actually Start Spending And Enjoying Their Money: Kitces & Carl Ep 178

November 27, 2025 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Kitces & Carl Podcast

Kitces & Carl Ep Helping Retired Clients To Actually Start Spending (And Enjoying) Their Money

Entering retirement often signals a profound shift in an individual's philosophy, time, and goals. This new chapter is a culmination of decades of diligent labor and saving – and for many, it brings excitement and newfound freedom. However, for some retirees, their diligence in saving makes it difficult to transition into a phase of life where spending down their savings feels appropriate. After years of building strict habits and shaping their identity around not spending, this transition can feel uncomfortable – and some clients may avoid spending beyond their basic needs even when they have activities and experiences they'd like to pursue.

In this 178th episode of Kitces & Carl, Michael Kitces and client communication expert Carl Richards discuss why some clients 'underspend' in retirement – and how advisors can tactfully encourage them to use their wealth in productive ways that align with their values.

Often, the tendency to underspend is shaped by some portion of a person's identity. Retirees who have built their financial security through disciplined saving often take pride in their frugality. For these clients, just the idea of their net worth declining – regardless of purpose – can create anxiety. In such cases, even the most compelling spreadsheets and projections can fall flat in inspiring change. Instead of reasoning clients into spending, it may be more effective to reframe spending as a new skill to be practiced. Exposure to small, intentional spending – such as treating a friend to coffee or funding a grandchild's sports lesson – helps clients build comfort and confidence incrementally.

At the same time, if advisors project their own values onto a client's retirement goals, it may unintentionally distort the conversation. Some retirees are genuinely content with a simple life and may view indulgences as frivolous or unnecessary. Open-ended questions can help the advisor dig deeper into a client's aspirations and goals, uncovering what they truly value. Sometimes, questions like "What's something you used to love that you haven't done in years?" or "If you had a happiness budget that had to be spent each year, how would you use it?" can unlock conversations that reignite passions or surface meaningful experiences clients have delayed for too long. Alternatively, a client may realize they already have what they want with little else they desire to 'add' to their life. Either way, these discussions can deepen understanding and help clients reframe wealth as a means to fulfillment, not just security.

Ultimately, the opportunity for advisors is to help clients align their money with what matters most – whether that's relationships, personal growth, or experiences. By creating a safe space for dreaming, shifting the narrative around spending from fear to joy, and offering tangible ways to 'practice' using their wealth meaningfully, advisors can help clients live not only more richly in financial terms, but also more fully in retirement!