Opinion

Displaying 2275 results
Why advisors should bring up charitable planning in every client meeting
OPINION DEC 02, 2025
Why advisors should bring up charitable planning in every client meeting

Beyond tax efficiency, planning around charity creates touchpoints to help clients express their values, engage the next generation, and leave a more profound and personal impression on the world.

By Heather Zack
Beyond returns: The threat and opportunity of long-term care
OPINION NOV 18, 2025
Beyond returns: The threat and opportunity of long-term care

Protecting against the near-certainty of deteriorating health, along with risks of family infighting and portfolio drawdowns, can help advisors create more resilient plans.

The great wealth-management migration: why RIA advisors will never go back
OPINION NOV 14, 2025
The great wealth-management migration: why RIA advisors will never go back

For advisors weighing a move, access is no longer the question. The decision is whether to build a firm or join one.

By Shirl Penney
A storm is brewing in private credit – and it’s not what you think
OPINION NOV 06, 2025
A storm is brewing in private credit – and it’s not what you think

Despite headlines around borrowers missing payments and fraud behind the scenes, fund managers and advisors should be more wary of the system being rewired around a new base of investors.

By Mark Goldberg
Explaining the unexplainable: Why AI in finance must earn our trust
OPINION NOV 04, 2025
Explaining the unexplainable: Why AI in finance must earn our trust

From regulators to portfolio managers, risk teams, and customers, the whole financial ecosystem has a stake in ensuring AI models don't operate as unchecked black boxes.

By Cheryll-Ann Wilson
With sky-high multiples in RIA M&A, culture matters more than valuation
OPINION OCT 31, 2025
With sky-high multiples in RIA M&A, culture matters more than valuation

As cracks form around strategies based on financial engineering, the RIA industry's future sustainability will depend more on trust and enduring relationships.

By Craig Robson
The wealth industry's greatest risk isn't competition — it's complexity
OPINION OCT 28, 2025
The wealth industry's greatest risk isn't competition — it's complexity

As the broad ecosystem of wealth technology reaches a new maturation point, the industry must once again face up to the challenge of connecting and coordinating capabilities.

By Bill Crager
Expand your business by expanding your view
OPINION OCT 24, 2025
Expand your business by expanding your view

Including spouses and families in complex planning conversations is a simple yet powerful pathway towards creating clients for life.

By Kristine McManus
Financial advice cockroaches have plenty of life selling insurance
OPINION OCT 23, 2025
Financial advice cockroaches have plenty of life selling insurance

Bruce Kelly analyzes new 'bad broker' report and concludes that the states' insurance commissioners need a better brand of bug spray.

By Bruce Kelly
Wealth management has a leadership crisis. Here’s how we fix it
OPINION OCT 21, 2025
Wealth management has a leadership crisis. Here’s how we fix it

The next generation of leaders are technically capable, but lack of intentionality in cultivating business development and operational skills leaves them at risk of falling short.

By James Bogart
Vanguard failed investors hugely when it failed to tell the truth
OPINION OCT 15, 2025
Vanguard failed investors hugely when it failed to tell the truth

The firm can win back the trust it lost due to a recent SEC order – as long as it does the right thing.

By Knut A. Rostad
Why there’s no better time than now to be a financial advisor
OPINION OCT 14, 2025
Why there’s no better time than now to be a financial advisor

As a tipping point in female leadership approaches, advisors who embody empathy, authenticity, and partnership are poised to help shape a brighter future for the industry.

By Don Barden
Why I changed my mind on advisor managed accounts
OPINION OCT 10, 2025
Why I changed my mind on advisor managed accounts

Getting re-educated on their long-term savings potential, their clear distinction from target date funds, and synergistic effects with retirement income solutions is a must for future-focused planners and fiduciary advisors.

By David Montgomery
The training gap: Preparing financial advisors for the female leadership era
OPINION OCT 07, 2025
The training gap: Preparing financial advisors for the female leadership era

While there's no shortage of talent to be tapped, firms must pave the way for their success by investing in essential skills for the future.

By Don Barden
The silent risk in wealth management: Career paths disappearing at RIAs
OPINION OCT 03, 2025
The silent risk in wealth management: Career paths disappearing at RIAs

With just two-fifths of advisors seeing a clear professional trajectory at their firms, RIAs must take intentional steps to ensure client continuity and effective succession planning.

By David Devoe
The Extinction Event: Why 'Here Come the Girls' signals a turning point for financial advisors
OPINION SEP 30, 2025
The Extinction Event: Why 'Here Come the Girls' signals a turning point for financial advisors

Rather than product pushing and hard selling, the advisors of tomorrow must earn female clients' trust by opening relationships and collaborating to understand their vision.

By Don Barden
Selling to the female leader of the future
OPINION SEP 26, 2025
Selling to the female leader of the future

The leadership styles of women executives speak loud volumes about workforce change, as well as what they expect from a financial advisor.

By Don Barden
Stand out as an investment advisor
OPINION SEP 25, 2025
Stand out as an investment advisor

Many advisors compete on products or prices, but that’s not enough to attract the best clients. They don't just sell – they show.

By Jeff Thorsteinson
Sharing what works: Marketing, technology, and a net positive future
OPINION SEP 23, 2025
Sharing what works: Marketing, technology, and a net positive future

Even amid a fiercely competitive climate of consolidation, RIA leaders are coming to realize the real advantages of collaboration and sharing for the whole industry.

By Angela Giombetti
Here come the girls: What today's financial advisor needs to be prepared for the times ahead
OPINION SEP 22, 2025
Here come the girls: What today's financial advisor needs to be prepared for the times ahead

With the case for female leadership in business getting stronger across the board, advisors must seize the opportunity to reframe their relevance and build human-centered practices.

By Don Barden