Displaying items by tag: advisors

Independent financial advisors switching broker-dealers prioritize a smooth transition, supportive infrastructure, and a business-friendly environment with product and operational flexibility. 

Recruiter Derrick Friedman emphasizes that advisors now have the leverage to demand these conditions—and if broker-dealers (BDs) don’t meet them, they risk decline. Industry consolidation has shrunk the pool of large BDs, prompting many advisors to consider RIAs, especially those seeking fewer compliance burdens and more freedom to grow fee-based practices. 

Hybrid models remain attractive to advisors who still maintain transactional business and want to retain flexibility. Technology—like DocuSign—has reduced friction in transitions, making it easier for advisors to move their book of business quickly. 

Finsum: While RIAs are expanding rapidly, BDs aren't disappearing; instead, consolidation is pushing advisors and recruiters alike to explore a wider landscape of firms.

Vanguard has introduced a generative AI-powered tool designed to help financial advisors create personalized, compliant client communications more efficiently. The tool generates tailored summaries of Vanguard’s most-read market insights, adjusting for client knowledge level, life stage, and preferred tone. 

It also automatically includes the appropriate disclosures, streamlining the compliance process. Lauren Wilkinson, head of advisor technology, emphasized that this beta-tested tool reflects Vanguard’s broader push to integrate innovative technologies that support both advisors and clients. 

Beyond AI, Vanguard is also exploring cutting-edge fields like spatial computing, quantum technology, and blockchain to enhance investor outcomes and deliver deeper personalization.

Finsum:  AI can enhance advisor effectiveness by enabling more customized and meaningful client interactions.

Thrivent is ramping up its recruiting efforts to hire nearly 600 new financial advisors in 2025, aiming to counteract the anticipated wave of advisor retirements expected across the industry. 

While the broader advisor workforce has grown only 0.3% annually over the past decade, Thrivent’s hiring initiative would represent a 2% increase, far outpacing the trend. The firm is targeting early-career professionals for salaried virtual advisor roles in key cities like Denver, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Dallas. These roles are intended to serve as stepping stones to more advanced positions, either within Thrivent’s employee structure or through its independent RIA, the Thrivent Advisor Network. 

With over a third of U.S. advisors projected to retire within the next ten years, Thrivent is focusing on building a younger, more diverse advisor base aligned with future client demographics. 

Finsum: It’s worth noting this trend in recruiting and what incentives are offered to attract this talent. 

Monte Carlo simulations have become an essential tool for retirement planning, allowing users to model thousands of financial outcomes based on variables like investment returns, inflation, and life expectancy. Using AI assistant Claude, the author generated a detailed simulation for a hypothetical couple—Joe and Jane Average—without needing programming skills or statistical expertise. 

Claude translated the couple’s retirement goals and financial data into a 5,000-iteration simulation using historical return data and a 60/40 stock-bond allocation, delivering a 95.78% success rate for retirement sustainability. 

The simulation projected a median portfolio of $28.2 million by Jane’s life expectancy, with very low depletion risk even in advanced age. Key strengths of the plan included strong pre-retirement savings, realistic spending goals, a balanced asset mix, and delayed Social Security filing. 

Finsum: Monte Carlo simulation can give you the edge to navigate and model various situations to deliver the best results to your clients. 

Bond investors are increasingly turning to separately managed accounts (SMAs), drawn by their tailored structures and greater control over investment exposure. Unlike commingled funds, SMAs allow institutional clients to directly own a customized portfolio of private credit assets while setting specific guidelines around leverage, risk, and liquidity. 

These accounts have surged in popularity as allocators seek greater transparency, fee flexibility, and alignment with their long-term liabilities. In credit, SMAs offer large investors more say over deal selection, co-investment rights, and sector targeting, often resulting in better economics and stronger governance. 

SMAs—privately negotiated investment vehicles managed by asset managers on behalf of a single client—stand in contrast to pooled funds and are favored by pensions, insurers, and sovereign wealth funds for their bespoke features. 

Finsum: SMAs are becoming a central tool for investors seeking to fine-tune their exposure while capitalizing on an asset class’s yield and downside protection.