February 20, 2020 – Louis Diamond Quoted, InvestOrbit – With its purchase of ETrade Economic, Morgan Stanley is expanding its online and alleged self-directed investment platform for the less than ultra rich. For years, the large wirehouses like Morgan Stanley have been pressing brokers to stop working with less rewarding clients, or those with assets lower than $250, 000 to $500, 500. But through platforms like ETrade or Merrill Edge, those customers still have a home at a full-service broker agent, one recruiter noted.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Bruce Kelly, InvestmentNews – With its purchase of ETrade Financial, Morgan Stanley is expanding its online and so-called self-directed investment platform for the less than ultra rich. For years, the large wirehouses like Morgan Stanley have been pushing brokers to stop working with less profitable clients, or those with assets less than $250,000 to $500,000. But through platforms like ETrade or Merrill Edge, those clients still have a home at a full-service brokerage, one recruiter noted.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Ian Wenik, Citywire – Focus Financial Partners is expanding down under. The private equity backed financier of RIAs has added its first new partner firm of 2020: MEDIQ Financial Services, a wealth management firm based in Melbourne, Australia.
By Mindy Diamond, WealthManagement.com – Financial advisors at the big brokerages have witnessed a great deal of change in the firms over the past decade. Shifts in ownership, compensation and management have many of these folks acknowledging that the business is vastly different than it was back in the day or even just a few years ago.
Mindy Diamond and Josh Brown of Ritholtz Wealth Management discuss the seller’s market for financial advisors driving bids higher, a waterfall of options more robust than ever before and what advisors should consider going forward. [video]
Mindy Diamond Quoted – By Gary Stern, RIAIntel – The characteristics often found among effective financial advisors – intelligence, persuasiveness, and dynamism – are also commonly found among crooked advisors. This, unfortunately, makes the hiring process fraught for RIAs as bad actors are often natural salespeople.
Podcast Episode Featuring Mindy Diamond – Excited to come full circle with an advisor we helped several years ago and who is flourishing in the independent space. Chip Munn recently launched his own podcast series, Maximum Advisor, and I’m happy to sit on the other side of the table for a change to be his guest on the show. We cover a variety of topics including threshold questions one should ask when considering a move, options for advisors in the expanded landscape and much more. It’s a great conversation – one of many from a series well worth your time to listen to.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Oisin Breen, RIABiz – Former LPL Financial senior executive Derek Bruton now heads his own independent broker-dealer, after Kingswood Holdings bankrolled and spun off two subunits of Keith Gregg’s start-up, Chalice Wealth Partners (CWP). Bruton’s Post-LPL career has consisted of shorter stints at smaller enterprises and just under two years at old-line broker-dealer Oppenheimer & Co.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Charles Paikert, Financial Planning – Matt Brinker, the M&A mastermind who supervised 90 deals in his 13 years as a top executive at United Capital Partners, has joined Merchant Investment Management as a managing partner. The move strengthens the New York-based holding company’s already formidable executive lineup and underscores the company’s bid to become a major player in the RIA M&A market.
By Mindy Diamond, WealthManagement.com – Change is a fact of life, and humans are built with varying degrees of adaptability and resilience. That is, there are those who see change for what it is and rise to new challenges, and others who turn their heads in hopes that things will “settle down.” Yet, in the wirehouse world, there is no sign that things will settle down.
![Mindy Diamond on The Bull Market for Financial Advisors with Josh Brown [video]](https://www.diamond-consultants.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/compound-maxresdefault-80x80.jpg)
