It’s not hard to envision Gen X advisors finally achieving things that many of us hoped would happen a decade or more ago. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Next-Gen Takeover. ...

Financial advisors spend a significant portion of their time on back-office tasks and the search for new clients. New technology does not necessarily allow advisors to add more clients but may instead enable them to provide deeper services to their existing clients. To read the full article in Nerd’s Eye View, click: What Advisors do with their Time. ...

LPL Financial has made three major recruitment moves—unveiled over a two-day span—to add at least 125 advisors with about $4.5 billion in client assets to the largest independent broker-dealer. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: LPL Grabs More than 100 Advisors with $4.5B in Latest Haul from Rivals. ...

Public company auditors remain the group investors trust most to protect their interests, but investors’ confidence in U.S. capital markets and U.S. public companies has dropped in the past year, according to a Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) survey report released Tuesday. To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: Investors Trust Auditors, But Confidence in U.S. Markets Drops. ...

Triggered by the growing demand for greater value, the financial services industry is creating new categories of products and services that never existed, expanding access in ways that were never expected, providing greater transparency and simplicity—and driving down costs to unprecedented lows. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: How Advisors Can Beat the Fee Compression Race. ...

As the financial planning industry nears a fee-only, fiduciary world, we are finally outgrowing our profession’s roots—and for the better.  In the process, though, independent broker-dealers will face some important choices about their future business models. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: As Planners Outgrow Their Roots, Hard Choices Lie Ahead. ...

FINRA has launched a helpline to provide firms with direct assistance and answers to general and routine FINRA related questions, as well as direct callers to the proper regulatory staff and other departments. The effort is part of its FINRA360 organizational improvement program. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: FINRA Helpline Aims to Aid Smaller Firms, but Concerns Arise. ...

Firms largely ban texting, even for logistical purposes, amid guidance from FINRA that all business communications must be “retained, retrievable, and supervised.”  Securities America this week became the first of the top 10 largest IBDs to announce a program allowing its advisors to text clients. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: IBDs in Slow-Footed Race to Let Advisors Text Clients. ...

By developing expertise in a new practice area, a CPA can increase income and become a more well-rounded professional.  Robert M. Caplan, CPA, shares his helpful insights on how to help you and your practice. To read the full article in The Tax Adviser, click: How to Add a New Specialty to Your Practice. ...