To My Fellow WSR Community Members:
Typically, summer brings a change of pace – a breather to enjoy long, sunny evenings outside the office, social opportunities to know our co-workers better, time to strategize about big-picture topics and a few days for a family vacation while school is out.
But this summer I’ve been very busy and noticed that many of my friends are too – as if July 4 was already Labor Day and we’re back to racing down the highway in top gear.
A quick survey of events reveals that it’s not my imagination: M&A activity continues to snap up everything from one-advisor shops to multi-billion broker-dealers, firms appoint new executives with visionary designs, advisors and independent RIAs continue moving to new broker-dealers, corporate RIAs and more, while ribbon-cutting on new branches and offices continues unabated.
Though one can only speculate at the drivers causing this flurry of activity, we cover many of these events, including a few outlandish ones, in several articles this week.
In addition, we talk to experts about customizing ESG for individual investors’ ethical views and finding alternative investments and platforms to meet your clients’ needs.
This Week’s Issue
Here’s what we have for you this week:
- In our Newsmakers Roundup section, we bring you the latest monthly roundup of M&A, promotions, people moves and advisor recruiting in our Transitions, Transactions & Promotions column. This month, Advisor Group, LPL and Mariner acquired firms in the billions, Kestra, CRC, Stratos and SageView made C-suite and other top hires and Cetera, Ameriprise and Kingswood showed their recruiting strength.
- In our other news roundup, Bizarre Industry Bazaar, our Contributing Editor James Miller philosophizes about life, the wrath of deity, cheating on FINRA exams and more. He covers a 90-year-old broker who shot his successor, a former broker suspended by FINRA for selling rock salt, Steve Young’s hesitancy about mixing his current business with his football successes and an ETF that claims a divine mission.
- In Words in Edgewise, we cover Angeles Wealth Management’s opening of its fourth office in Houston, only months after opening in Chicago in December. The ultra-high net worth wealth management provider and affiliate of Angeles Investment Advisors appointed Houston-area veteran advisor Ann E. Deaton to lead its new office.
- Are alternatives mandatory now? In our Investment Solutions & Gatekeepers section, alts platform Crystal Capital’s Senior Partner, CEO and CIO Steven Brod discusses why advisors need to consider alternative investments for their clients, which alts are performing well in the current market conditions and what to look for in an alts platform.
- Can advisors tailor ESG for their clients? Yes, says Lydia Pinnell Lawrie in our Investment Solutions & Gatekeepers section. The Senior Strategy Manager for Wealth Management at ESG and sustainability firm Clarity AI informs us on customizing ESG and sustainability solutions for individual clients according to their unique ethical and religious views.
Please share your thoughts on this week’s articles, as well as any questions you’d like see answered by a panel of experts.
Find us on LinkedIn and other social media. It only takes a second to share!
Have a great week!
Cheers!
Larry Roth
CEO
Wealth Solutions Report
