The Wealth Consigliere

You can call Anthony Scaramucci a lot of things but one thing you can’t deny him is that he is persistent.   He was fired twice from Goldman and the offer to join the Trump team didn’t come as quickly as he told his friends, the press and the Ethics Office.   Since we published this blog Mr. Scaramucci has been fired again.  His persistence will be tested again.   Persistence might be a good thing for an entrepreneur or a retail stockbroker but is it what we need in public service?   Often times what makes a businessperson successful can grate on you and have unintended consequences.   Watching Mooch reminds me of how hard it can be to transition from one environment to a radically different environment.   Does the Wall Street or business skill set travel?   I have watched it create more problems that it solves in my field of independent wealth management.   Hopefully Mooch can learn from others successes and failures.   Don’t Ac...

My Twitter feed and email recently blew-up when the new Schwab RIA benchmarking survey data was released.   This response caught my attention because in my experience these reactions were usually caused by a survey release from Cerulli , Tiburon Strategic Advisors or Aite Group .   What was so unique about this year’s Schwab survey?   Is it the urban myth that size matters?   Let’s take a look. Schwab survey Schwab has a unique and dominant market share that facilitates and legitimizes their survey.   They talk to clients and get their real-world experiences.   This survey is not their first rodeo, it is their 11 th Annual benchmarking survey.   Schwab knows the questions to ask and the lengthy survey proves it to clients.   My only problem with the survey is that it is self reported.   That works for dating websites but I wonder if that holds true for RIAs. I complement the Schwab survey with data from two top practitione...

Recent news about the “spin off” from AMG of Wealth Partners Capital Group, made me proud to be an American!   The resiliency of capitalism’s desire to improve was front and center.   AMG is not the only wealth advisory firm that has embraced a new and improved approach. Silicon Valley does this constantly and terms it a pivot.   When firms realize that their products or services are not attracting new clients or are not generating enough profit to satisfy investors they pivot. What are the components of a pivot or a new and improved product or service?   Let’s take a look. What’s Working? An effective pivot does NOT blow-up all items of the original business.   The firm must identify what is working and stick with that at a minimum.   In wealth management what is working is independent and unconflicted advice. What Isn’t Working? We can move now to what isn’t working.   In the case of AMG what wasn’t working was the target m...

The financial services industry is going through a significant transition.   This is especially noticeable in the wealth management segment, which is feeling the triple impact of breakaway advisors, management restructuring and the DOL.   The needed changes will affect clients, advisors and management professionals.   Hopefully it can be an improvement for them all.   It has taken me over six months since my January blog  to realize that embracing these changes could be beneficial for us all.  We all should be asking ourselves “What’s Next?” Managers The robo advisors and ETFs have staked their claim that active money managers and human advisors are flawed and best managed by computer algorithms.   Human advisors and managers need to kick the computer’s butt (assuming they have a butt).  As professional management transitions from conflicted business models that need managers to drive sales goals of proprietary products managers must ...