Just got the infamous (for advisors) question that prospects often ask: "what % return should I expect to get if I hire your firm?"

Feeling compelled to take a few minutes & explain why this is NOT what any consumer should ever ask when trying to vet a financial advisor... (1/?) First & foremost, the reality is that returns are determined by the market, not the advisor. At best, an advisor may say they can beat the market BY a certain amount (1% or whatever?), but that's still relative to whatever the market turns out to deliver. (2/?)

Big news out that @Wealthfront is being acquired by UBS for $1.4B.

In and of itself, that's an incredible accomplishment, but more interesting when you look at it in context of the broader industry & "robo" movement. (1/? thread)

blog.wealthfront.com/wealthfront-ha… From a financial perspective, the Wealthfront valuation is still rather eye-popping. Wealthfront reports $28B in client funds on their website, at 0.25% pricing. Which would put them at $70M of revenue, and pegs the transaction at more than 21X REVENUE.

Summarizing wrap-up of my session at #BitcoinForAdvisors w/ @TR401 since we were running tight on time at the end with all the great questions... (1/?) #FinTech & #FinServ innovation will continue to aid 'holding' problem of how advisors can integrate cryptoassets to their systems. Starting point is being able to aggregate held-away crypto for tracking/reporting, which EVERY advisor should want to do. #BitcoinForAdvisors (2/?)

The direct indexing trend continues, and the heels of Vanguard acquiring JustInvest and JPMorgan acquiring OpenInvest in just the past few months... (1/?)

"Franklin to Buy Custom Indexing Firm O’Shaughnessy to Help Personalize Portfolios" on.wsj.com/3oA4e4z Notably, though, there's a shift already underway in how Direct Indexing platforms are getting positioned, compared to the deals last year when Morgan Stanley acquired Parametric and Blackrock acquired Aperio. (2/?)

And now #AdvisorTech news that another Model Marketplace comes to an end, as Principal announces @RobustWealth is being wound down 3 years after acquiring it... (1/?) #FinTech

https://twitter.com/ryanWneal/status/1403467256517074945

The Robust Wealth acquisition by Principal in 2018 was one of multiple asset managers acquisitions of "robo-advisor-for-advisors" platforms, along w/ WisdomTree buying AdvisorEngine, after Invesco acquiring JemStep, after Blackrock acquired FutureAdvisor. kitces.com/blog/model-mar…

Some big industry news breaking today: the @FPAssociation CEO Lauren Schadle is leaving immediately (terminated?), and FPA will be beginning a search for new leadership to get the organization growing again.

This. Was. Long. Overdue. (1/?) Having worked alongside Lauren in various volunteer capacities for more than 15 years, I've always found her very pleasant to work with, and believe she had a genuine desire to see FPA and its mission succeed.

Interesting #AdvisorTech news this morning - @FTI_US is buying @AdvisorEngine (and @JunxureCRM) from @WisdomTreeETFs. Yet another asset manager in the 'robo' business, along with Invesco's Jemstep & Blackrock's FutureAdvisor. financial-planning.com/news/franklin-… via @ryanWneal #FinTech The news of AdvisorEngine sale isn't entirely surprising. As discussed in our February #AdvisorTech coverage, WisdomTree signaled in its Q4 Earnings Call that it anticipated an exit from AdvisorEngine (with a significant write-down).

Woa. BIG industry news! Schwab hiring former TDA Institutional pioneer Tom Bradley to lead its "Core" <$100M AUM segment.

Should be a big relief for small RIAs fearing Schwab will abandon them. (Unclear how far below $100M Schwab will go, though?)
bwnews.pr/38f1Fdu For "smaller" (<$100M) RIAs that have been fearful that Schwab would shut the door on them after the #Schwabitrade merger closed, this should be a huge relief. Schwab isn't hiring @TomBradley_USA to abandon small RIAs. It's hiring Bradley to build with small RIAs.

Mega news this week is prospective merger of Schwab & Ameritrade. Getting a lot of questions, so wanted to share thoughts on what #Schwabitrade may mean for advisor community & from advisor's perspective...

Charles Schwab Holds Talks to Buy TD Ameritrade on.wsj.com/35mZF0v Schwab was/is already the #1 player in the RIA custody space, having effectively created the independent RIA platform by launching Schwab Advisor Services in 1993. TD Ameritrade was their longest standing competitor, but much smaller (relatively speaking) in the RIA channel.

This is really big news. Goldman Sachs is getting ready to gear up its 'real' business plan for FinLife CX... (tweetstorm incoming, 1/?)

"United Capital Announces Goldman Sachs Executive Rachel Schnoll to Lead FinLife CX" bwnews.pr/36AJyxH The rumor when United Capital was on the block to be sold was that Duran hoped to position UC as a #FinTech company (and sell for FinTech multiples). Instead, they 'just' got a great valuation as a mega-RIA business.

BOOM. Fidelity steps up in cash wars, will start defaulting investors into its 1.91% government money market fund. Immediately highlights yield is 47X TD Ameritrade's cash, 10X Schwab, 27% E-Trade.

My only question - for @Fidelity4BD_RIA advisors too???
kitc.es/2YLbGNz @Fidelity4BD_RIA While not the highest yielding cash option out there (Fidelity is still earning some expense ratio here), the significance of this cannot be overstated. It is a shot at competing discount brokers, on level with Fidelity's zero-fee wars with Vanguard.

Wow, HUGE news. Schwab's Intelligent Advisory is launching a monthly subscription financial planning service. $30/month for access to Schwab CFP.

The growth of financial planning is about to accelerate, quickly! We're seeing the same uptick in broker-dealers at @AdvicePay, too! Notably, new Schwab solution is still under Schwab Intelligent Advisory platform umbrella, and is dubbed Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium. It does offer a "comprehensive financial plan", and unlimited access to a CFP professional, but ostensibly is still investment-centric.

Woa, some MEGA advisor #FinTech news just out... @ENVintel is acquiring @MoneyGuidePro. For half a BILLION dollars of cash + stock...

The waves from this will be rippling across the entire industry... From the strategic perspective, the @MoneyGuidePro deal makes a ton of sense for @ENVIntel. MGP has a massive client base, including a huge overlap with Envestnet's own broker-dealer enterprises. It lets Envestnet expand market share and wallet share where it already is.

After last night's initial pass, reading through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act legislative text in deeper detail today. Full write-up coming to Nerd's Eye View blog on Monday morning.

In the meantime, will be sharing some (threaded) highlights here... Original Tax Reform proposal from President Trump would have narrowed from 7 tax brackets down to 3. The House GOP proposal would have kept 4 brackets (plus a 5th phase-out bracket of 45.6% for upper income folks).

Final TCJA keeps the 7 tax bracket structure, but trims rates.