I have been in the industry for almost 18 years, all the time with Halbert Hargrove. I fell into it by accident. I started in the mortgage industry. That exploded early in my career. My parents are clients of Halbert Hargrove. After leaving my last job, I contacted them about rolling over a 401(k). They…

In this month's Word on WealthTech we're covering AI-related announcements, partnerships, executive transitions and rising tech prices. There's a lot going on in the market, so let's dive right in! We found a few points of interest in Orion's annual Wealthtech Survey. One big thing that came to light during the conference discussions was how…

Global real estate investment manager Hines officially launched Hines Private Wealth Solutions this week. The move is intended to leverage the firm's existing offerings for individual investors to grow its relationships across private wealth distribution channels and expand its business in Europe and Asia. Hines has worked with individual investors for the past two decades,…

(Bloomberg) — A trio of academics have a bold take on the booming $1.7 trillion private loan market: After accounting for additional risks and fees, the asset class delivers virtually no additional return for investors. In a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the professors argued that direct lenders as a…

(Bloomberg) — After one of the more chaotic application seasons sometimesmillions of students and their families are now choosing colleges without knowing how much it will cost cost actually. In a normal year, universities send financial aid offers immediately after the release of acceptance letters. But after several delays related to renewing the Free Application…

A Texas-based online brokerage app that offers self-directed trading to retail investors has been shut down by FINRA enforcers, paying $200,000 to settle charges that it failed to oversee paid social media influencer advertising. Settlement with Cobra Trading comes a few weeks after FINRA fined M1 Finance for similar alleged compliance errors. The M1 settlement…

(Bloomberg Opinion) — As a retired economist — not to be confused with a retired economist, which are rare — I often find myself talking to Wall Street guys who are responsible for a lot of other people's money. Conversations vary, but eating almost never does. As a senior executive at a major asset management…

(Bloomberg) — The family of an elderly JPMorgan Chase & Co. client who lost tens of millions of dollars in investments as he slipped into dementia faces a major setback in their years-long legal battle with the bank after a magistrate judge recommended their case be thrown out. Peter Doelger, 86, and his wife, Yoon,…

Satisfaction among self-driving investors remained static in an annual JD Power survey released today, showing that investors' happiness with their self-driving vehicles did not correlate well with a strong stock market. Overall satisfaction among do-it-yourself investors was at 708 on a 1,000-point scale in 2023, according to JD Power's 2024 US Do-It-Yourself Investor Satisfaction Study….

The recent movement among financial advisers appears to be leaning towards the registered investment adviser model, with many large banking and regional brokerage teams breaking away and forming their own independent firms. Just this week, a team of Merrill Lynch advisors with a reported net worth of $491 million left the wire to launch their…