This Week in Wealth

Schwab takes its cut, Beacon Pointe powers up

Ahead of next week’s Impact conference, This Week in Wealth runs the rule over Charles Schwab, which has had a busy seven days. In that span, it has started charging ETFs

A rare look at Mercer's referrals, revenues and margins

Roughly 50% of Mercer Global Advisors’ net new client assets in the first two quarters of 2026 came from Charles Schwab’s and Fidelity’s custodial referral networks, acco

What Fidelity's AUM hike means for RIAs and rival custodians

Fidelity has raised its custodial minimum to $100m, giving RIAs until June 30, 2027, to meet that new requirement or face removal from the platform. It's a move with wide

What Constellation looks for when buying RIAs

This bonus episode of This Week in Wealth features a fireside chat with Karl Heckenberg, founder and managing partner of Constellation Wealth Capital. Since its launc

‘I didn't pay myself for all of 08 and 09’: How one RIA founder rode out the last big crash  

Dakota Wealth Management founder and CEO Peter Raimondi joins This Week in Wealth to discuss whether RIAs are well-prepared for a prolonged market downturn. He shares h

An RIA M&A juggernaut switches CEOs

This Week in Wealth breaks down the C-suite shuffle at Merit Financial Advisors, a $32bn Georgia-based RIA that has become one of the most acquisitive firms in the market

Can Claude change the game for RIAs? 

Ian dials in from the Future Proof conference in Huntington Beach, California, to give the lowdown on Anthropic’s Claude for Financial Advisors suite and dig into the AI

Decoding an RIA tech mega-merger

Ian and Alex fire up the transatlantic telegraph cable to break down Envestnet’s deal for Vestmark (news that Citywire RIA readers saw before anyone else). They also disc

AI comes for RIAs (in a good way!)

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is creating a menu of wealth managers to service its employees following its initial public offering later this year, which coul

Josh Brown: Financial advisors' steroid era is over 

Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO Josh Brown joins Ian and Alex to discuss his take that the ‘steroid era’ is over for advisors. He argues advisors who have based their grow

Schwab takes its ball back (again)

For the second time in a year, Charles Schwab is more than doubling the AUM threshold at which it will refer brokerage clients to RIAs in its lucrative Schwab Advisor Net

The Fastest-Growing RIAs in America 2026 

Alex Steger, Ian Wenik and Andrew Foerch take a deep dive into Citywire’s annual 50 Growers Across America report. The trio discuss how they identified the fastest-growin

Franklin eyes $90bn wealth deal, Edelman has Prime’s number

No summer slowdown here! First up, Franklin Templeton is in talks over a deal for AlTi Global, a publicly listed $90bn wealth manager that has been looking for a buyer fo

The long and short of it

Ian, Andrew and Sam break down Citywire's latest scoop about long-short separately managed accounts, which have become one of the most popular new investing tools in the

The layoff wave hits Commonwealth

Ian, Andrew and Sam analyze the recent round of layoffs to hit Commonwealth Financial Network's home office. Who was hit hardest and what do the cuts say about the state

Focus narrows in on new investor 

Three years after buying Focus Financial Partners, PE shop Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is pursuing a sale of a minority stake in the RIA financier. Ian, Andrew, Sam and Alex

Should custodians invest in RIAs?

Ian, Andrew and Alex discuss the idea of a custodian taking minority stakes in RIAs. The same idea was discussed, at least at a conceptual level, by Fidelity in 2025, as

Morningstar CEO: Advisors face AI squeeze, PE funds must clean up fees

Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor joins This Week in Wealth for a special episode, recorded live at the Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago on June 17. Ian, Alex, an

An invitation to Kestra's second wedding

Ian and Andrew host James Poer, the chief executive of $170bn Kestra Holdings, for an extended discussion on why his firm chose to have another go-round with its original

The block (fee) is hot

With Alex and Ian on the road, Andrew, Sam and Alec take over the pod to discuss the rollout of Charles Schwab’s new $5-per-account block trading fee, which has caused so