The Wealth Advisor

Financial advisors are becoming noticeably less confident about the economy. What's surprising is that the markets they watch every day haven't entirely shared their concern. According to the latest Wealth Management IQ (WMIQ) Advisor Sentiment Index, there are clouds in the outlook even as equities have remained resilient and many advisory firms continue operating from a position of strength. That gap may be the most revealing finding in the survey.

MSCI is still best known for the indexes that benchmark trillions of dollars in global assets. But as the company prepares to report quarterly results, a more consequential story may be unfolding beneath the surface. The race to become indispensable to financial advisors is increasingly being fought not through benchmarks alone, but through the everyday workflow of building, managing and personalizing client portfolios. Look at MSCI's own language.

Jeremy Grantham has earned the right to be taken seriously when he talks about market bubbles. The GMO co-founder correctly identified some of the biggest speculative manias of the past generation, and his latest warning is characteristically dramatic: the artificial intelligence boom has created what he believes is the largest market bubble in history, one that could ultimately end with U.S. stocks falling as much as 70%. The warning itself isn't new.

Frank Holmes doesn’t talk about gold as a defensive allocation tucked into the corner of a portfolio. He talks about it as an ancient store of wealth that’s entering one of its most significant chapters in decades. In an interview with The Wealth Advisor’s Scott Martin, the CEO and CIO of U.S. Global Investors, sporting his signature Go Gold hat, explained why he believes gold’s current rally is about much more than inflation.

Oil has a habit of disrupting markets in unexpected ways. Investors tend to focus on gasoline prices and energy stocks when crude begins climbing, but the first signs of stress often emerge elsewhere—in Treasury bonds, currency markets and the financing conditions that quietly tighten before equities fully react.

OneDigital has added another $1.8 billion to its wealth management business with the acquisition of Rosenthal Wealth Management Group, an eight-advisor RIA serving more than 2,000 households across the Mid-Atlantic. On its face, it's another entry in the industry's relentless M&A tally. But it also reflects a quieter shift in what successful advisory firms now seem to be looking for when they decide it's time to find a partner. Rosenthal wasn't a distressed seller.

Over the past week, America's largest financial institutions have been remarkably consistent about one business: wealth management. From Morgan Stanley to Bank of America to JPMorgan, executives described a business that continues to attract client assets, deepen relationships and provide a steadier source of earnings than many of their more cyclical operations. The particulars differed, but the direction did not.

Clearstead Advisors is expanding into the Philadelphia market with the addition of a nine-person advisory team from The Glenmede Trust Company responsible for approximately $5.3 billion in client assets and advisement relationships. The group managed roughly $2.6 billion in assets under management and another $2.7 billion in assets under advisement before joining Clearstead.

For years, wealth management firms competed by expanding investment menus. Alternatives, direct indexing, private markets and personalization each promised a new way to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Cerulli Associates now argues the next race may look different. The research firm's latest study found tax optimization ranked as the top development priority for platform sponsors for the second consecutive year.

Mariner has signed a five-year agreement to deploy artificial intelligence capabilities the firm says will eventually provide operational capacity equivalent to more than 700 full-time employees. The initiative will initially focus on functions including account opening, onboarding, billing, compliance reviews and reporting before expanding into advisor support and identifying opportunities to deepen client relationships.