1. Mark Spangler Indicted On 23 Counts Of Fraud And Money Laundering; Government Seeks $41.7 Million
(Matching tags: US investing,RIA compliance,securities fraud,NAPFA,Dodd-Frank,fiduciaries,sec,advisor industry people)

Former NAPFA chairman Mark Spangler was indicted by a Seattle grand jury Thursday, charged criminally with diverting $41.7 million from investors into risky start-up ventures in which he had an ownership ...

2. NAPFA’s (Not So Secret) Link Farm: Social Media Consultant Mike Byrnes Highlights A SEO Black-Hat Tactic
(Matching tags: NAPFA,Search Engines)

Social media consultant Mike Byrnes covers a "beat the system" tactic NAPFA members are engaging in to get better search engine rankings. ...

3. NAPFA Panel Shows That The Bag Lady Syndrome Is Still Alive And Well, Even Among Successful Women
(Matching tags: women investors,financial planning,NAPFA)

A panel of four women at the recent NAPFA conference showed just how real the so-called bag lady syndrome is, even for women who have achieved great success by just about any measure. It further showed ...

4. Practical Suggestions For Seguing Your Business Include Early Compensation And Partnership Stake Valuation
(Matching tags: Advisor businesses,succession planning,NAPFA)

Setting up a succession plan to segue your business to junior partners sounds like a great idea. But it may be a difficult one to implement. Issues segueing advisors face include how much compensation ...

5. FINRA's Estimate Of Cost Of Establishing And Maintaining An SRO For RIAs Challenged By Coalition Representing RIAs
(Matching tags: RIA compliance,RIAs,broker-dealers,registered investment advisors,compliance,CFP Board,NAPFA,Congress,Dodd-Frank,TD Ameritrade)

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's (FINRA) estimate of the cost to setup, operate and oversee a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for investment advisers (IA) underestimates overhead costs ...

6. Advisors Who Have Executed Successful Transitions Offer Advice For Those Just Beginning To Plan
(Matching tags: Advisor businesses,succession planning,NAPFA)

... experience shared succession advice at the recent NAPFA conference, noting that there’s more than one path to a successful transition.  ...

7. RIAs Don’t Seem To Care Very Much About The Regulatory Debate; Reaction To Last Week’s FINRA-SRO News Was Muted
(Matching tags: RIA compliance,RIAs,SRO,NAPFA,Congress,Dodd-Frank,fiduciaries,FINRA,sec)

When news broke last Wednesday about the reintroduction of legislation that would make FINRA the regulator of RIAs, all of the advisor trade publications covered the story. Financial Planning even issued ...

8. An Advisor Affiliated With Retirement Income Industry Association And Its Retirement Management Analyst Designation Responds To My Post Saying Designation Proliferation Is A Disaster For Consumers
(Matching tags: profession,RIAs,investment advisors,financial planning,CPAs,CFP Board,NAPFA)

Dana Anspach, a fee-only financial planner and licensed Retirement Management Analyst, has responded graciously to my post yesterday with a personal letter addressed to me on her blog on About.com. My ...

9. The New York Times Covers The Sad Irony Of The Mark Spangler Criminal Allegations
(Matching tags: compliance,fraud,NAPFA)

The New York Times this past weekend wrote about the irony of recent criminal allegations against Mark Spangler, former chairman of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors who once was ...

10. The Moral Compass Of The Financial Advice Profession Is Being Reset, As Fee-Only Advisors Are Tarnished Again By Scandal
(Matching tags: competitors,RIAs,registered investment advisors,practice management,NAPFA,fiduciaries)

  For consumers seeking professional financial advice, the world used to be so simple. Crooks took commissions, while fee-only financial advisors were good guys. The National Association For Financial ...

11. Former NAPFA Chairman Mark Spangler's Home Raided By FBI In Criminal Fraud Investigation
(Matching tags: fraud,NAPFA,advisor industry people)

FBI Agents raided Seattle financial advisor Mark Spangler’s home on Sept. 23, reportedly seizing documents and electronic files in a criminal fraud investigation into whether Spangler illicitly diverted ...

12. Can Google Regulate Financial Advisors?
(Matching tags: NAPFA,Dodd-Frank,fiduciaries,FINRA,Search Engines,sec)

What if FINRA and the SEC opened their advisor databases to search engines?   With all this talk about investors’ need for transparency and the high cost of regulation, why not let Google ...

13. Buried In The Newly Released 2011 Survey Of Trends In The Financial Planning Industry: Serious Challenges To The CFP Profession
(Matching tags: financial planning,registered investment advisors,CFP Board,NAPFA,business planning)

For about 15 years, the College for Financial Planning annually released its “Trends In The Financial Planning Industry,” a comprehensive report on broad industry developments. Only in 2010 ...