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Insights for RIAs and Broker-Dealers

Risk, compliance, operations and practice management insights for RIAs and broker-dealers — from the StratiFi team and industry contributors.

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| | | | 17 Min Read

AI Brokerage Statement Extraction: How RIAs Turn Statements Into Audit-Ready Data

Last updated: May 13, 2026 · By Akhil Lodha Brokerage statements are the most overlooked compliance data source in a wealth management firm. Every household sends them in. Every ...
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| | 19 Min Read

7 Best Financial Document Extraction Software for RIAs (2026 Buyer's Guide)

Last updated: May 13, 2026 · By Akhil Lodha Financial document extraction software for RIAs spans three distinct sub-markets — tax-return parsing, estate document review, and ...
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17 Min Read

StratiFi April 2026 Product Updates: OperationsIQ Beta, Trading Surveillance, and Salesforce Integration

TL;DR · What is new in StratiFi this April The April 2026 release in six bullets. Trading Activity Exceptions. Surveillance for both under-trading and over-trading patterns. ...
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12 Min Read

Financial Document Automation: A 2026 Guide for RIAs

Most operations leaders at growing RIAs have tried the obvious fixes — an OCR tool, a folder taxonomy, an analyst keying data from custodian PDFs into the CRM. And the queue is ...
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12 Min Read

Scaling RIA Compliance Past 50 Advisors | StratiFi

Scaling 206(4)-7 Compliance Past 50 Advisors: What Annual Review Looks Like at Volume Somewhere between 40 and 60 advisors, most RIAs discover that scaling RIA compliance is not ...
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10 Min Read

SEC Enforcement Actions RIA | IPS Supervision Failures

Four SEC Enforcement Actions That Turned on IPS Supervision Failures Every CCO at a growing RIA eventually asks a version of the same question: what actually triggers SEC ...
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16 Min Read

6 Best AI Document Data Extraction Tools for Financial Advisors and RIAs

Financial advisors and RIAs are inundated with data locked inside PDFs. Custodial statements, tax returns, onboarding forms, and client agreements hold a lot of data, rarely in a ...
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10 Min Read

7 Best Investment Risk Analytics Software for RIAs

Portfolio risk has become central to how RIAs operate, yet most firms still manage it through fragmented tools and static assessments.
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10 Min Read

AI for Regulatory Compliance: Process and Top 5 Tools for Finance Advisors

Managing growth in a financial advisory firm brings compliance complexity that can quickly overwhelm manual processes.
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11 Min Read

Portfolio Drift: IPS Drift, Style Drift & Policy Breach

IPS Drift, Style Drift, and Policy Breach: The Three Compliance Categories RIAs Confuse Most compliance conversations at a growing RIA stall on the same problem: three different ...
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15 Min Read

RIA Portfolio Supervision Compliance: 206(4)-7 & FINRA 3110

The RIA Portfolio Supervision Rulebook: 206(4)-7, FINRA 3110, and 2026 SEC Exam Priorities Every registered investment adviser (RIA) operates under a specific statutory duty: ...
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10 Min Read

RIA Compliance Software: The 206(4)-7 Supervision Gap

Why Your Compliance Stack Fails 206(4)-7's Portfolio Supervision Test Walk into any well-run RIA and you will find a mature RIA compliance software stack: a ...
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14 Min Read

Documenting IPS Supervision Under 206(4)-7: A Framework

Documenting IPS Supervision Under 206(4)-7: A Framework CCOs Can Defend in an Exam Most CCOs at mid-sized RIAs can describe their IPS supervision process in a hallway ...
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11 Min Read

Portfolio Supervision Under Rule 206(4)-7 for RIAs

Portfolio Supervision Under Rule 206(4)-7: What IPS Intelligence Means for Growing RIAs Most CCOs at growing RIAs have felt this shift. At 10 advisors, investment supervision is a ...
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12 Min Read

Share Class Suitability for Retirement Accounts: What RIAs and Broker-Dealers Must Know

See ComplianceIQ's retirement account share class compliance → An R3 share in a 401(k) plan may be entirely appropriate. The same R3 share in a retail IRA is almost certainly an ...
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10 Min Read

Investment Adviser Compliance in 2026: Everything You Need to Know

Investment adviser compliance has changed significantly over the past decade. At one point in time, it centered on maintaining written policies and completing annual reviews. But ...
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8 Min Read

Share Class Monitoring Software for RIAs and Broker-Dealers: What to Look For

See ComplianceIQ's Share Class Exceptions module in action → Related practice: how to identify and fix share-class violations. Most RIA compliance software wasn't built for share ...
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19 Min Read

7 Best Software for Wealth Managers (How to Choose One in 2026)

Managing a modern wealth management firm is no longer just about advising clients.
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10 Min Read

How to Identify and Fix Mutual Fund Share Class Violations Across Client Portfolios

The question isn't whether you have mutual fund share class violations — most RIAs and broker-dealers managing discretionary client assets do. The question is whether you find ...
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8 Min Read

Wealth Management Compliance in 2026: Everything You Need to Know

Compliance has always been part of advisory work. However, its role has fundamentally changed.
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9 Min Read

What Are 12b-1 Fees — And When Do They Create a Compliance Problem for RIAs?

Automate share class conflict detection with ComplianceIQ → Related practice: how to identify and fix share-class violations. Most RIA compliance teams know 12b-1 fees exist. Far ...
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11 Min Read

6 Best Financial Advisor Portfolio Management Software (2026)

Selecting financial advisor portfolio management software is a consequential tech decision for advisory firms. It shapes how portfolios are constructed, how decisions are ...
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14 Min Read

Mutual Fund Share Classes: The Complete Guide for RIAs, Broker-Dealers, and Hybrid Firms

See how ComplianceIQ flags share class conflicts automatically → Related practice: how to identify and fix share-class violations. Mutual fund share classes are one of the most ...
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5 Min Read

AI-Powered Data Extraction for Financial Advisors: Everything You Need to Know

Advisory firms generate enormous amounts of information, but much of it stays trapped inside PDFs, statements, onboarding forms, and review documents. Humans can read that ...
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5 Min Read

Portfolio Risk Management Software: What Modern RIAs Should Look for

For modern advisory firms, portfolio risk is a visible, ongoing responsibility. Clients expect clear explanations of how their portfolios behave in different conditions, while ...
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14 Min Read

Best Compliance Automation Platforms in 2026 (and What RIAs Should Actually Look For)

Compliance automation platforms are utilized across various industries, including SOC 2 reporting and financial services. Their key goal is to reduce repetitive tasks and ...
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10 Min Read

7 Investment Proposal Software for Advisors and RIAs to Try in 2026

Investment proposal software was designed for a simple advisory model.
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11 Min Read

FINRA Rule 2111 and Excessive Trading: What RIAs and Hybrid Firms Need to Know

Most CCOs at hybrid firms know FINRA Rule 2111 exists. It appears in compliance training materials, in WSP templates, and in FINRA exam preparation guides. What most hybrid firm ...
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7 Min Read

How to Choose the Right SEC Compliance Software for Your RIA

SEC examinations are becoming broader, more data-driven, and increasingly focused on how advisory firms supervise client portfolios over time. For many RIAs, the bigger challenge ...
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12 Min Read

How to Set Trading Activity Thresholds for Your RIA Compliance Program

The SEC provides no bright-line rule on trade frequency. This is not a relief for compliance officers — it is a compliance burden. When the regulator declines to set the number, ...
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12 Min Read

What Is the Wash Sale Rule and How Does It Affect RIA Compliance?

Most RIAs treat wash sales as a client tax problem. When a client realises a loss on a security and their advisor repurchases a substantially identical security within 30 days, ...
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12 Min Read

Best SEC Compliance Solutions for RIAs and Broker-Dealers in 2026 (Buyer’s Guide)

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| 10 Min Read

SEC Trading Activity Monitoring for RIAs in 2026: What's Changed

In March 2026, StratiFi attended the IAA Annual Conference where the SEC's Division of Examinations presented their 2026 exam framework directly. The SEC exam priorities 2026, ...
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13 Min Read

What Is Churning in Finance? A Complete Guide for RIAs

In March 2026, the SEC's Division of Examinations named dually registered advisers — firms operating as both RIAs and broker-dealers — as a named focus area for trading activity ...
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11 Min Read

What is a Unified Wealth Platform? A Practical Guide for Modern RIAs

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11 Min Read

SEC Compliance Requirements for RIAs in 2026: A Practical Guide

SEC compliance requirements require RIAs and broker-dealers to go beyond merely having written policies or conducting regular reviews. They expect registered investment advisors ...
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9 Min Read

SEC Exam Priorities 2026: What RIAs Need to Know and Do Now

Each year, the SEC's Division of Examinations publishes its examination priorities — a forward-looking statement of the areas it intends to scrutinize most intensively across ...
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9 Min Read

Rule 206(4)-7 Annual Review Requirements: A Practical Guide for RIAs

Rule 206(4)-7 annual review is one of the most consistently cited deficiency areas in SEC examinations of registered investment advisors — not because advisors misunderstand the ...
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9 Min Read

SEC Exam Preparation for Investment Advisors: A Practical Guide

SEC exam preparation for investment advisors is not an event — it is a continuous discipline. Yet most registered investment advisors (RIAs) treat examination readiness as a fire ...
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21 Min Read

Best RIA Compliance Software Platforms in 2026 (Complete Buyer’s Guide)

For RIAs, compliance is no longer a periodic obligation handled during scheduled reviews or annual audits.
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4 Min Read

Stop Chasing Spreadsheets: StratiFi's New Client Reviews Feature Automates Your Compliance Workflow

Most advisory firms know they need to conduct regular client reviews. Fewer have a system that actually makes it easy.
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13 Min Read

Compliance Automation Reporting Tools: How RIAs and Broker-Dealers Stay Audit-Ready before Exams Happen

For RIAs and broker-dealers, regulatory exams still trigger a cycle of disruption. Teams scramble through spreadsheets, email threads, custodian exports, and shared drives to ...
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20 Min Read

8 Best Finance Compliance Software for RIAs and Broker-Dealers (2026 Buyer’s Guide)

Compliance expectations for RIAs and broker-dealers continue to rise. These expectations are driven by Reg BI enforcement, evolving suitability standards, increased exam ...
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31 Min Read

Top AI Compliance Solutions for Financial Services firms: Use Cases, Examples, and Top 6 Options

For RIAs and broker-dealers, compliance has become a daily operating challenge. Best-interest expectations under Reg BI, suitability alignment, share-class oversight, ...
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10 Min Read

How RIAs and Broker-Dealers Can Turn Compliance Documentation into a Strategic Advantage

Compliance documentation is a top priority for RIAs and broker-dealers, particularly larger firms that operate squarely in regulators’ line of sight. Dedicated teams and formal ...
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32 Min Read

AI Wealth Management System for Modern Advisory Firms: A Complete Guide for RIAs and Broker-Dealers

The advisory industry is approaching a critical moment as four structural pressures converge. These forces are defining which firms will scale into the next decade and which will ...
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| | 11 Min Read

PRISM 2.0: A New Era in Risk Assessment

Risk assessment just got a major upgrade. After four months of intensive development and testing, PRISM 2.0 is here. It's not just an update—it's a complete reimagining of how we ...
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| 2 Min Read

Navigating Risk: Pre-Trade Compliance for Wealth Management Firms

Explore the importance of pre-trade compliance in managing risks for wealth management firms and how to navigate these challenges effectively.
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| 12 Min Read

Beginner’s Guide to Uncovering Hidden Dimensions of Risk In Client Investment Portfolios

A well-diversified investment portfolio is a key component of any financial plan and as an experienced financial advisor, you know that risk is inherent in any investment. ...
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| 3 Min Read

Elevate Your Brand With New & Improved PDFs, Mobile-Friendly RTQs, + More

We’ve been hard at work releasing new software features and talking with advisors to discover new ways to add value to provide value! 🙌
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| 3 Min Read

January Product Enhancements

Over the past several months, we’ve made many product enhancements including two-factor authentication, enabling a team section for advisors, adding yielded dividends to ...
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| | 10 Min Read

Envestnet | MoneyGuide: Improving Clients’ Understanding of Risk with StratiFi

The financial technology market is huge. This is the era where people are seeking the help of financial advisors to help them manage and grow their wealth. Regardless of what you ...
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| 11 Min Read

Investment Policy Statement Software for RIAs

Given recent periods of exceptional market volatility and predicted reduced investment returns over the market cycle, institutional and high-net-worth clients, such as mutual ...
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| 2 Min Read

13 Ways To Evaluate Your Current Risk Analysis Solution

As we come into the home stretch for 2022, I hope you’re on track to reach your goals.
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| | 9 Min Read

Redtail Integration: Analyzing Risk with StratiFi

The requirement for a comprehensive operation and Redtail customer relationship management tool is prominent in finance, where information, important data, and private details are ...
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| | 7 Min Read

Wealthbox Integration: Risk Analysis with StratiFi

In 2014, Wealthbox, a CRM system for all financial advisors was introduced. Wealthbox is renowned for its cutting-edge product design and strong, user-friendly user interface. It ...
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| | 3 Min Read

Smartria® Announces Integration with StratiFi, Developer of Award-Winning PRISM Rating™ Technology

Users of the award-winning Smartria compliance management platform will gain access to real-time integrated portfolio and employee risk dashboards through StratiFi partnership ...
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| 2 Min Read

Don’t Be a Victim of the Markets… Invest in Yourself

You can’t control investors who greed in and out of the markets at the wrong times, right?
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| 3 Min Read

4 Different Risk Factors & Why They’re Important

Using advanced methods similar to the leading institutional investors like PIMCO, Stratifi quantifies risk within a portfolio into a simple 1 to 10 scale, with 1 signifying the ...
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| 2 Min Read

Why ‘Diversified Portfolios Lessen Volatility’ is a Myth

A risk approach is widely used among institutional investors, but many individual investors and advisors do not broadly understand the concepts and disciplines.
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| 1 Min Read

Why Some Risk Scores Can Be Risky For a Portfolio…

A risk score is supposed to be an objective, quantitative measurement of an investor’s true risk tolerance and is often used to appropriately align the risk in a portfolio.
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| | | 4 Min Read

BridgeFT & StratiFi Announce Partnership and Integration to Provide Advisors with a Holistic View into Client Wealth and Total Risk

News provided by Bridge Financial Technology | Jun 14, 2022, 10:00 ET | Read on PR Newswire
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| 3 Min Read

Why It’s Good To Be Contrarian Like Warren Buffet

We couldn’t agree more with Mr. Buffett because volatility is not the definition of risk, is it?
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| 3 Min Read

Reg BI Enforcement Is Here! Are You Compliant?

Over the past two decades, the responsibilities of financial professionals have shifted from opening accounts and executing trades to providing advice through financial planning. ...
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| 4 Min Read

January 2022 Product Release Updates

So far in 2022, we’ve made several exciting updates including support for multiple templates for Proposals & IPS, the option to display securities when listing assets in ...
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| 3 Min Read

December 2021 Product Release Updates

In December, we’ve made several exciting updates including adding the Portfolio Risk Score section to IPS, improving the custom section’s inline editor, and more. Scroll down for ...
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| 1 Min Read

Customized Asset Classification

New Enhancement: Customize asset classification and improved asset listing look and feel This enhancement provides the control to the advisor on how to list and name the different ...
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| 3 Min Read

Concentrated Stock Positions: The Backroom Joke of Wall Street

Concentrated Stock Positions: The Backroom Joke of Wall Street A concentrated stock risk rating gives an idea of how much of a concentration in a given stock exists in the ...
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| | 12 Min Read

Reverse Churning: A 2026 Compliance Guide for RIAs

Most compliance teams don't lose a reverse-churning case because they failed to detect a problem account. They lose it because, when an examiner asked for the supervisory record, ...
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| 3 Min Read

Diversifying Portfolios: It is Correct or Useful?

A diversification risk rating gives an idea of the true diversification of a portfolio. This depends on the level of cross-correlation that exists within the portfolio but it is ...
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| 2 Min Read

What is a Tail Event Risk Rating?

A tail event risk rating gives an idea of how vulnerable a portfolio would be in the rare event of a market shock. The distribution of market returns is expected to be normally ...
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| 2 Min Read

Understanding Volatility Risk

A volatility risk rating gives an idea of how vulnerable a portfolio is to systematic risk i.e. the risk inherent to the entire market or market segment. By using StratiFi, ...
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| 2 Min Read

Multiple Dimensions of Risk

StratiFi’s PRISM technology is designed to function as an in-house portfolio risk manager. Today, PRISM analyzes portfolios for exposures to four key dimensions that are widely ...
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| 2 Min Read

Risk or Return?

Most people understand that risk is what drives return, but the concept of understanding risk before chasing return barely exists outside of the rarified world of institutional ...
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| 3 Min Read

The Diversification Fallacy

Even after educating clients on “diversification” and managing client emotions and behaviors, advisors often find themselves in an uncomfortable position when portfolios have ...
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| 4 Min Read

How to Talk About Risk Management to Clients in a Way They Can Understand

Of all the difficult conversations financial advisors must have with their clients, risk is one of the most challenging. That’s because when advisors think of “risk,” it doesn’t ...
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| 3 Min Read

July 2021 Product Release Updates

1. Risk tolerance update filter Users’ problem we aim to solve:
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| 2 Min Read

A Client’s Personality Determines Their Risk Rating

By understanding your client’s behavior and investment personality and using it to guide them towards portfolios that reflect acceptable risk levels, advisors can achieve one of ...
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| | | | 4 Min Read

Envestnet | MoneyGuide and StratiFi Launch Partnership Aimed at Empowering More Advisors to Improve Clients’ Understanding of Risk

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Envestnet | MoneyGuide and StratiFi, developer of award-winning PRISM Rating™ technology for financial advisors, announced a new integration ...
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| 2 Min Read

Portfolio Risk: Fight or Flight?

It is important to confront a key fact that is too little discussed. Investors have not amassed enough experience in the financial markets to be able to measure what is said to ...
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| 4 Min Read

The StratiFi Edge: July Newsletter

We made several product enhancements and feature updates in Q2… Integration portal allows self-serviced client onboarding Portfolio compare & analyze makes it easy to edit, ...
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| 2 Min Read

Valuable Portfolios Are Rarely Analyzed for Risk

The most successful investors approach the market in different ways, but they have this in common: they never lose a lot of money. That simple fact is not part of the narrative ...
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| 2 Min Read

The Long Term Investing Fallacy

To be sure, some will dismiss the idea of defining and proactively measuring investment risk. They will praise the merits of long-term investing. They will insist that the ...
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| 1 Min Read

Convert Leads into Prospects with StratiFi’s Lead Generation Widget

Did you know that roughly 50% of marketers use a lead magnet to increase conversion rates? When you give prospects something valuable, like the opportunity to assess their ...
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| 3 Min Read

June 2021 Product Release Updates

1. Enhanced Account Settings for Proposal and IPS Users’ problems we aim to solve:
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| 3 Min Read

Myth #5- Retirees Are Conservative Investors

At a Barron’s conference of the nation’s top financial advisors, a speaker noted that about 90% of all retirement accounts are in distribution mode. This reflects the fact that ...
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| 4 Min Read

May 2021 Product Release Updates

1. Model Portfolio Compare, Edit, and Analyze (in beta) Problems we aim to solve:
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| 5 Min Read

Managing Crypto-Inclined Clients

Whatever your view on cryptocurrency, many of your present and future clients likely own, or want to own, digital currency. So, how do you manage a client with cryptocurrency ...
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| 3 Min Read

Myth #4- Long-term Investors Ignore Short-term Corrections

Of the world’s many mysteries, Wall Street’s success at convincing Main Street to believe in the existence of long-term investors ranks high. Through incredible marketing ...
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| 3 Min Read

Myth #3: Tail Risks Are Rare

The investment year is divided into 252 days. On most days, investors know what will happen, but they don’t know how the financial markets will respond. A variety of analytical ...
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| | | | 5 Min Read

StratiFi & Redtail Announce Integration Partnership

The integration will provide shared users access to StratiFi’s PRISM Rating™ technology via single sign-on through their Redtail credentialsMay 05, 2021 10:08 AM Eastern Daylight ...
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| 4 Min Read

Stock Concentration: Risk and Opportunity

I’ve been advising StratiFi on its risk assessment and risk management software offering in large part because it encompasses stock concentration in its risk metrics. Over many ...
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| | 2 Min Read

StratiFi & Wealthbox Announce Integration Partnership

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–StratiFi, developer of award-winning PRISM Rating™ technology for RIAs, Investment Managers, and BDs, has announced a new partnership with Wealthbox. ...
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| 2 Min Read

The Five Myths That Put Portfolios at Risk: Myth #2 Sell Stock to Reduce Concentrated Risk

Our series on the five myths that put portfolios at risk examines the reality that many individual investors and advisors do not broadly understand the concepts and disciplines of ...
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| | 1 Min Read

Risk Analysis Software + CRM: The Integration of StratiFi + Wealthbox

On March 25th, 2021, StratiFi and Wealthbox hosted a webinar with presenters Chris Kopanski, Senior Product Specialist at Wealthbox, and Akhil Lodha, Co-Founder and CEO here at ...
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| | 4 Min Read

Enhancing Collaboration, Speed, and Simplicity

Collaboration is one of the most important characteristics of any successful team, and especially now that in-person meetings are less feasible, it’s crucial to have a platform ...
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| 4 Min Read

7 Questions to Consider When Evaluating Low Volatility ETFs

I recently sat down with Justin Lowry of Global Beta Advisors for a webinar to discuss the embedded risks in Low Volatility and Dividend Strategies that are overlooked and may be ...
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| 3 Min Read

The Five Myths That Put Portfolios at Risk: Myth #1 Diversified Portfolios Lessen Volatility

Diversified Portfolio Stock Market Investment Strategy 3d Illustration This series intends to illuminate a pathway that will help advisors safeguard their practices and investor ...
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| | 2 Min Read

Pershing, Invesco, PowerShares Alumni Martin Plachko Joins StratiFi to Lead Sales and Business Development

SAN FRANCISCO, February 24, 2021—StratiFi, developer of award-winning PRISM Rating™ technology for financial advisors, asset managers and broker-dealers has hired Pershing, ...
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| 2 Min Read

The Five Myths that Put Portfolios at Risk: A Five-Part Series

Risk has always been present for investors. It used to be that a diversified stock and bond portfolio was usually enough to protect clients from the worst of the financial markets ...
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| 7 Min Read

Finding Help to Complete SEC Form CRS

Security Exchange Committee SEC. Independent agency of the United States federal government. SEC Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) became effective on June 30, 2020, a little more ...
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| 11 Min Read

What is an Investment Policy Statement?

When visiting a new country, the best way to find your way around is to map out the directions. You will also want to make an activity plan for all you’ll do once you get there. ...
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| 1 Min Read

Managing Your Clients With Ease

Trying to manage numerous clients, each with diverse portfolios and unique investment goals, can be a cumbersome task. It’s difficult to oversee so many moving parts. Fortunately, ...
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| | 5 Min Read

Don’t Let Your Clients Be Fooled by Randomness

It’s no secret that the Robinhood mobile app makes it easy for beginners to start investing. However, it’s unlikely that everyone understands the potential risks of using ...
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| 1 Min Read

Tools to Navigate Volatile Markets

Do volatile markets scare your clients? Check out these new features from StratiFi.
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| 6 Min Read

Financial Advisors Need to Be Risk Managers

When it comes to your client’s investment or retirement portfolios, there’s always some level of risk. Because of this, measures such as diversification, asset allocation, and ...
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| 4 Min Read

How to Help Your Clients With Financial Planning During a Crisis

As families all over the nation focus on the health of loved ones, financial advisors play a significant role in helping clients take financial control of their lives. Although ...
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| | 5 Min Read

Virtual Advisor: Best Practices for Online Meetings

For the foreseeable future, face to face client interactions will not be an option, especially with the risk to immunocompromised and elderly clients. Unfortunately, online web ...
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| 11 Min Read

Breaking Down the Top Virtual Conferencing Tools

There are so many existing platforms that are being used right now to bring previously in-person gatherings — conferences, meetings, celebrations — online. The wealth of options ...
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| 4 Min Read

How to Get Referrals in This Environment

Stay at home. No groups of more than two outside. Social events canceled. These are words financial advisors don’t want to see as they are trying to grow their business. ...
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| 5 Min Read

A Rare Opportunity Your Clients Need to Understand

Over the last number of years, you likely had to tell your clients the importance of being defensive. This is despite markets rallying to new highs month after month, year after ...
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| 5 Min Read

Calming Your Clients – How to Position Volatile Markets

Source: Stockcharts These are stressful times. When the markets are strong, advisors can keep their client base on autopilot and can grow at the pace they want. However, at times ...
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| 4 Min Read

Tail Risk – Your Clients Don’t Understand It … Yet

If you thought the last few weeks in the markets were bad, you did not go to bed very happy Monday evening on March 3rd. Market breakers got triggered, and it was a historic day ...
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| 3 Min Read

Good Investment Coaches are Indispensable to Their Clients

When clients hire financial advisors, there’s an expectation that their advisor will work with them to develop an investment strategy that reflects their investment profile. ...
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| 3 Min Read

4 Steps Advisors Should Take To Strengthen Compliance

As regulatory activity in the wealth management industry hits a fever pitch, financial advisors and their firms are increasingly finding themselves at odds with compliance ...
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| 4 Min Read

Thought Leadership May Be The Only Edge For Financial Advisors

You are your brand. Your brand is you. You may never think that this is a top business priority as a financial advisor, but your clients – current and prospective – crave ...
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| 4 Min Read

Four Reasons Financial Advisors Must Embrace Technology

The future is now. Financial advisors who can see it, and grab it, have an advantage over their competitors. While it is popular for some financial advisors to lament the rise of ...
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| 3 Min Read

How To Avoid Email Marketing Mistakes

For many financial advisors, email marketing is an effective way to communicate with their target market. Advisors favor email because, once it’s set up, it is easy to manage – ...
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| 4 Min Read

Specialization May Be Financial Advisors’ Quickest Path to Success

Most financial advisors begin their careers as generalists, offering a full range of investment and insurance products to anyone who will see them. Some remain as product ...
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| 2 Min Read

StratiFi Featured in S&P Webinar on Risk Management

San Francisco, April 6, 2020 – Akhil Lodha, StratiFi Technologies’ Chief Executive Officer, recently spoke on a webinar held by S&P Dow Jones Indices (DJI) about the effective ...
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| | 1 Min Read

“As Long As Money Is Cheap, People Are Going to Go Further Out On The Risk Curve”

In the past 100 days, the stock market has advanced about 22%. This return is so extraordinary that many investors would be satisfied with that gain over an entire year. This ...
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| 6 Min Read

How Advisors Can Use Social Media to Gain Influence and Clients

Today, the vast majority of a financial advisor’s potential clients reside in a parallel universe called social media – a digital cosmos that exists alongside the physical world. ...
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| 6 Min Read

Attract Ideal Clients With Online Personas

Most financial advisors understand the value of an ideal client profile in helping them identify the type of prospects they should pursue to grow their practice. While that may ...
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| 5 Min Read

For Advisors Looking for Next Generation Clients: It’s a Matter of Trust

The greatest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history is underway. As a financial advisor, it represents either an unprecedented opportunity or a threat to your survival. ...
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| 5 Min Read

An Essential Way To Grow Your Business

For much of the past decade, advisors have benefitted from market-driven growth. As the markets advance, assets under management increased. Now, as the bull market trounces onward ...
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| 1 Min Read

Luck, Risk and Avoiding Losers

When Howard Marks speaks, it pays to listen. The chairman of Oaktree Capital recently sat for a lengthy interview with Shane Parrish of Farnam Street in which he covered many key ...
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| 3 Min Read

Is the Era of Index Funds About to End Badly?

In February 2019, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index hit a new high, less than two months after one of the worst one-month declines on record. From its December 24, 2018 low, the ...
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| 4 Min Read

How To Create Your Own Guaranteed Pension

Many people struggle with choosing a retirement income strategy that assures they will not outlive their money without assuming significant risks. The optimum strategy is ...
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| 4 Min Read

The Long and Short of Investing

For much of the past decade, investment profits have flowed to anyone who simply bought stocks and sat tight. But now the stock market is beginning to show signs of aging. ...
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| 4 Min Read

Why Advisors Need to Offer Private Equity to Their HNW Clients

One of the key lessons of the 2018 investment year is that extreme volatility can wreak havoc on investment portfolios, even those that are thought to be relatively safe due to ...
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| 1 Min Read

Someone’s Making a Big Bet on a Border Wall

Steven M. Sears, StratiFi’s chief investment officer, recently focused on some of the key attributes of successful investing in a column that he wrote for Barron’s.
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| 4 Min Read

The Danger of Index Funds

The recent stock market decline is a stark reminder to investors that there is risk in index funds. This is coming as a shock to many. After years of quantitative easing, ...
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| 5 Min Read

Now is not the Time for Advisors to Cut Back on Their Marketing

In 2018, volatility in the stock market returned with a vengeance, catching most investors and many advisors off guard. Advisors, who have experienced at least a couple of market ...
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| 4 Min Read

Is it Time to Add a Tactical Strategy to Your Asset Allocation Plans?

One thing we can say for certain is that, after a 10-year bull run with minimal volatility, the market is due for a change. With the return of extreme volatility this year and a ...
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| 4 Min Read

What Does Your Online Presence Say About Your Advising Business?

You have an online presence, either intentionally or unintentionally, or both. Go ahead and “Google” yourself or the name of your firm. Does anything come up on the first page of ...
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| 2 Min Read

StratiFi Wins Award For Best Compliance Technology

San Francisco, September 13, 2019 – StratiFi Technologies Inc., which is democratizing risk management to help financial advisors and their clients make better financial ...
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| 4 Min Read

To Grow, RIA Firms Must Achieve Scale without Sacrificing Specialization

Leading RIA firms understand that the key to profitable growth is to optimize their ability to specialize in their core business functions of client management and business ...
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| 4 Min Read

The Higher Purpose of Financial Advisors

More than any other type of professional advisor – be it a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant or a counselor – financial advisors have an extraordinary opportunity to build a ...
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| 3 Min Read

The Great Wealth Transfer: Will You Be Left Behind?

It may be the closest thing to a blind side that financial advisors will ever experience. The theme is becoming more commonplace: The husband of a couple you’ve worked with for 10 ...
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| | 5 Min Read

Getting to the Next Level with an Associate Advisor

Anyone with an ambition of getting to the next level and beyond is bound to reach a critical juncture when they realize that what got them to where they are isn’t enough to propel ...
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| 2 Min Read

Howard Marks: Advisors Need To Be Risk Managers

Howard Marks, one of the world’s great money managers, has a simple message for financial advisors: focus on defining and managing financial risk for your clients or risk ...
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| 4 Min Read

Market Volatility Creates Communications Challenges

The wild gyrations that have characterized the market this year should be a stark reminder to financial advisors of the importance of having a defined communications plan in place ...
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| 4 Min Read

Is Multi-Asset Class Investing the Answer for Concerned Passive Investors?

The wild stock market gyrations this year have shocked investors who had been lulled into complacency during a largely uninterrupted rally over the previous decade. Suddenly, the ...
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| 3 Min Read

Getting More from a Client Relationship with Client-Centric Investing

It has been nearly a decade since the global financial crisis and, while investors are beginning to regain their confidence in the markets, many are still having difficulty ...
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| 1 Min Read

Know Your Risk with Steve Sears of Stratifi

San Francisco, April 1, 2019 – Steven M. Sears, StratiFi Technologies’ Chief Investment Officer, spoke at the MartinKronicle show, with Michael Martin.
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| 1 Min Read

Michael Drumm Joins StratiFi Technologies Inc. As Director of Sales

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| 1 Min Read

Steven M. Sears To Speak At The CBOE Risk Management Conference

San Francisco, March 6, 2019 – Steven M. Sears, StratiFi Technologies’ chief investment officer, will be speaking at the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s Risk Management ...
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| 1 Min Read

StratiFi Participates At Charles Schwab Event for Financial Planners and Compliance Officers

San Francisco, February 14, 2019 – StratiFi Technologies Inc. announced today that it is a premier sponsor of a Charles Schwab conference, Regulatory Hot Topics: Preparing for ...
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| 1 Min Read

Stocks, Bonds and Other Diversification Pairings at Risk: Steven Sears

In an essay for AdvisorHub, StratiFi’s Chief Investment Officer Steven M. Sears has alerted investors to the risk that rising inflation has on traditional portfolio allocations.
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| 2 Min Read

StratiFi Technologies will be participating in “The Asset / WealthTech Advisory”

San Francisco – January 9, 2018 – StratiFi Technologies Inc. will be participating in The Asset / WealthTech Advisory Collaboration on January 29 organized by Plug & Play and ...
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| | 0 Min Read

Steven M. Sears: “The Behavior in the Market is not Normal”

Steven M. Sears, StratiFi Technologies’ chief investment officer, was recently interviewed by TD Ameritrade for his views on the stock and options market, and economy. He raised ...
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| 5 Min Read

Wealth Exposed – Why Advisors Need to Take the Lead in Risk Management

The sudden return of market volatility this year should be a reminder of the critical role financial advisors play in helping clients to protect their assets. However, as advisors ...
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| 4 Min Read

Why Risk Considerations in a Relentless Bull Market

Bull markets do not die from old age, but they often succumb to events or changed perceptions. Right now, a litany of issues exist that could roil the market’s historic nine-year ...
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| 2 Min Read

StratiFi and Omni Global Partner To Empower Advisors With Risk Management Technology

San Francisco, October 2, 2018 – StratiFi Technologies Inc. announced today a partnership with Omni Global Group Ltd.
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| 2 Min Read

StratiFi Wins Award For Best Risk Tolerance / Client Profiling Technology

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| 6 Min Read

Escape the High-Net-Worth Client Trap To Build a Successful Business

The top 1% of Americans now control over one-third of the nation’s total investable assets. These high-net-worth (HNW) investors are the proverbial golden geese sought by many ...
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| 4 Min Read

The Unfaithful Client

Your client is worth $25 million, yet you only manage a small portion of that total. Sound familiar? The issue of clients with accounts spread across multiple advisory firms often ...
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| 4 Min Read

A New Era for Cash Management

Interest rates are rising. If your clients are asking how you’re moving to protect their capital, you’re not alone. Global money market funds saw the largest inflows of any ...
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| 1 Min Read

StratiFi’s Akhil Lodha To Speak At MoneyShow

San Francisco, August 20, 2018 – StratiFi Technologies Inc. announced that Akhil Lodha will speak at The MoneyShow, a major investment conference.
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| 8 Min Read

Three Immediate Risks to Your Firm and How to Manage Them

If you follow financial industry trades or perhaps just skim the headlines, you know the term “risk” is omnipresent. It’s not surprising given the entire investment world is ...
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| 2 Min Read

StratiFi Announces Occam To Advance Investor Education, Risk-Adjusted Investing

San Francisco, August 15th – StratiFi Technologies, which is democratizing risk management to help everyone make better financial decisions, announced the launch of Occam, a ...
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| 2 Min Read

StratiFi’s Steve Sears Analyzes Tech Sector For TD Ameritrade

San Francisco, August 7 2018 – StratiFi Technologies’ announced that Steven M. Sears, the company’s chief market strategist, recently appeared on the TD Ameritrade Network to ...
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| 3 Min Read

Avoid The Overconfidence Trap: Conduct Your Own Stress Test

When Willie Sutton, a famous bank robber, was asked why he robbed banks, he answered because that’s where the money is. And so it is with the stock market. Most people invest ...
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| 3 Min Read

How to Make $1 million on Wall Street

Everyone wants to make money in the stock market so we’re going to let you in on a secret. The way to make $1 million on Wall Street is to start with $2 million. If you’ve been ...
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| 4 Min Read

Build Trust and Be Indispensable To Your Clients

Do your clients trust you? Do they think you are indispensable or an easily replaced commodity? We’re asking those questions in a spirit of helpfulness.
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| 3 Min Read

Finding Serenity In a Noisy Market

We live in an era when investors have more information readily available than the world’s most accomplished investors ever imagined just 50, or even 100 years ago. Still, many ...
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| 4 Min Read

Is Amazon.com Eating Your Client’s Business?

At a recent Barron’s conferences for the nation’s top advisors, we were surprised by a recurring topic: Amazon.com. Everywhere we turned, someone was discussing how Amazon.com was ...
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| 2 Min Read

The Sweetest Risk Factors Leave The Bitterest Aftertastes

Of all the risk factors that confront investors, concentrated-stock risk is perhaps the sweetest.
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