Happening at Fusion

Feature – Q & A with Tim Bello      We’re excited to introduce our newest feature, Fusion Insights, that will be an interview with one of the foremost experts or leaders in the investment advisory industry on real-time, relevant topics. This month, we’re proud to feature Tim Bello, Managing Partner of Merchant Investment Management

When you’re planning a journey of any kind, you always begin with the end in mind. Everything you plan—the route, stops, timeline—stems from you saying, “I want to go to the beach” or wherever you want to be. Think of your firm’s vision statement as the “destination” for your journey of starting an RIA. It’s

Running a business is stressful, especially for RIAs. Building and maintaining a client book, getting through the mountains of paperwork to register with the proper authorities, keeping an eye on marketing, compliance, client portfolios, and so on and so on. It’s enough to wear you out.  Wouldn’t it be great if you had a partner

Starting your own RIA is like taking a long journey. You begin with the destination in mind—independence, control, no more splitting revenue with your parent firm. The journey is worth it, and you’re ready to jump in the car and go.  But how do you get there? How long will it take? What obstacles should

Marketing can be complex and intimidating. If you’re like most advisors, you either steer clear of marketing completely or you have a couple things you do when you have the time and energy (which isn’t often).  With the advent of the internet, marketing is a continually evolving toolbox of growth strategies that vary wildly in

The Information Technology department in any company operates within a strange dynamic. If they’re doing their job right, nobody thinks about them. But when something tech-y goes wrong, everybody blames them first (and depends on them to fix everything). When it comes to building your I.T. department at your RIA, you have three options: Hire

An RIA’s tech stack can be broken down into five categories, each with three subcategories: The Big 3 Investment Tools Portfolio Management Communications Firm Operations Today, we want to go through all five categories to look at how to decide what makes sense for you. This is not a roundup of all of the solutions

When you’re launching an RIA, you need an advocate.  A lot of advisors think they can launch an RIA on their own by just talking to someone they know who has done it before, or just powering their way through the process and devoting themselves to learning the ins and outs every step of the

The signals sometimes seem conflicting. The advisor population is aging, with little new blood to replace it—the average advisor is in their mid-50s, and industry conferences are dominated by grey-haired professionals. It seems like, at least on paper, it would be a buyer’s market out there, favoring advisors who are looking to acquire or merge