By Kenneth Corbin

Rich Steinmeier doesn't want to think of LPL Financial as just an independent broker-dealer. Now six months into his stint as LPL's CEO, Steinmeier says his firm wants to compete with the likes of Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Charles Schwab. Steinmeier took over the top spot at LPL after the sudden ouster of Dan Arnold, and he describes a smooth transition, though he acknowledges that it has taken some acclimation.

Among other most-read wealth management articles this week:

      Robinhood launching low-cost robo-advisor.   Robinhood is moving past its free trading app and rolling out a managed robo-advisor offering. Robinhood Strategies will charge an annual management fee of 0.25% of assets, well below the common rate of 1% among full-service wealth managers. Robinhood says it will cap the annual fee at $250. The new service aims to disrupt the traditional advisor fee model, which Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev derides as a good deal for the wealth managers, but not so much for investors. "With Robinhood Strategies, we are changing this," he says. 

U.S. stocks lagging behind Canada, Mexico. If the stock market counts in determining who is winning the new trade wars, Canada and Mexico are out to an early lead. Comparable tracking indexes show U.S. stocks down 2% so far this year, while Canadian stocks are up more than 3%, and Mexican equities are trading around 13% higher. Investors don't seem to be too worried about the impact of tariffs on the Canadian and Mexican markets, though more market-specific dynamics are in play as well.

Fidelity, Schwab bar outside ETFs. Fidelity and Charles Schwab have expanded their prohibition on third-party money-market mutual funds to include outside money-market exchange-traded funds. Both firms say the policy changes, enacted earlier this year, are a natural extension of their existing rules on third-party funds. Fidelity and Schwab both offer proprietary money-market funds, along with a menu of other cash-management products. The policy change affects two BlackRock ETFs and one from Texas Capital.

How to play Europe. U.S. stocks collectively look like a laggard compared with their European counterparts, which have lately been buoyed in part because of anticipated increases in military spending to defend Ukraine. We asked top advisors whether they are looking to increase allocations to European equities, which have been faring far better than the U.S. S&P 500 so far this year. Some advisors are looking more closely at opportunities in Europe, moving from underweight toward full weight and considering going overweight. At least one expert remains cautious, however, and sees the recent run-up in international stocks as a product of year-end rebalancing.

Don't overlook the client associates. So much emphasis in the wealth management sector is placed on front-line brokers and advisors that a firm's client-service associates can be seen as an afterthought. They are an overlooked talent pool, our guest columnist writes. CSAs, who are responsible for tasks such as scheduling, continuing customer support, and other assorted tasks that keep the practice running smoothly, often are relegated to the back office, giving them little recognition or opportunities for growth. That misses an important opportunity to develop those professionals into relationship managers or even full-fledged advisors, our columnist argues.

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March 28, 2025 13:54 ET (17:54 GMT)

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