To maintain momentum, many RIAs say they're making the move to add staff to help sustain this growth. Nine in 10 advisors report that their total number of clients has increased or remained steady over the past year. Of those firms looking to hire, 25% said that they will look to hire a female advisor to attract and retain female investors.
Also of note: Nearly 80% of advisors have experienced no turnover in their offices in the past year.
Hiring and firing staff led the list of top human resources challenges advisors say they face today, while developing and training staff also ranked high. Compared with 2011, more advisors report increased spending on human capital efforts, including professional development (43%), staffing (40%), and salaries and bonuses (50%).
"Adding staff is a very important process for each advisor," said George Tamer, director, strategic relationships, TD Ameritrade Institutional. "The survey mirrors what we've been hearing from advisors, who say successfully cultivating new staff in an advisor's business can be a difficult task, but in the end, it is essential for growth."
The survey was conducted by St. Louis-based Maritz Inc. on behalf of TD Ameritrade Institutional, a division of TD Ameritrade Inc. Maritz interviewed 502 RIAs in a telephone survey from March 29 to April 9.
Hedge Funds Trail 'Old' 60-40 Formula
(Bloomberg News) Before they discovered hedge funds, pension funds and endowments typically held portfolios with 60% in equities and 40% in bonds. Many would be better off if they had stuck with the old formula.
Hedge funds have trailed both the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and a Vanguard index fund with the same 60/40 mix over the past five years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The balanced fund beat the main Bloomberg hedge-fund index in six of the last seven calendar years.
The hedge fund industry's underperformance has contributed to an estimated $4 trillion in unfunded liabilities at U.S. pensions and prompted investors such as the California Public Employees' Retirement System to question whether every manager is worth the standard fees of 2% of assets and 20% of profits.
Calpers isn't alone in that thought. David Swensen, the chief investment officer of Yale University's $19.4 billion endowment, said the fees charged by hedge funds are a drag on their returns. Swensen, speaking at a Bloomberg conference in January, said that hedge funds' fees "are a huge issue," and unmerited unless there is extraordinary performance.