Double or nothing.

Advisors grow their business through referral programs that give them access to prospective clients who can bring significant assets to their firms. The programs can be especially pivotal for smaller RIAs. However, Charles Schwab recently raised the entry point for its Schwab Advisor Network, literally doubling it to $500 million. While it was unwelcome news for many advisors hoping to get in, some advisors said the move was inevitable, and will force firms to focus on growing organically.

“It essentially victimizes many of the smaller firms that came to them in good faith,” said securities lawyer Bill Singer. “But those victims were frankly foolish because they knowingly flew into the fly paper.”

Get with the Program

The number of participating firms in SAN is not fixed and depends on Schwab’s retail clients’ needs, a spokesperson said in an email. Participation typically ranges from 100 to 150 RIAs, and the higher AUM minimum has not affected that number or the firms already in the program. This isn’t the only change to SAN, though:

• Schwab is also raising the client asset minimum to $2 million, up from $500,000 starting in 2026.
• RIAs pay ongoing asset-based fees, which Schwab increased 5% earlier this year, ranging from about 26 basis points on the first $2 million to 10.5 basis points above $10 million.

Some see Schwab’s move as just making official what was already standard. “Raising the minimum was making explicit a screen they have always had in place, which is to find large, well established firms that are not going to disappear,” said George Chang, founder of Pillar Point Wealth Management.

Little Chuck. The changes could be a way to keep more mass-affluent clients in-house. “It’s an interesting development because either it’s going to engineer all these little guys out of business, or it’s going to create an opportunity for the next young Charles Schwab out there to create a firm that will cater to these RIAs,” Singer told Advisor Upside.

The benefits of social media are evident: It can help bring in new clients and teach basic financial concepts. But all that glitters is not gold.

As more Americans turn to social media for financial advice, the risks of overreliance become increasingly apparent. Investment content shared online may be inaccurate, misleading or biased, according to a recent FINRA report, and so-called “finfluencers” often lack formal financial training. The agency issued a request for public comment earlier this month on how social media impacts investing, with input accepted through early May. Without clear disclosures of conflicts of interest, clients might make decisions based on incomplete or unreliable information, and advisors should get in early to push back against bad advice, experts said.

“We get contacted by the families we serve somewhat often [with] conversation starting out, ‘I saw this on Tiktok, on Instagram. What do you think?’” said Larry Sprung, founder and an advisor with Mitlin Financial. “A lot of times, it’s inaccurate and really not relevant to their situation.”

The Influencer Effect

Social media’s wide reach means that a broader range of voices — from individual creators to users on community forums — can share investment ideas and advice. While this accessibility can improve financial literacy and encourage greater participation, clients who depend too heavily on online sentiment may be led astray, experts said. One increasingly common, and worrisome, trend is that of insurance salespeople encouraging viewers to abandon their retirement accounts in favor of index universal life policies, investment vehicles that give buyers market-like returns inside o an insurance policy. “They’re putting out content talking about how nobody should have a 401(k) account, [that] they should be investing in index universal life policies,” Sprung said. “Which is kind of crazy.” There is also a lot of messaging around allocating more to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, Sprung added.

Most of the time, however, finfluencers don’t fall under FINRA regulatory supervision. If someone is only licensed for insurance sales, for example, they don’t have to register with the agency. “There are plenty of people out there who call themselves financial advisors, but they really have no credentials,” Sprung said. “I think it’s problematic for the public.”

According to a separate FINRA report from October:

• Investors who rely on social media for financial advice had a much higher likelihood (72%) of taking on risky investments.
• Crypto (65%) and meme stock (77%) investors had a higher willingness to take risks.

A Friendlier Feed. One way to combat misinformation is to flood the zone with accurate content, said Falcon Wealth Planning founder Gabriel Shahin, who makes financial advice videos for YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram. “I have a team of eight people that help me do this, where I just show up [and] record,” Shahin said. “There’s some people out there getting hundreds of their clients from YouTube on an annual basis. It’s credibility, and brand.”

Santa’s sleigh may be packed, but the elves in the air traffic control tower are calling for turbulence.

The so-called Santa Claus rally begins tomorrow and has been linked to a surge in stock prices during the last five trading days of December and the first two in January. For investors, it has literally been the gift that keeps on giving. Since 1969, the S&P 500 gained an average of 1.2% during this seven-day window, according to Forbes. But, many financial advisors are channeling vibes more akin to Ebenezer Scrooge than Buddy the Elf. More than 4 in 10 advisors expect a less healthy economy on the horizon, the highest reading all year, according to the latest WMIQ Advisor Sentiment Index. Bah, humbug!

You Sit on a Throne of Lies

Following a peak in optimism in June, advisor sentiment regarding the US economy has trended steadily downward, and dropped for a fifth consecutive month, according to the data. The Mag 7 is taking most of the blame, with advisors saying sky-high valuations and a market over-concentration in Big Tech are setting the stage for a massive market hangover in the new year. (Some even used the “B-word.”)

The report also found:

• Advisors with a positive economic outlook hit a high of 63% in April, but have since plummeted to their lowest levels in twelve months.
• The 42% of advisors who expect the economy to be less healthy by the end of next year doubled from 21% in June.

Ho, Ho, Hold on a Sec. To be fair, the holiday spirit hasn’t dried up completely. There were still 44% of advisors who expect the economy to improve, and another significant portion who were just meh. Current advisor economic sentiment is very neutral, sitting at a reading of 101, where 100 represents the median between a positive outlook and a negative one. However, that gauge slipped 5% last month and is down 16% compared to this time last year.

It seems what financial advisors really want for Christmas is a little market diversification.