By Barron's Advisor Staff
Vanguard's latest retirement report shows more Americans have been dipping into their retirement savings, and about half of them have done so multiple times. The most common reason to take a hardship withdrawal was to avoid home foreclosure, according to Vanguard. Other top reasons were to pay medical bills, tuition expenses, and home repairs. At the same time, a bull market for stocks over the past four years has boosted balances in retirement accounts.
Among other most-read wealth management articles this week:
Training is cheaper than recruiting . For independent wealth management firms, growth through acquisitions is a great way to add advisor talent. But it is expensive -- as is luring experienced advisors from competitors. Another option is investing in training programs, which more RIAs are doing. According to a recent survey from Charles Schwab, over half of advisory firms now have a documented process for training and development. Good programs help keep young advisors in a profession where failure rates are notoriously high.
Serving SpaceX's new millionaires . SpaceX just went public and Anthropic and OpenAI are gearing up. Initial public offerings can make employees rich. We cover how advisors can help employees of companies that go public navigate tax, estate-planning, and diversification issues. It is helpful to start planning well ahead of the IPO date, but even without that, determining tax strategies before clients exercise stock options is paramount.
Ponzi scheme funds snowmobiles? A Wisconsin man who operated as an unregistered financial advisor has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering in a long-running Ponzi scheme that defrauded nearly 200 investors out of more than $14 million. Stanley Pophal, 64, portrayed himself as a wealthy businessman and offered investors access to promissory notes with purported guaranteed annual rates of return of at least 20%. He used investors' money to fund a variety of personal expenses, including hundreds of snowmobiles stored in a rented warehouse.
AI-armed clients second-guess advisors . Financial advisors can now expect many clients to come to meetings prepared with advice from AI chatbots. For this week's Barron's Advisor Big Q, we asked a panel of advisors what they say to clients who have turned to AI for financial advice. While it might be natural to react defensively, smart advisors say they welcome the opportunity to provide more specialized solutions because the advice from chatbots is often wrong. They also say they are happy for clients to educate themselves about financial matters.
Coinbase to launch AI investment advisor . Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase wants to become customers' AI financial advisor and stock trading platform. This month, the company announced plans to launch a no-fee, AI-powered investment advisor, and it is also enabling customers to use their own AI agents to trade securities on its platform. Coinbase is striving to serve more financial needs of its customers, a strategy that may help diversify its sources of revenue.
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June 20, 2026 10:58 ET (14:58 GMT)
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