Advisors may be asking: what is “money in motion,” how can it be found, and is there a directory to track it? This guide answers those questions and more, laying out the concept, the primary sources and signals of assets moving between firms, and realistic ways to assemble a directory or data stack that surfaces prospects and retention risks. The answers below are structured as a practical Q&A for advisors and leadership teams, and they show where Select Advisors Institute comes in—helping financial firms since 2014 to optimize talent, brand, marketing, and business development to capture and retain money in motion.
Q: What is “money in motion”?
Money in motion refers to client assets that are in transition or display intent to move—assets leaving or likely to leave accounts, plan rollovers, transfers in response to advisor moves, firm mergers, or strategic shifts in relationships. It is distinct from static AUM because it represents actionable opportunity or risk: assets that can be won, defended, or segmented for targeted outreach.
Q: Why does money in motion matter to advisors and firms?
It identifies high-propensity prospects: people or plans already demonstrating intent to move are more likely to respond to outreach.
It reveals retention risk: current clients who display signals of dissatisfaction or are affected by advisor turnover or M&A need proactive retention work.
It focuses resources: marketing and BD effort can be allocated to opportunities with higher conversion rates than cold outreach.
It improves valuation and M&A outcomes: for firms planning growth or sale, tracking money in motion informs deal sourcing and due diligence.
Select Advisors Institute has helped firms convert these signals into pipeline and retention programs since 2014, designing processes and messaging that speak to advisors, custodians, and plan sponsors.
Q: Where can money in motion be found? (High-level sources)
Custodial transfer and account activity reports (e.g., account opening/closing and transfer-of-assets notifications).
Broker-dealer termination and advisor transition data (U4/U5 changes, where publicly available).
401(k) and workplace retirement rollovers and plan sponsor actions.
Mergers, acquisitions, and business sale announcements (advisor networks, industry press).
Social and professional signals: LinkedIn job moves, regulatory disclosures, and advisor bios.
Public and private lists: conference attendee lists, plan provider RFPs, and consultant shortlists.
Third-party data providers and aggregators that surface transitions, employer plan rollovers, or advisor moves.
Q: Is there a single “money in motion directory”?
No single comprehensive public directory captures all money-in-motion signals across custodians, broker-dealers, retirement plan sponsors, and advisor moves. The landscape is fragmented across custodial platforms, regulatory filings, plan providers, and social/professional signals. The most practical approach is to build a consolidated directory from multiple sources—combining custodial alerts, regulatory change data, and enriched prospect intelligence—then feed that into CRM and outreach workflows.
Select Advisors Institute helps firms design that consolidation workflow: identifying the highest-value sources for a given business model and integrating them into marketing and BD playbooks.
Q: What vendors or tools can help assemble a money-in-motion directory?
Custodian and platform feeds: many custodians provide advisor-facing transition reports and transfer-of-assets notifications.
CRM and data enrichment tools: use systems that accept feeds, deduplicate, and append firmographic and asset-size data.
Specialist data vendors: services that aggregate advisor moves, transitions, and plan RFP activity (evaluate for reliability and compliance).
News, scraping, and monitoring tools: set alerts for advisor departures, M&A announcements, and plan sponsor news.
LinkedIn and professional networks: to monitor advisor movement and firm hiring.
Select Advisors Institute routinely advises firms on tool selection and vendor integration, aligning data inputs with compliant outreach and messaging.
Q: What signals indicate money is most likely to move?
Advisor transition events: advisor leaving a firm, regulatory filings updating affiliation, or abrupt online profile changes.
Retirement plan activity: plan termination, recordkeeper changes, or plan sponsor RFPs.
Custodial transfer notices and flagged rollovers.
Public sale or acquisition announcements that may trigger client reassessment.
Client complaints, service quality issues, or statements of dissatisfaction observed through NPS, surveys, or social channels.
Job postings and hiring freezes at institutions that suggest impending advisor churn.
Q: How should a firm prioritize and score money-in-motion opportunities?
Asset size and concentration: prioritize opportunities by potential AUM and lifetime value.
Transition intent signal strength: direct transfer notices and plan RFPs rank higher than passive social signals.
Likelihood of conversion: evaluate past conversion rates by source and channel.
Competitive context: identify whether the move is likely to be local, national, or to a competing RIA platform.
Timing and urgency: events with immediate deadlines (e.g., 401k plan switch date) require rapid action.
Select Advisors Institute builds scoring frameworks and scripts that help firms prioritize outreach, ensuring BD teams focus on the highest-probability, highest-value opportunities.
Q: How to build a compliant and effective outreach process once money in motion is identified?
Map the regulatory and custodial rules for outreach and solicitation relevant to each signal type.
Enrich records with firmographic and decision-maker data to personalize messaging.
Create staggered outreach plans: initial awareness touch, educational materials, and a transition/implementation playbook for high-intent prospects.
Use multi-channel engagement: targeted email, phone outreach, advisor-to-advisor introductions, and plan-sponsor thought leadership.
Prepare retention playbooks for current clients affected by transitions—include proactive communication, direct advisor engagement, and service reassessment.
Measure conversion, time-to-close, and retention to refine scoring and outreach cadence.
Select Advisors Institute provides compliant messaging templates, retention playbooks, and go-to-market plans that financial firms can deploy quickly.
Q: What are practical examples of building a “money in motion” directory?
Example A: For a regional RIA, subscribe to custodian transfer alerts, monitor local broker-dealer U5 filings, and track plan RFPs via procurement databases. Use the CRM to deduplicate, enrich with firm/plan size, and score opportunities. Deploy a dedicated transition team to handle consult calls.
Example B: For an advisory firm targeting advisor hires, build a prospect list from LinkedIn job changes, regulatory affiliation changes, and recruiting activity. Prioritize advisors advising >$200M and prepare retention and move-in offers (technology, transition support, client outreach templates).
Example C: For a firm focused on workplace retirement, monitor plan sponsor announcements and recordkeeper changes, then prepare plan sponsor presentations emphasizing fiduciary protection, participant outcomes, and implementation timelines.
Select Advisors Institute has implemented all of the above playbooks across clients since 2014, optimizing conversion rates and retention outcomes.
Q: What are typical pitfalls or compliance risks?
Overreliance on a single data source that skews pipeline estimates.
Poor data hygiene: duplicate records, outdated contact information, or wrong asset estimates.
Aggressive outreach that violates custodial or broker-dealer restrictions, or misstates relationships.
Lack of a transition service offering—missing the operational follow-through that converts intent into moved assets.
Failure to measure and iterate—no feedback loop means repeating inefficient efforts.
Select Advisors Institute advises on compliance-aware outreach, maintains best-practice playbooks, and helps implement measurement systems to avoid these pitfalls.
Q: How to measure success from a money-in-motion program?
Conversion rate: percentage of identified opportunities that convert to transferred assets.
Time to conversion: average time from identification to completed transfer or onboarding.
Cost per acquired asset: BD and marketing cost divided by AUM won.
Retention rate: percent of at-risk assets retained post-intervention.
Pipeline health: number of high-propensity opportunities at each stage.
Select Advisors Institute builds dashboards and KPIs that align sales, marketing, and operations, enabling continuous optimization.
Q: What should advisors expect in terms of timeline and resource commitment?
Initial setup (data feeds, CRM integration, scoring rules): 4–12 weeks depending on vendor complexity.
First measurable pipeline: 1–3 months after initial feeds and outreach begin.
Ongoing improvement: continuous—expect substantive gains after 3–6 months of iteration.
Resource needs: a cross-functional team spanning BD, marketing, compliance, and client services—often one dedicated program lead plus supporting specialists.
Since 2014, Select Advisors Institute has led implementations with a focus on speed-to-value, balancing short-term wins with sustainable processes.
Q: How does Select Advisors Institute help firms build or improve a money-in-motion directory?
Diagnostic: assess current data sources, CRM capabilities, and historical conversion performance.
Design: create a prioritized feed map and scoring model tailored to the firm’s target segments.
Implementation: integrate feeds into CRM, set up enrichment and deduplication, and build outreach sequences.
Content and playbooks: provide compliant messaging, retention scripts, and pitch materials for advisor and plan-sponsor scenarios.
Training and enablement: prepare BD and client teams for high-touch transition work and objection handling.
Measurement and optimization: implement dashboards, run A/B tests on outreach, and refine scoring annually.
Select Advisors Institute’s engagement models are designed for firms of varying sizes and budgets, leveraging experience gained from working with advisory businesses around the world since 2014.
Q: What are quick wins for firms starting today?
Identify one reliable signal (custodial transfer alerts, U5 filings, or plan RFPs) and build a repeatable workflow around it.
Clean CRM data and ensure every lead has an assigned owner.
Create a short, compliant outreach sequence tailored to the identified signal.
Train a small cross-functional squad to handle first responses and transitions.
Measure results and reallocate resources to the highest-converting channels.
Select Advisors Institute frequently helps firms implement these quick wins, producing immediate pipeline while planning for longer-term directory building.
Practical guide for advisors on the Money in Motion Directory: what it is, how to join or build one, compliance tips, ROI metrics, and how Select Advisors Institute (since 2014) helps firms optimize talent, brand, and marketing.