MarketCounsel’s Summit, held earlier this week in Miami, lived up to its reputation as the “all-star game” of financial advisor conferences, attracting top-level executives from throughout the investment industry. Here are three highlights from Tuesday’s sessions.

In the U.S., between one quarter and one third of all assets managed are done so with an ESG or SRI mandate. Outside the U.S., that percentage is even higher. The Vitium Global Fund, formerly the Vice Fund, buys what most ESG/SRI investors scorn, stocks in the tobacco, alcoholic beverage, gaming and aerospace/defense industries.

Fear among bond investors is focused on rising rates, but Jeffrey Gundlach says you should worry about something more sinister. In his webcast yesterday, he also offered his updated 2020 presidential election prediction.

U.S. stocks are “fairly valued,” according to Jeremy Siegel. But in our annual interview, he also warns of two major risks to the economy and to investors.

American history teaches that we can rise above our deep political divide, according to Nicholas Burns. The U.S. rose to independence based on the “power of ideas,” he said. Lincoln put the country together after a divide far deeper than what we face today, and FDR led the country to victory in its most difficult war. Those challenges were infinitely more difficult than what we face now, Burns said.

News from the last 48 hours had a significant impact on the chances President Trump will be reelected, according to Greg Valliere. Moreover, although Valliere doesn’t expect the impeachment proceedings to end in Trump’s conviction, there are two scenarios that could change that outcome.

For most of the last 20 years, advisors could safely ignore inflation and the risks it poses to their clients’ fixed-income holdings and earning power. But inflation is too dangerous a risk to disregard. What are the chances of an upward spike in inflation and what would that mean for clients?

Kim Laughton is president of Schwab Charitable, a national donor-advised fund. In this interview, she discusses how advisors can integrate charitable planning into client discussions and use it as a tool to expand and deepen relationships.

Chris Davis is chairman of Davis Advisors, a firm founded by his father that has followed the same value-investing discipline for its 50-year history. In this interview, Chris discusses the exceptional opportunities he is finding among the financial stocks, how financial advisors can add the greatest value and the biggest changes he has seen over his career.

The First Eagle Global Fund (SGENX) reflects the teachings of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett. In this interview, the three managers of the fund discuss a number of topics, including why they hold a large position in gold, why the market will favor value investors on a long-term basis and their views of ESG investing in the context of the companies they own.

The U.S. economy is in a “good place” and the baseline outlook is “favorable,” according to Richard Clarida. To further allay fears, he called the much-discussed September 17 action by the Fed in the repo market a “technical, central bank 101 operation, not to be conflated with large-scale QE operations.”

Reflecting on his more than six decades as an asset manager, Dan Fuss says that climate change is now the greatest challenge facing society and the markets.

Brian Smedley is head of macroeconomic and investment research at Guggenheim Partners. In this interview, he explains why his team is forecasting a recession in mid-2020 and how advisors should position portfolios in response.

Lon Erickson, CFA, is a portfolio manager and managing director for Thornburg Investment Management and oversees five of its fixed income mutual funds. Erickson says that rates could be as low as 1.1% in the next year, and he explains why a collaborative, bottom-up construction process will benefit advisors and their clients.

When the yield curve inverted earlier this year, Blackstone’s economic model predicted a recession in the next 20 months. But Byron Wien cautioned against relying on that forecast.

A recession would doom President Trump’s reelection chances, according to Robert Shiller. But he said the chance of that happening before next November is less than 50%.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury security was 1.42% on September 3, and it won’t go any lower this year, according to Jeffrey Gundlach. He said he would “absolutely not” buy 10-year bonds.

John Langbein may not be a familiar name to financial advisors, but he has had a significant and lasting impact on our profession. On September 16, he was awarded the Frankel Fiduciary Prize.

If the robos were pitted against a fifth grader, consisting of a 60/40 cap-weighted index portfolio, Jeff Foxworthy would easily give the victory to the 10-year old.

In this interview, Jeffrey Germain and Matthew Johnson of Brandes Investment Management explain why U.S. investors suffer from a “home country bias” and discuss the compelling opportunities outside the U.S.

In this interview, the retired FPA managing partner and portfolio manager expresses his criticism of monetary policies, and how investors should position their portfolios in response.

If the signs of a recession prove true, the Fed will be in panic mode, according to Jeffrey Gundlach. The economy will weaken, rates will go up and the Fed will have to “do something,” to protect against a “spiral” of higher rates feeding and slower growth.

There are many retirement risks, such as: stock market performance, inflation, a volatile regulatory environment, the deterioration of good health, withdrawal timing and the need for long-term care. All have the potential to wreak havoc on retirement savings, but one risk could be more significant than the rest, Longevity.

A barrier to ESG and SRI adoption is the one-size-fits-all approach inherent in mutual funds and ETFs. But a new solution allows advisors to create SMAs that are customized based on each of your clients’ values, needs and preferences.

We’d all like our investments to make a positive contribution to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. But, as predicted by economic theory, ESG funds have suffered a performance deficit over a long time horizon.

Advisor Perspectives will be the exclusive marketing agent for Investments Illustrated’s products, the Big Picture © Chart and App. Advisor Perspectives will offer these products to its audience of nearly a half million professionals in the financial advisory industry.

A high-performing employee with low trust is a “toxic” team member, according to Simon Sinek. You are better off with someone who inspires high trust, even if they are just a mediocre performer. The challenge is helping those who lack it build the trust they need to succeed.

Technical analysis is built on the idea that markets and securities are actionable through analysis of historical trends. No firm has been as dominant and successful in the field of technical analysis that Dorsey Wright, the 30-year old Virginia-based firm that is now part of Nasdaq.

Although polls show Joe Biden leading his nearest competitor by more than 15 percentage points, Jeffrey Gundlach says he will not be the Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential election.

A white label approach streamlines the ETF launching process, by using filings and approvals that are already in place with the SEC

After the tumult of Q4 2018, investors deserved an easy quarter, and they got it. The Q4 trends of falling rates and rising economic concerns continued. But risk assets, like stocks and non-government fixed income spread products, pulled out of their nose dives with strong performances in Q1 2019. As we look ahead to the remainder of this year, what should bond investors expect?

If there is one asset class where advisors have taken a do-it-yourself approach, it is municipal bonds. Advisors and their clients often buy individual muni bonds and hold them until maturity. But the muni market is very broad, diverse and complex – and those are the ingredients that favor professional management.

Recessionary fears have subsided and all signs are that the global economy has stabilized, albeit at a less-than-desired growth rate. But risks abound – tariffs on Chinese goods that could trigger a trade war, Brexit negotiations, rising oil prices and a possible Fed rate hike.

Ever since the growth of robo advisors began to accelerate nearly a decade ago, the dominant trend facing advisors has been the commoditization of investment advice. With the proliferation of high-quality, low-cost investment solutions, advisors have increasingly outsourced their investing, freeing up valuable resources to help clients in other ways. But that doesn’t mean that all outsourced solutions are created equal or that advisors cannot add value through the investment choices that are made on behalf of their clients. Here’s what advisors need to know when choosing an outsourcing solution.

The most successful advisory firms are building their technology framework around their optimal client and the experience they want to deliver to that client. What’s most important when designing an experience is considering how it adds value to the advisor-client relationship.

Value investors have fared poorly over the last decade, as traditional value indices have trailed their corresponding growth counterparts. But that doesn’t mean that all value funds have done poorly. Indeed, one notable exception has been the Matthews Asia Value Fund (MAVRX).

With equity valuations at elevated levels, subdued economic growth due to changing demographics and stubbornly low productivity gains, as well as a bleak outlook for fixed income, advisors are challenged to rethink foundational portfolio elements of investor portfolios—which means seeking out strategies that bolster the core going forward.

There are three legs to the retirement problem: determining an appropriate savings and spending plan, having the right amount of insurance, and constructing an appropriate portfolio. Achieving those three goals and smoothing consumption, especially during the critical period just before and after retirement, is a complex and computationally intensive undertaking.

• American investors are confronted by accelerating complexity, sub-par returns and minimal coordination between their assets, investment strategies and underlying liabilities. When one considers that millions of investors struggle with the same challenges, you realize that America’s multi-trillion-dollar personal savings market is plagued by systemic inefficiency.

Nearly two million financial plans were created in the last year using MoneyGuidePro. The two individuals who are charged with overseeing the success of the acquisition of PIETech, the parent company of MoneyGuide Pro, discuss what that means for their clients.

As advisors have expanded their suite of financial planning services and sought new ways to add value to their client relationships, they have also committed to solutions to streamline their investment management. One of those solutions is a model portfolio, which consist of allocations to a group of mutual funds that meet the goals and risk tolerances of their clients.

A collapse in the corporate bond market could rival the sub-prime debacle a decade ago, according to Jeffrey Gundlach.

While there are many ways to gain individual exposure to the value, size, quality, momentum and low volatility factors, multifactor strategies combine exposure to all of them. Choosing the right one for client portfolios is incredibly difficult.

• The traditional role of asset managers has been limited to investment management, which is understandable considering the challenge of consistently delivering superior returns. While many asset managers provide resources and education to advisors, rarely do they make that part of their core mission.

Since its inception in 2003, the Hennessy Japan Fund (HJPIX) has outperformed the TOPIX benchmark by 473 basis points. Masa Takeda, the fund’s manager, explains why valuations in Japan continue to be very attractive.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, many individual investors were left questioning the effectiveness of their investment strategies. While many believed their portfolios were well-diversified, as the financial system faltered, they saw a large portion of their investments decline. Investors have grown weary of fund managers who profess to provide excess returns, while gains they realize are diminished by fees. Investors are more keenly focused on portfolio risk and efficient, cost-effective implementation. So given this heightened focus, how can advisors help investors work toward their goals efficiently and effectively?

VSL uses a volatility-driven, short-term capital appreciation model. Dom Catrambone explains how that has made VSL the top performing large-cap ETF in 2019 year-to-date.

It will soon be possible for guests at Marriott hotels in China to bypass lines at the registration desk and check in at a kiosk using facial recognition. Halfway across the globe, Marriott workers are going on strike, seeking higher wages and workplace safety. Artificial intelligence and robotics are at the heart of those highly promising but disruptive innovations. I am speaking today with someone whose index invests in robotics, automation and artificial intelligence companies that are at the heart of those trends.

One billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and this number is likely to grow to nearly 3 billion by 2050. To complicate this problem, 60 percent of the world’s population lives in crowded water basins shared by multiple states — many of whom are failing or are at war with one another. There is a lack of fresh water resources to meet water demand. It affects every continent and was listed in 2015 by the World Economic Forum as the largest global risk in terms of potential impact over the next decade. My guest today invests in solutions to this looming global water crisis.

The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College may be “ground zero” for modern monetary theory, but at its annual conference last week the focus was on financial regulation.