Divorce

Falling oil prices can be a double-edged sword in terms of economic impact: welcomed by consumers, but not by producers. Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity’s Bassel Khatoun shares his thoughts on the impact of lower oil prices on emerging market economies and some considerations for investors

Note: This commentary has been updated with the latest numbers from Friday's Employment Report. Consider: Today nearly one in three of the 65-69 cohort and one in five of the 70-74 cohort are in the labor force.

Future-oriented planning serves a purpose, but it misses the central question: What do your clients want their lives to look like?

Why do good people make bad choices? There are plenty of examples of bad conduct, both in the security industry and by corporate titans.

In recognition of International Women’s Day on 8 March, Cady Johnson shares her perspective on gender equality in the financial services industry.

Sonal Desai, PH.D., is executive vice president and chief investment officer of Franklin Templeton Fixed Income, as well a portfolio manager for a number of strategies. In this interview, she discusses the unique investment strategy she has developed, as well as the key risks – specifically the coronavirus – facing investors.

In recognition of International Women’s Day on 8 March, Candice Stack and David Forgash discuss the internship program PIMCO hosts in partnership with Girls Who Invest.

For a lot of women executives, budgeting requires a big change in behavior.

Margaret Farquharson is a senior director with the Nationwide Funds Group and leads its exchange traded fund business, where she has oversight for all aspects of the business including product development, product management, marketing, distribution, and operations.

Here are two steps to provide female investors with comprehensive financial planning.

In a profession heavily dominated by men, female financial advisors need women to serve as mentors, role models, confidants and champions.

Jan Blakeley Holman is the director of advisor education for Thornburg Investment Management. As a speaker and author, Jan draws on four decades in the business, first as an advisor, then as a financial services industry executive and now as an advisor to advisors. She has unique expertise in working with women clients and often teaches advisors how to speak with women about managing their wealth.

Advisors should help clients over age 50 reduce debt, not just build savings.

Commodities look oversold right now, meaning there could be some potentially attractive buying opportunities. Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, traded below $50 per barrel on Friday for the first time since July 2017, while copper remained mostly range-bound.

Divorce is devastating – emotionally, mentally and physically. But, most importantly, according to a recent study, a huge percentage of women suffered unanticipated financial consequences that could have been mitigated or eliminated with better planning.

After years of working with high-earning female executives, I’ve found that their cash flow management problems are not a matter of not having enough income or wealth. The problem is not knowing where it’s going.

It’s scrappy and humbling, but their phone is the one thing that people will run back into a burning building to retrieve. Bring cold calling back into your 2020 marketing!

Reverse mortgages seem like a great idea for hordes of baby boomers who don’t have enough income to maintain their lifestyles, or – worse – to buy basic necessities when they retire. Although some advisors and academics have demonstrated how reverse mortgages are good wealth management tools for certain clients, a new working paper from the World Bank examines why they haven’t worked to solve inadequate retirement savings and longevity risk.

Whether to purchase long-term care (LTC) insurance is one of the most difficult and consequential decisions a retiree will make. Because of the complexity of the products and the uncertainty of needing care, very few have attempted – as I did below – to provide an objective analysis.

For many advisors, asking clients for referrals remains a messy, uncomfortable situation.

Is there a way to politely ask the male advisors I work with not to make everything a sports metaphor?

Friends of mine who are enduring the crucible of the loss of their spouses tell me that one of the hardest things, along with the grieving process, is the uncertainty surrounding finances.

So far in 2020, the yield on the 10-year Treasury has averaged 0.01 percent when adjusted for inflation. Since the end of January, it’s actually dipped below 0 percent, trading as low as negative 0.14 percent on January 31.

It’s frustrating because our boss thinks what we do is never enough.

Divorces in a couples’ later years can be financially devastating, especially for women where the husband has earned most of the money and made most of the financial decisions. Let’s look at some of the most valuable ways advisors can help.

Friday’s jobs report, as well as other recent labor market data, has an “on the one hand; on the other hand” flavor to it.

Learn more about the remarkable lives and contributions of three leading African American economists.

A deep dive into the factors that brought inflation down and are keeping it low.

An apology is a delicate thing. You get one chance, so don’t do it badly and embitter the person further. If you’re going to apologize, then say you’re sorry like you mean it.

Dorothy Hinchcliff has joined Advisor Perspectives as its editor. Previously, Hinchcliff was the executive editor of Financial Advisor magazine, as well as editor of FA online and FA green, where she had worked since 2000.

The benefits of solitude are rarely discussed.

In the decades that I have been listening to politicians clumsily trying to explain the economy there has never been a period, with the possible exception of the early Reagan years, in which major party leaders were able to present a solid grasp of economic principles.

New research confirms that more formal, expensive clothes consistently convey positive images of competency and trustworthiness than a less formal, cheaper wardrobe.

The stories of Sheetz and Wawa and how they shifted the focus of their brands offer a fantastic marketing lesson to every financial advisor.

Only 2% of mutual fund assets are managed by women. One of them is Rupal Bhansali, who also happens to be a woman of color. She offers some insights into the keys to her successful career path, as well as the top contrarian opportunities she sees in the non-U.S. markets.

A strong economy will help U.S. consumers meet their financial resolutions in the new year, while residents of France and Australia have bigger worries.

Navigating between the despotic extreme of authoritarianism and the unbridled liberty of anarchism is the challenge of society in its quest for good government. A new book looks at the choices facing policymakers to achieve the proper balance and to improve the prospects of those countries outside the “narrow corridor” of effective governance that lies between those extremes.

Forget those fears of a global “Population Bomb” and worldwide famine which were made popular several decades ago. While the world’s population is still growing, birth rates in most developed nations are falling, including the United States.

The Ten Surprises of 2019 worked out plenty well. While we don't go through this process with the objective of getting a high score, knowing that you have been able to anticipate some of the generally unexpected events that are going to influence the financial markets during the coming year is gratifying.

What were the top financial news stories of 2019? To answer that question, Frank looks back at his five most visited articles from the year that was.

It has been my tradition to informally rate the investment-related books I read in the past year. I have also included some novels and books of general interest. Here is my list of winners and losers.

A brainstorming session hosted by the CFP Board on December 13 offered a look at how the planning profession will evolve over the next 10 years. Here’s a view of the landscape in 2030 and what it will take to get there.

How do you build a moat around your client base?

There is almost no willingness to face our top problems, specifically our rising debt. The economic challenges we face can’t continue, which is why I expect the Great Reset, a kind of worldwide do-over. It’s not the best choice but we are slowly ruling out all others.

Our office manager is sleeping with one of our principals.

What happened? UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party won yesterday’s election in a landslide, taking 365 seats. With a majority of 80 seats, the Conservatives have their largest majority since 1987. Ultimately, the country wanted to “Get Brexit Done” too.

The current path we are on is unsustainable. The remedies being applied today is akin to using aspirin to treat cancer. Sure, it may make you feel better for the moment, but it isn’t curing the problem.

Brexit and trade talks provided lots of uncertainty this year. Last week saw progress on both fronts.

According to a recent report by the consulting firm Cerulli and Associates, women make up only 16% of financial advisors – and that percentage is fairly consistent across all channels – brokers, banks and independent RIAs. Sheryl Garrett and I explore the issues around diversity and inclusion in the advisory profession. Why are there so few women and minorities in our profession? With an aging population of advisors due to retire in the next decade or two, what will the next generation of leadership among advisors look like? And what can be done to provide better career path options for women and minorities?

Black Friday is around the corner. Will US shoppers head to the mall? Or are malls out of fashion for good? The debate about the retail apocalypse is playing out in a single bond index.

There are more opportunities for female advisors as firms seek to increase diversity. However, hiring should be based on more than filling a gender quota. It should be based on merit, understanding that most women have the same industry knowledge as men.

Let’s look here for a handful of unfair advantages to gain over the competition in 2020. These are things that are not hard to implement, which will help you become more efficient, gain new clients or stand out from your peers.

If you’re an advisor looking to differentiate your practice from others, consider this article to be your first step toward a better understanding of impact investing.

I have been studying ways of fighting major crises around the world for the last 30 years ever since I lived through one of the most devastating economic, social, and political crises in the history of the 20^th century.

In his latest book, Malcolm Gladwell turns to a theme that matters greatly to financial advisors – preventing financial fraud and abuse. It is part of his broader inquiry into how we can avoid placing our trust in the wrong people.

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.

Read Harold Evensky's latest Newsletter.

Few things strike more fear and disbelief into the heart of an employer than learning a trusted employee has embezzled thousands of dollars. Here’s how businesses can protect against such a catastrophic loss.

Approximatley 40% of financial advisors plan to retire within the next 10 years, according to Cerulli and Associates. The CFP Board says that there are more certified financial planners over 70 than under 30. Replacing those professionals will be a challenge for the industry. The advisor profession faces a talent and hiring crisis. My guest today is Kate Healy, who is charged with solving that crisis by opening the RIA career path to fresh faces – including new graduates, career changes, military veterans, and other groups that aren’t traditionally represented in the financial advice field.

As a senior woman in the investment industry, I am consistently appalled at how my male colleagues think nothing of talking about a woman’s physique, “beauty” or personality in my presence.

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.

Many of you read my article about the “70 deep model,” which explained the paradigm for a practice serving 70 or fewer clients with deep, high-touch service that commands a higher price. Here is how to develop those relationships.

Are the latest Brexit and GSE proposals the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?

New research confirms that the impact of what we wear on first impressions is indisputable.

What’s the value of niche marketing? Does it limit you and make you more narrowly focused than you should be?

Time has come for change. Let’s take a hard look at the abolition of silence, the role technology can play, our values and identity as a profession and who we allow to lead us.

In Part II, we explain why Japanese-Korean hostilities have suddenly broken out into the open again and conclude by discussing the implications of the dispute for the countries’ economies and for investors.

Unfortunately, my good news is also bad news for younger Americans, who won’t get nearly as much as my age cohort is collecting. Worse, they could actually see negative real returns despite having paid proportionally more into the system. In investment terms, they are getting screwed.

With $13 trillion of investment grade corporate and government bonds having negative yields, fixed income investors are increasingly looking at higher yielding emerging market debt.

A classic approach to economic theory suggests low GDP growth in the years to come. Why and what to do about it is what this month’s Absolute Return Letter is about. Next month, we’ll look at the impact of advanced robotics – why a rapidly ageing workforce might not be the problem it is often portrayed as. Could robots simply replace humans in the work process?

I'll drill down into who are the world’s wealthiest people, where they live, where they went to school and other characteristics.

Some clients are surprised at how I look at critical financial decisions. But when I reframe them from the conventional way of looking at those decisions, I can get clients to shift longstanding beliefs and make changes.

If you do not want certain family members to contest your post-mortem desires, there are several legal weapons available in your estate’s arsenal.

An industry veteran—and slacker—shares his perspective on reaching and communicating with Generation X clients.

Recent studies show that the returns to equity investors have historically come from a relatively small number of stocks. Investors who fail to adequately diversify increase their chances of failing to own those high-performing stocks, and they are not compensated for the risks they do bear.