Life Events

During the recent Advisor Perspectives Thought Leader Summit, two of the industry’s most respected experts shared their best practices and insights on growing and scaling your business with fintech solutions.

Note: This commentary has been updated with the latest numbers from last 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.

The profession has a diversity and inclusion problem. Look at the speakers pictured on the advertisements for financial planning conferences, and you see white men in business suits with occasional white women.

Want your content to start working harder? Here are three steps to take immediately.

It is scary and overwhelming to address long-term planning. But the lack of planning is disheartening to those left to address a crisis, as was the case with David, an 80-year-old man.

Temporary extra fencing has been erected around the White House, plywood affixed to storefronts in Manhattan and the National Guard put on notice in Portland, Oregon, as U.S. cities braced for possible unrest on election day.

Head of Equities Stephen Dover joined Templeton Global Macro’s Katie Klingensmith and Fiduciary Trust Company International’s Gene Todd for a discussion about what they are keeping an eye on as investors.

Implementing a comprehensive estate plan requires meticulous coordination of the financial, legal, and tax aspects of your client’s life. By asking the right questions and being prepared for issues that may arise, you can take a central role in the planning process and cement yourself as a trusted advisor. Our guide provides the steps you can take to help ensure that all your client’s needs and wishes are being met.

Today I want to look at what will not change. And though I will make a few comments on the election below, I want us to think today about what we can look forward to with an optimistic and realistic vision.

Enjoy Harold Evensky's latest Newsletter.

When clients come to me, 90% of the time they want to be told what to do. They have the will and energy to run at goals but have no idea where to start or how to best get there.

2020 has proven a challenging year for numerous businesses and individuals, Grey Owl Capital Management included. While most domestic stock market indices have fully recovered from the February and March Covid sell-off, many of our accounts are still down slightly on a year-to-date basis through the end of September.

With the economy slowing in September, the battle for a quick rebound may be far from over.

The coronavirus has compressed years of changes into months. It may be the straw that broke an aging, overconfident camel’s back.

As Prime Minister Suga begins his administration, the message is one of continuity, but Abenomics may need a reboot after COVID-19. We examine what Suganomics may mean for Japan.

The Asia Pacific region is likely to see economic output remain below pre-pandemic trends over the medium term, even as China’s recovery leads the rest of the world, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Will the policies of either presidential candidate move us towards a better healthcare system? In this article, I break down the challenges of healthcare reform, the policies of President Trump and former Vice President Biden, and discuss what is needed to get this country on a path of good health and an efficient healthcare system.

Even if this US election has a bigger impact on markets than in the past, we would advise against building an investing strategy based on a potential political outcome for several reasons.

Gender-lens investing is one of the fastest-growing subsets of sustainable or impact investing—and should be of particular interest to you and your clients as you guide them toward their investment goals. Traditionally, gender-lens investing focused on investing in companies with a higher representation of women on their boards or in senior positions. Stopping at representation, however, may not be enough to achieve gender diversity and equality. Here to discuss the full scope of gender-lens investing is Anuradha (“Anu”) Gaggar.

The Dalio Center for Health Justice, a research and advocacy organization, will focus on reducing differences in access to quality health care that overwhelmingly affect communities of color.

I recently did a search of the life and health insurance subsector and came up with 25 names that I considered the highest quality in the overall subsector. All of them carried investment grade credit ratings of BBB+ or better – except for one.

In this episode, Clara tells us how she helped blaze the trail for social media’s marriage to financial services—and why she decided to take a break. Plus, advice for other women in the financial services industry on setting goals and defining success.

Companies with a higher presence of female executives have historically rewarded their equity investors with better performance, the firm says.

Gun sales in the US have gone through the roof in 2020, especially since the widespread protests turned violent last spring in many large cities across the US. Over three million more guns have been sold since March than occurred in the same period a year ago.

In his latest memo, Howard Marks walks readers through the unusual characteristics of this year’s economy; the impact of Covid-related monetary and fiscal policy actions, including low interest rates, on today’s markets; and the possible ramifications of the Fed/Treasury’s rescue efforts. What does it all mean for investors who face an environment marked by some of the lowest prospective returns in history?

Record flows to ESG funds means that advisors will have access to better tools to analyze product effectiveness and will be able to construct customized solutions for their clients.

We compare fixed annuities to other safe investments, such as CDs and Treasury securities, to better understand whether they provide attractive risk-adjusted performance and are a reasonable alternative for risk-averse investors.

The sooner we act, the sooner the power of compound investing can start changing the math for those who are currently destined to miss out on a fair and livable retirement.

In this episode, George Nichols III, President and CEO of The American College, reflects on a life and career full of firsts, looks forward to a future with more women in the wealth management industry, and gets candid on what the industry can do to address racial inequality in America.

Here’s my take on the six worst pandemic clichés that advisors keep using, which are ruining their credibility.

As long-time readers know, I tend to be upbeat about the economy and the stock and bond markets, and that has certainly proven to be the correct position to hold over the last 20-30 years.

Wilmington Trust, the wealth-management arm of M&T Bank Corp., is extending its hiring spree and considering acquisitions of RIAs.

If we do not know how to bounce back from failure or hardship, then we may never achieve the success we seek.

Many of my clients have found success by focusing to serve a particular market or offer specialized services. Here’s why this works.

She is taking a number of steps to position herself more defensively.

Sports betting and financial markets have a lot in common. The wisdom of the crowd is setting prices and the markets are highly efficient, making it difficult to outperform.

U.S. Healthcare Reform Proposals, Childcare Needed to Support Workers, Past U.S. Debt Recovery Won’t Repeat.

As high-tax states like California, New Jersey and New York contemplate spending less or taxing even more, the backlash is growing.

We believe paying taxes is a scenario where kicking the can down the road can actually be a good thing for taxable investors. Here’s why.

They are considering leaving the workforce or scaling back on their career aspirations because of the extra demands created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has changed investor behavior. It has altered the qualities and services investors look for in a financial advisor.

If you don’t know what you would do if you were suddenly affected by a natural or man-made disaster on a local, national or global scale, you don’t have a business continuity plan.

I was recently told, “I love Medicare 101, but I’m ready for a Medicare ‘unhinged’ – the real stuff that advisors should know to the core and not all of the usual stuff we hear.”

Its analysts include a former cancer researcher, artificial intelligence expert, gaming engineer -- even sailboat captain.

You may have seen headlines questioning whether this is the end of the gold rally. Hardly. Corrections are normal and healthy. During the rally of the 2000s that culminated in gold hitting its previous record high of $1,900, there were several significant pullbacks, some of them exceeding 20 percent.

I’ve warned for several years now that our growing global debt load is unpayable and we will eventually “reorganize” it in what I call The Great Reset. I believe this event is still coming, likely later in this decade. Recent developments suggest it will be even bigger than I expected. You could even say I’ve been too optimistic.

It would be correct to say that a number of us have had a little more “alone” time on our hands over the last 6 months and it is also correct to note that the online world provides many chances to waste said time. Which brings me to Mr. T of A-Team fame, who for completely nostalgic and personal family reasons, comes to the fore at particular times with his “I Pity the Fool” meme.

Planning for the care of a developmentally challenged child is, at best, intimidating and, at worst, an enormous emotional and financial drain on parents as they age. But the consequences of not planning are immense, as the story of Steven, a 63-year old single man, illustrates.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg devoted much of her career to advancing women’s rights. Despite her heroic efforts to bridge the gender gap, much work remains to be done.

Brexit takes an uncertain turn, while the Fed seeks loan borrowers and parents welcome adult children back home.

We say it all the time to clients: You never know what could happen, so let us plan for the unexpected. But it is quite different when the unexpected happens to us as advisors.

This “exodus,” as some are already calling it, may end up being among the biggest in U.S. history, or at least the biggest since the 1950s and 60s. A record 27.4 percent of homebuyers sought to move out of their metro areas in the second quarter, according to Redfin data.

A brief monthly update on what's happening in the municipal bond market.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for Brazil, but heavy government spending and monetary policy easing have helped bring some stability to the economy.

U.S. workers who are being shepherded back to the office would rather continue doing their jobs from home, at least a few days a week.

Your social network may be an untapped and robust source for uncovering prospects. While you may be suffering from COVID-19 fatigue, we believe prospecting and having introductory conversations about the services you provide could be one of the best uses of your time.

There are critical questions you need to ask when you are facing the issues of incapacity and maintaining the safety and well-being of a client.

Knowing your client lifetime value is essential, and it can guide the decisions you make in the course of your career.

Here are five biases that may be lurking in your subconscious and influencing the way you assess men and women.

Market crashes, such as we experienced in March at the onset of the pandemic, drive assets to the safe haven of government bonds. But our research shows this flight to safety mindset did not translate to an increase in demand for annuities.

Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses current economic conditions.

The third generation of financial planning mathematical infrastructure has emerged, which incorporates additional variables to more realistically reflect potential future outcomes.

Should your clients convert some of their traditional tax-deferred money (e.g. IRA or 401K) to an after-tax Roth account? There are some myths that are just plain wrong. Here are the seven situations to consider when advising on this issue.

One of our favorite natural resource companies, Ivanhoe has returned more than 146 percent in the past six months alone as investors anticipate the start of production at the Kakula Mine, which has the potential to become the world’s second-largest copper mining complex, with annual output projected to be 800,000 metric tonnes a year.

My theme today is on the pandemic’s future economic impact, especially in the United States.

Portfolio managers Taizo Ishida and Michael Oh, CFA, explore the growth drivers for Asia's new economy sectors, including how to measure and assign potential future value of intangible assets.

We hear numerous market strategists talk about stocks which are going up because “there is no alternative” to owning them. In the Wall Street vernacular, this goes by the phrase TINA.

Columbia University hired Kim Lew as chief executive of its $11 billion endowment, joining a small group of women to oversee investments at the wealthiest U.S. colleges.

Supply is getting tight. Helium is notoriously difficult and expensive to store, for the very good reason that it escapes every known container over time.

It’s a stunning reversal: Just four years ago, taking a knee effectively ended the career of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Although many millennial women’s needs will overlap with their more established counterparts, younger female clients face unique challenges and opportunities. Our complimentary checklist shows how you can guide these clients to become more knowledgeable, empowered, and confident about their financial outlook. Learn more about why millennial women are an emerging clientele, ways advisors can serve them better, and the right questions to ask to encourage independence.

My learning goal each year is to read at least 40 business-related, non-fiction books – the “stay at home order" has allowed me to read 63. So here is my eighth annual compilation of the ones I’ve read from September 2019 through August 2020.

My experience is that 80% of the people who should be making some change will tune out the entire Medicare hoopla that the annual election period (AEP) brings.

A leading psychologist explains why more women aren’t in leadership roles in financial services.

Assessing a company’s ESG behavior is a qualitative, subjective undertaking. New studies show that the major firms that issue ESG “ratings” use sufficiently different criteria, which results in unreliable research findings when their databases are used.