Abnormal Returns
JANUARY 14, 2025
Strategy Vanguard investors are letting their equity allocations drift higher. (jeffreyptak.substack.com) It's counterintuitive, but frictions can make for better investors. (behaviouralinvestment.com) The markets are a mirror. (safalniveshak.com) Companies Corporate spinoffs are getting bigger and more complex. (axios.com) Databricks is raising venture debt.
Nerd's Eye View
JANUARY 14, 2025
Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 420th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast ! My guest on today's podcast is Michelle Underwood Gass. Michelle is the Founding Principal of Paradigm Advisors, an RIA based in Dallas, Texas, that oversees approximately $110 million in assets under management for 80 client households. What's unique about Michelle, though, is the way she created a structured meeting process to navigate around the places where new clients often get stuck, standardized thei
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Abnormal Returns
JANUARY 14, 2025
C-suite Narcissistic CEOs take unnecessary risks. (on.ft.com) Why some female CEOs get downgraded by investors. (klementoninvesting.substack.com) The bigger a firm gets, the more it spends on lobbying. (papers.ssrn.com) Research How much of the S&P 500's returns in 2024 came from idiosyncratic factors? (mailchi.mp) Don't forget that active ETFs can be sold short.
A Wealth of Common Sense
JANUARY 14, 2025
One of my favorite market datasets just got its annual update. Aswath Damodaran at NYU publishes a yearly update of returns for stocks (S&P 500), bonds (10 year Treasuries), cash (3-month T-bills), real estate, gold and inflation going back to 1928. Plus this year he added small caps to the mix.1 These are the long-term returns for each asset class from 1928-2024: Stocks +9.94% Small caps +11.74% Bonds +4.50% Cash +3.
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It's the time of year to give our close process some TLC. Join us in this one hour webinar where we discuss how to adopt leading practices and infuse technology into the month-end close process to improve our experience and increase our productivity during month-end and quarter-end close. Learning Objectives: This course's objective is to understand how the month-end close can be improved with automation and adoption of leading practices.
Wealth Management
JANUARY 14, 2025
Mandell Crawley, a 32-year veteran of the firm and one of its senior-most Black executives, will run the integrated firm management organization as chief client officer.
Financial Advisor Source brings together the best content for financial advisor professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Wealth Management
JANUARY 14, 2025
For the vast majority of investors, there are safer, more transparent ways to save for retirement.
Validea
JANUARY 14, 2025
The transformative power of Artificial Intelligence extends far beyond technology – it’s reshaping industries, consumer behavior, and the very fabric of modern business. As AI continues to dominate market sentiment, companies at the forefront of this revolution have not only fueled impressive stock market gains but are positioned to be key drivers of economic expansion in the decades ahead.
Wealth Management
JANUARY 14, 2025
The deal with Stonebrook Private represents Elevation Points first strategic investment since its inception in June.
Tobias Financial
JANUARY 14, 2025
The beginning of a new year is a wonderful time to take stock of your financial situation and ensure your financial plan is aligned with your current needs and goals. Life often brings small changes that may seem insignificant at first, but over time, they can add up and have a meaningful impact on your financial picture. To help you get started, weve provided a checklist designed to guide you through key areas to review, such as: Your Goals: Are you making progress toward existing goals, or do
Speaker: Sierre Lindgren
Fraud is a battle that every organization must face – it’s no longer a question of “if” but “when.” Every organization is a potential target for fraud, and the finance department is often the bullseye. From cleverly disguised emails to fraudulent payment requests, the tactics of cybercriminals are advancing rapidly. Drawing insights from real-world cases and industry expertise, we’ll explore the vulnerabilities in your processes and how to fortify them effectively.
Wealth Management
JANUARY 14, 2025
Mariner has acquired Cincinnati, Ohio-based Cassady Schiller Wealth, Englewood, Colo.-based Jenkins Wealth and Marlborough, Mass.-based Triton Financial Group.
Calculated Risk
JANUARY 14, 2025
There were four bank failures in 2024. The median number of failures since the FDIC was established in 1933 was 7 - so 2 failures in 2024 was below the median. There were five bank failures in 2023, however 3 of the failures were larger banks: First Republic Bank, San Francisco, CA, Signature Bank, New York, NY, Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, CA.
Wealth Management
JANUARY 14, 2025
According to CEO Jeff Dekko, acquiring Northwest Investment Counselors will help Wealth Enhancement better serve clients in the growing region.
Walkner Condon Financial Advisors
JANUARY 14, 2025
Syl Michelin, Expat Financial Advisor at Walkner Condon, evaluates AI's impact on financial market performance. He highlights its influence on momentum investing and the concerns it generates over valuations and productivity in a complex economic landscape.
Speaker: Aaron Berson
Managing spend is more than a cost cutting exercise – it's a pathway to smarter decisions that unlock efficiency and drive growth. By understanding and refining the spending process, financial leaders can empower their organizations to achieve more with less. Explore the art of balancing financial control with operational growth. From uncovering hidden inefficiencies to designing workflows that scale your business, we’ll share strategies to align your organization’s spending with its strategic g
Wealth Management
JANUARY 14, 2025
Joe DeVico, BlackRock's co-head of wealth advisory, discusses the explosion in interest in model portfolios.
Advisor Perspectives
JANUARY 14, 2025
The 20th century Baby Boom was one of the most powerful demographic events in the history of the United States. We've created a series of charts to show seven age cohorts of the employed population from 1948 to the present.
Wealth Management
JANUARY 14, 2025
FP Alpha is unbundling its tax service from its larger offering. FP Alpha TAX is essential, as clients increasingly want tax help, according to Andrew Altfest.
Advisor Perspectives
JANUARY 14, 2025
The median household is the statistical center of the Middle Class. Let's take a closer look at the Census Bureau's latest annual household income data with a focus on middle class income. In this update, we'll focus on the growing gap between the median (middle) and mean (average) household incomes across the complete time frame of the Census Bureau's annual reporting from 1867 to 2023.
Speaker: Duke Heninger, Partner and Fractional CFO at Ampleo & Creator of CFO System
Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Duke Heninger, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.
Wealth Management
JANUARY 14, 2025
Nonetheless, investors should focus on building portfolios that are "antifragile.
Advisor Perspectives
JANUARY 14, 2025
Today, one in three of the 65-69 cohort, one in five of the 70-74 cohort, and nearly one in ten of the 75+ cohort are in the labor force.
Wealth Management
JANUARY 14, 2025
Morningstar looks at whether investor portfolios should be flipped to 40/60 as bonds become more attractive. Allianz has rolled out two fund of funds that focus on buffer ETFs, reports etf.com. These are among the investment must reads we found this week for wealth advisors.
Advisor Perspectives
JANUARY 14, 2025
What happens when you simply don’t like a colleague but you need to work side-by-side with them every single day?
Speaker: Abdi Ali, Sr. Lease Accounting Consultant
Join this insightful webinar with industry expert Abdi Ali, who will discuss the challenges that can arise from managing lease accounting with spreadsheets! He will share real-world examples of errors, compliance issues, and risks that may be present within your spreadsheets. Learn how these tools, while useful, can sometimes lead to inefficiencies that affect your time, resources, and peace of mind.
Wealth Management
JANUARY 14, 2025
The investment from FJM, which has its roots in convenience stores, will help Balentine with succession planning and growth.
Advisor Perspectives
JANUARY 14, 2025
Wall Street was set for a higher open on Tuesday, though a renewed rise in Treasury yields damped the sentiment boost offered earlier by the prospect of gradually imposed US trade tariffs.
SEI
JANUARY 14, 2025
Leaders to Support Strategic Growth Across Global Operations
Advisor Perspectives
JANUARY 14, 2025
The labor force participation rate (LFPR) is a simple computation: You take the civilian labor force (people aged 16 and over employed or seeking employment) and divide it by the civilian non-institutional population (those 16 and over not in the military and or committed to an institution). As of December, the labor force participation rate is at 62.5%, unchanged from the previous month.
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As we step into 2024, the lending landscape evolves rapidly with technology, regulations, and market dynamics driving change. For banks and financial institutions to stay competitive and meet the evolving needs of their customers, these drivers must be understood and engaged with. Lenders can anticipate significant transformation fueled by technological advancements, regulatory shifts, and changing consumer behaviors.
Financial Symmetry
JANUARY 14, 2025
International stocks have not done well recently compared with U.S. stocks. The 2024 return of international stocks (as measured by the MSCI World ex USA Index) was just under 5%, lagging by nearly 20 percentage points the return of U.S. … Continued The post International Stocks and Recency Bias appeared first on Financial Symmetry, Inc.
Advisor Perspectives
JANUARY 14, 2025
Gas prices were unchanged this past week while WTIC rose for a third straight week to its highest level in four months. As of January 13th, the price of regular and premium gas were unchanged from the previous week. The WTIC end-of-day spot price for crude oil closed at $77.30, up 5.1% from last week.
Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT)
JANUARY 14, 2025
By Jamie McIntyre, CFP It was pretty clear from the regulator that they didn’t want product to be the focus of what a financial planner or financial advisor led with. So with that, the message was clear: Don’t lead with a financial product as the tool that is going to help someone. Lead with advice and understanding them and what it is they really need.
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