The Big Picture
AUGUST 12, 2024
I’m deep in my book writing work discussing federal debt when I see a tweet that simply epitomizes the entire genre. Full disclosure: My priors on federal debt are that I don’t know where the line of too much should be drawn, but I do know that none of the terrible things we were warned about over the past 50 years due to excess debt have come to pass.
Abnormal Returns
AUGUST 10, 2024
Autos Why Americans are snapping up small cars. (axios.com) The U.S. has higher alcohol limits for drivers than other countries. (nytimes.com) How to get drivers to put down their phones. (arstechnica.com) Lighter, stronger steel would make for more efficient cars. (knowablemagazine.org) The story of Porsche. (quartr.com) Transport Air cargo rates across the Pacific are on the rise.
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Nerd's Eye View
AUGUST 28, 2024
Historically, advisors haven't had many avenues to manage clients' 401(k) plan accounts, since unlike traditional custodial investment accounts, advisors generally lack discretionary trading authority in employer-sponsored retirement plans. Which wasn't necessarily a big issue back when most clients hired advisors after they had already retired and were able to roll over their employer plans into an IRA managed by the advisor; but as advisors have increasingly taken on working-age clients (and t
Advisor Perspectives
AUGUST 20, 2024
US job growth in the year through March was likely far less robust than initially estimated, which risks fueling concerns that the Federal Reserve is falling further behind the curve to lower interest rates.
Speaker: Indy Chakrabarti, Chief Marketing Officer at HighRadius
4 Case Studies to Optimize DSO 26 Days Sales Outstanding. Already better than most. But, should you improve on that? Why would 3 fewer days even matter? It matters because it fundamentally transforms business outcomes. Join this webinar to explore 4 things companies do to reclaim hard dollars - not just soft costs - and go from good to great! What You'll Learn 6 operational KPIs every AR manager should track: Define and track these metrics to enhance performance, drive efficiency, and make infor
A Wealth of Common Sense
AUGUST 18, 2024
After the Great Financial Crisis, everyone was trying to figure out how it would impact the coming wave of millennials entering adulthood. Millennials were getting blamed for killing everything — napkins, diamond rings, chain restaurants, motorcycles, bar soap and more. Sure, whatever. The one that never made sense to me was all the pundits predicting millennials would never buy a home or move out of big cities.
Financial Advisor Source brings together the best content for financial advisor professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
The Big Picture
AUGUST 11, 2024
Our story so far : Stuck at home over the pandemic, it was a perfect time to revisit a pastime of my youth – buying cheap beater cars, and turning them into something fun and worthwhile. Only this time, I have a lifetime of experience with what does and doesn’t work well, along with a somewhat more generous budget. All of this got restarted about a decade ago; I was personalizing a 2013 flood salvage-title Rubicon ; it reminded me how much fun it was to do these little projects.
Abnormal Returns
AUGUST 19, 2024
Markets There is big difference between politics and policies when it comes to investing. (optimisticallie.com) 20 pandemic darlings that have yet to rebound. (investmenttalk.co) Companies Couche-Tard seeks to buy US$31 billion owner of 7-Eleven stores (bnnbloomberg.ca) Why Carl Icahn and Icahn Enterprises ($IEP) just settled with the SEC. (ft.com) How the cannabis landscape is changing.
Nerd's Eye View
AUGUST 28, 2024
Historically, advisors haven't had many avenues to manage clients' 401(k) plan accounts, since unlike traditional custodial investment accounts, advisors generally lack discretionary trading authority in employer-sponsored retirement plans. Which wasn't necessarily a big issue back when most clients hired advisors after they had already retired and were able to roll over their employer plans into an IRA managed by the advisor; but as advisors have increasingly taken on working-age clients (and t
Wealth Management
AUGUST 23, 2024
According to the federal complaint calling for a class action, the firm’s policies “maximize profits for UBS while at the same time disregarding its clients’ best interests.
Speaker: Igli Laci, Strategic Finance Leader
In today’s competitive market, pricing is more than just a number — it’s the cornerstone of profitability. The right pricing strategy ensures that you capture the true value of your offering, paving the way for sustainable growth and long-term success. Join Igli Laci, Strategic Finance Leader, in this exclusive session where he will explore how a well-crafted pricing approach balances customer perception with business objectives, creating a powerful tool for securing both competitive advantage a
A Wealth of Common Sense
AUGUST 4, 2024
Boy that escalated quickly. Markets sold off in a hurry this week. The S&P 500 is down almost 6% from the recent highs. The Nasdaq 100 is in an 11% drawdown. After an extremely calm year, the past week or so has finally seen some volatility in the stock market. Here’s the thing — it’s what happened before this that was not normal: This really cool chart came out a couple of weeks ago (via Sherwood).
Carson Wealth
AUGUST 5, 2024
Houston, We Have Turbulence The S&P 500 fell 2.0% last week, declining for the third consecutive week, but unlike the past few weeks, this time the selling was across the board. Economic data last week showed the economy slowing more than expected, adding to worries about a potential recession. We still think a recession can be avoided, but risks have increased.
Advisor Perspectives
AUGUST 14, 2024
The Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) released for July puts the year-over-year inflation rate at 2.89%. The latest reading keeps inflation below the 3.74% average since the end of the Second World War for the 14th straight month. However, inflation remains above the 10-year moving average which is now at 2.83%.
Abnormal Returns
AUGUST 18, 2024
Also on the site When it comes to finances, you are on your own. No one is coming to save you. (abnormalreturns.com) Top clicks this week Callie Cox, "Your portfolio’s success depends on your behavior during the wild panics." (optimisticallie.com) Big up and down days in the stock market tend to cluster. (downtownjoshbrown.com) There is nothing normal about the distribution of angel investment returns.
Speaker: Nancy Wu, Head of Sales and Customer Success at SkyStem
A good, fast, clean audit leads to a happy work life. Join us in this one-hour webinar, where we share the best ways to prepare and conduct your audit process to maximize audit satisfaction and minimize administrative time in month-end close and financial reporting. Learning objectives: This course objective is to review leading practices to maximize audit success.
Nerd's Eye View
AUGUST 23, 2024
Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the news that a new study indicates that while financial advisory firms are largely satisfied with their tech stacks, they take a range of approaches to applying tech: from "innovators" that invest in tech to differentiate themselves from their competition and to enhance the client experience to "operators" that invest in technology largely to improve operations and internal efficiency
Calculated Risk
AUGUST 7, 2024
From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications increased 6.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending August 2, 2024. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 6.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
A Wealth of Common Sense
AUGUST 20, 2024
There’s plenty of investment advice out there based on what one must do to be successful. You don’t see many people who take the opposite approach and talk about what you shouldn’t do. There are many ways to succeed as an investor but only a few avenues to failure. Here are some surefire ways to make poor investment decisions: 1. Pretend you’re smarter than the market.
Discipline Funds
AUGUST 16, 2024
Here are three things I think I am thinking about this weekend: 1) Three Terrible Ideas That Won’t Die. The Great Financial Crisis was wonderful because it got people interested in economics. And it was terrible in that it convinced a lot of people that mainstream economics was wrong about almost everything. This led to a revival in some heterodox ideas that the mainstream had long thrown in the dustbin.
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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.
Advisor Perspectives
AUGUST 26, 2024
As tough as financial advisors claim to be, we still get nervous about “firing” clients, too. When we say “graduate,” that is our delicate way of handling an uncomfortable situation. It’s a cheap, but effective way to massage the misgivings that we have about terminating client relationships.
Abnormal Returns
AUGUST 9, 2024
Markets This proposed ETF filing top ticked the market. (allstarcharts.com) Has the tech momentum trade fully unwound yet? (ft.com) Strategy Forecasting interest rates is just as hard as forecasting the stock market. (awealthofcommonsense.com) The stock market has always found a group of stocks that fit a 'new paradigm.' (alphaarchitect.com) Bitcoin A “strategic bitcoin reserve” is an absurd idea.
Nerd's Eye View
AUGUST 21, 2024
Irrevocable trusts lie at the heart of a variety of estate planning strategies, as gifts to irrevocable trusts can allow for the transfer of assets outside of an owner’s estate for estate tax purposes with more structure than an outright gift. The downside, however, is that irrevocable trusts are "irrevocable" and can't easily be undone; in moving assets to the trust, the original owner gives up their authority over the assets, with the trustee taking over the management and distribution o
Calculated Risk
AUGUST 8, 2024
From Dodge Data Analytics: Dodge Momentum Index Expands Another 8% in July The Dodge Momentum Index (DMI), issued by Dodge Construction Network, increased 7.9% in July to 216.3 (2000=100) from the revised June reading of 200.5. Over the month, commercial planning increased 6.8% and institutional planning expanded 11.1%. “While data centers have had an outsized influence on nonresidential planning activity in recent months, more momentum is building across many other major sectors and diversifyin
Speaker: Joe Buhrmann, MBA, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC® Senior Financial Planning Practice Management Consultant eMoney Advisor
During an era of evolving consumer preferences, the banking sector is undergoing a profound shift. As customers continue to broaden their perspectives, banking professionals must support their customers' financial wellness by providing holistic financial advice that aligns with individual goals and circumstances. Without adapting, financial institutions will find that loyalty may crumble amid uncertainty.
A Wealth of Common Sense
AUGUST 27, 2024
The firehose of information we’re afforded these days is a double-edged sword. There is an abundance of news, analysis, charts and opinions but it can all be overwhelming if you don’t have an effective filter in place. When it comes to finance I have some filters to help understand which types of sources and people to safely ignore. These are the types of financial voices and data I immediately ignore: Pricing.
Alpha Architect
AUGUST 26, 2024
An AI analyst trained to digest corporate disclosures, industry trends, and macroeconomic indicators surpasses most analysts in stock return predictions. AI wins when information is transparent but voluminous. Humans provide significant incremental value in “Man + Machine,” which also substantially reduces extreme errors. From Man vs. Machine to Man + Machine: The Art and AI of Stock Analyses was originally published at Alpha Architect.
Advisor Perspectives
AUGUST 20, 2024
Oil, copper, soybeans and a handful of others monopolized the attention — but of all commodities, the humble lump of iron ore benefited the most from the Chinese economic boom of the last 25 years.
Abnormal Returns
AUGUST 7, 2024
Markets Good luck trying to figure out the stock market these days. (sherwood.news) Mortgage spreads have room to come down. (axios.com) Strategy The stock market is not economy, and vice versa. (awealthofcommonsense.com) What to do the next time the stock market tanks. (tonyisola.com) 'Don't panic' isn't necessarily helpful advice. (edgyoptimist.substack.com) Disney Disney ($DIS) warns about theme park weakness.
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Finance Transformation Myths Busted Over 75% of organizations struggle to define the right success metrics to benchmark the impact of their finance transformation investment. Whether you are just initiating your digital transformation journey or planning to pitch your next AI project to leadership, without the right metrics and a rigorous tracking process - all your efforts might go to waste!
Nerd's Eye View
AUGUST 16, 2024
Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the news that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that a total of 26 broker-dealers, investment advisers, and dually-registered firms agreed to pay combined civil penalties of almost $400 million for failing to maintain and preserve required records for "off-channel" communications, signaling the regulator's interest in cracking down on text messages and other communi
Calculated Risk
AUGUST 5, 2024
From the Federal Reserve: The July 2024 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices The July 2024 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS) addressed changes in the standards and terms on, and demand for, bank loans to businesses and households over the past three months, which generally correspond to the second quarter of 2024.
A Wealth of Common Sense
AUGUST 23, 2024
In December 2020 I wrote a short history of chasing the best performing funds. At the time, Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation fund was on fire, absolutely destroying the market: Wood quickly became one of the most famous fund managers alive. She was in the headlines every day. Her stock picks and pronouncements about the future were reported by every financial media publication in the country.
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