The Big Picture

JUNE 9, 2024

@TBPInvictus here. About a decade or so ago, the city of Seattle undertook to raise its minimum wage, over time, to $15/hour. (Massive credit to my friend Nick Hanauer for his efforts to make that happen.) What followed in the immediate aftermath of both the announcement and implementation was nothing less than a apocalyptic, collective head explosion on the right about the devastating effects the increase would have, particularly in the food services sector: However, there’s little doubt that t

Food 336

Food Math Numbers 336

Abnormal Returns

JUNE 9, 2024

Top clicks this week The best time to prepare for a bear market is before it begins. (awealthofcommonsense.com) A review of major asset class performance in May 2024. (capitalspectator.com) Why you shouldn't be worried about index funds just yet. (thefinancialbodyguard.com) The current bull market is mid. (tker.co) The market has always been rigged, just not in the way you think.

Retirement 306

Retirement Economy Assets Marketing 306

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 14, 2024

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the news that a recent study found that advisory teams tend to have higher assets under management per advisor, serve wealthier clients on average, and have stronger growth than solo advisors, thanks in part to the efficiencies gained from sharing expertise and back-office support.

Financial Planner 246

Financial Planner Compensation Planning Asset Allocation Retirement Planning 246

A Wealth of Common Sense

JUNE 11, 2024

The plural of anecdote is not data. You can’t extrapolate your individual experience or the experiences of your family, friends and peers to the broader economy, markets, political climate, etc. Just because the dumbest person you know is going all-in on Nvidia does not mean the stock market is going to collapse tomorrow. That’s not how any of this works.

Economy 144

Economy Marketing Marketing 144

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.

Accounting

The Big Picture

JUNE 13, 2024

@TBPInvictus here A few days ago, Barry and I detailed how unscrupulous bad actors had taken Not Seasonally Adjusted data to falsely claim that California’s new $20/hour minimum wage had cost the state almost 10,000 quick-serve restaurant (QSR) jobs. I wrote: It appears to me that the Journal got that number from BLS. However, BLS only offers the series without seasonal adjustment; this makes a very meaningful difference.

Food 305

Food Numbers Economics Portfolio 305

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 11, 2024

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 389th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast ! My guest on today's podcast is Mark Berg. Mark is the Founder of Timothy Financial Counsel, an RIA based in Wheaton, Illinois, that is on track to generate approximately $5 million in annual revenue this year serving 800 client households. What's unique about Mark, though, is how his firm has scaled from $1.8 million of revenue to $5 million, in only 6 years, and has maintained a 25% profit margin… al

Planning 246

Planning Financial Advisor Financial Counseling Clients 246

Carson Wealth

JUNE 10, 2024

The Summer Rally Continues Another week and more new highs for the S&P 500. As we’ve noted before, summer rallies are actually quite normal in an election year and we didn’t think this year would be any different. In fact, the three summer months are up more than seven percent on average in an election year and higher more than 75% of the time, the best out of any three-month period.

Marketing 143

Marketing Marketing Economy Numbers 143

The Big Picture

JUNE 11, 2024

The transcript from this week’s, MiB: Peter Mallouk, Creative Planning CEO , is below. You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube , and Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here. ~~~ Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News. This is Masters in business with Barry Ritholtz on Bloomberg Radio.

Planning 162

Planning Clients Investing Investments 162

Abnormal Returns

JUNE 10, 2024

Podcasts Barry Ritholtz talks with Peter Mallouk, president and CEO of Creative Planning LLC. (ritholtz.com) Joel Weber and Eric Balchunas talk with Silla Brush about Salim Ramji the new CEO of Vanguard. (bloomberg.com) Daniel Crosby talks advisor marketing with Robert Sofia who is the CEO of Snappy Kraken. (standarddeviationspod.com) Frazer Rice talks with David Barnard, CEO and Founder of Luminary, about technology and estate planning.

Compliance 278

Compliance Estate Planning Startup Clients 278

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.

Accounting

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 12, 2024

Financial advisors, as professionals whose clients rely on their advice to make financial decisions, are legally and financially responsible for the advice that they give. For example, if an advisor recommends an investment that prioritizes the commission they would receive rather than any benefit the client would derive from it, they could incur fines and sanctions for violating their fiduciary duty as an advisor.

Fiduciary Duty 245

Fiduciary Duty Risk Tolerance Investing Investments 245

A Wealth of Common Sense

JUNE 9, 2024

The bad news about the historic bond bear market is that fixed income investors were forced to deal with large losses in certain areas of the bond market. The good news is the rising rates that caused the bear market in bonds mean yields are in a much better place than they’ve been for the past 10-15 years. Fixed income has income again. In fact, investors in search of yield have all sorts of options — T-bill.

Marketing 142

Marketing Marketing 142

Calculated Risk

JUNE 10, 2024

Altos reports that active single-family inventory was up 1.1% week-over-week. Inventory is now up 23.8% from the February bottom, and at the highest level since August 2020. Click on graph for larger image. This inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of June 7th, inventory was at 612 thousand (7-day average), compared to 605 thousand the prior week.

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Abnormal Returns

JUNE 11, 2024

Diversification We are in a 'bear market for diversification.' (thinkadvisor.com) What really is the goal of portfolio diversification? (rogersplanning.blogspot.com) Books Insights from "The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest" by Edward Chancellor. (blas.com) A review of Nathaniel Popper's "The Trolls of Wall Street: How the Outcasts and Insurgents are Hacking the Markets.

Financial Advising 267

Financial Advising Retail Healthcare Economy 267

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Accounting

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 10, 2024

The first half of 2024 has been a solid start for most advisory firms, with markets enjoying moderate growth (a pleasant follow-through after a particularly strong 2023!), client retention rates remaining robust, and at least a bit of client referral growth trickling in. Which is leading to healthy profit margins at the typical advisory firm, as more and more advisors eye the possibility that AI will produce even more business efficiencies (and stronger profitability) in the year to come.

Financial Advisor 246

Financial Advisor Financial Planner Clients Communication 246

A Wealth of Common Sense

JUNE 14, 2024

There’s a lot that took place during the early days of the pandemic that still blows my mind. Schools were shut down. No sports. No one really left their house. And tens of millions of people started working from home in the biggest labor market experiment in history. Employers and employees were given no warning. There were no focus groups, training sessions or prep time.

Marketing 140

Marketing Marketing 140

Alpha Architect

JUNE 14, 2024

Volatility laundering causes the risk-adjusted returns and the diversification benefits of private equity to be significantly overstated. However, the problem of volatility laundering is not a problem for all private investments, specifically not for high-quality, floating rate, private credit. Private Equity May Not Be the Diversifier We Think (Due to Volatility Laundering), But Private Credit Could Be was originally published at Alpha Architect.

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Investing Investments 132

Abnormal Returns

JUNE 12, 2024

Podcasts Barry Ritholtz talks with Larry Swedroe about avoiding distractions. (ritholtz.com) Katie Gatti Tassin talks with Katy Song of Domain Money about how to break up with your financial advisor. (podcast.moneywithkatie.com) Thomas Kopelman and Jacob Turner talk about finding your enough. (podcasts.apple.com) Sam Parr talks with the owner of a 24,000 square foot house.

Asset Allocation 265

Asset Allocation Financial Advisor Estate Planning Retirement 265

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Banking

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 13, 2024

As the financial advice industry continues to move toward providing full-blown professional services rather than focusing primarily on product sales, advisory (advicery?) firms are increasingly experiencing similar stages of growth in their practices. From the initial stage of onboarding their first clients to the point of hitting a capacity wall and deciding whether to increase their headcount, and later to a threshold where an ensemble business eventually becomes an enterprise, advicers face m

Professional Services 189

Professional Services Financial Advice Clients Communication 189

A Wealth of Common Sense

JUNE 13, 2024

A reader asks: I consider myself a good conservative money manager for my personal finances but recently I have been looking for a nice house that I can enjoy for years to come. I am 56 and an early retiree. I just sold my condo and now have a total of $3.6 million mostly invested in broad market ETFs except for the $450k in cash set aside for a new house.

Management 137

Management Investing Investments Marketing 137

Wealth Management

JUNE 11, 2024

Explaining the fallacy of a free dividend can overcome both investor ignorance and their biases.

Education 129

Education Economics 129

Abnormal Returns

JUNE 13, 2024

Big Tech Apple's ($AAPL) AI announcement(s) helped add some $200 billion in market cap. (axios.com) It's kind of shocking just how big, Big Tech has gotten. (sherwood.news) Commercial real estate Where distressed office building transactions are taking place. (nytimes.com) Office CMBS default rates are soaring. (mrzepczynski.blogspot.com) Apple New Apple ($AAPL) features could 'Sherlock' a number of third party apps.

Financial Advising 265

Financial Advising Food Media Economy 265

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

Numbers

Alpha Architect

JUNE 11, 2024

Simple models severely understate return predictability compared to “complex” models in which the number of parameters exceeds the number of observations. Complexity is a virtue in return prediction was originally published at Alpha Architect. Please read the Alpha Architect disclosures at your convenience.

Numbers 121

Numbers 121

Calculated Risk

JUNE 10, 2024

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Q1 Update: Delinquencies, Foreclosures and REO A brief excerpt: We will NOT see a surge in foreclosures that would significantly impact house prices (as happened following the housing bubble) for two key reasons: 1) mortgage lending has been solid, and 2) most homeowners have substantial equity in their homes.

Distribution 119

Distribution 119

Wealth Management

JUNE 12, 2024

Four key considerations for advisors regarding Medicare.

Estate Planning 126

Estate Planning Planning 126

Abnormal Returns

JUNE 11, 2024

Concentration A look at 200 years of stock market concentration in the U.S. (globalfinancialdata.com) "Stock Market Concentration: How Much is Too Much?" by Mauboussin and Callahan. (morganstanley.com) Trend What happens when you stack managed futures trend on top of equities? (caia.org) Comparing the diversification benefits of bonds vs. trend following.

Media 264

Media Portfolio Economy Accounting 264

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.

Financial Advice

A Wealth of Common Sense

JUNE 12, 2024

Today’s Animal Spirits is brought to you by Nasdaq and Fabric: See here for more information on Nasdaq’s ETF ecosystem Go to meetfabric.com/spirits for more information on life insurance from Fabric by Gerber Life On today’s show, we discuss: Daily TSA travel data still strong The loneliness of the American worker Why the recession still isn’t here Americans have more investment income than e.

Insurance 119

Insurance Investing Investments 119

Discipline Funds

JUNE 13, 2024

I am ready to call it. The Fed should cut rates. July would be the right time to start in my opinion. To be clear, I don’t think they will do this. I still think the baseline first cut is November because the next few inflation prints will appear sticky enough for the Fed to keep rates where they are. And the election is too close to the September meeting for them to initiate cuts then.

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Wealth Management

JUNE 11, 2024

An RIA’s level of satisfaction with a custodian is directly correlated with the proportion of assets held with them.

Assets 122

Assets 122