The Big Picture
JULY 7, 2024
@TBPInvictus here If you’re tired of California-minimum-wage-and-its-impact-on-limited-service-restaurant-employment stories, I understand. Leave this page immediately. I’m tired of it, too, but some stories are so factually challenged that they demand a response. So, allow me to address a hot mess of a story that appeared recently in the California Globe.
Abnormal Returns
JULY 7, 2024
Top clicks this week How major asset classes performed in June 2024. (capitalspectator.com) Just how useful is historical financial markets data? (retirementresearcher.com) Don't forget, stocks are real assets. (downtownjoshbrown.com) Europe's stock market has badly lagged the U.S. How much longer can it last? (awealthofcommonsense.com) Beware small sample sizes.
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Nerd's Eye View
JULY 10, 2024
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed in 2017, was one of the most extensive pieces of tax legislation to be passed in the last 30 years, touching many aspects of individual, corporate, and estate tax. However, most of TCJA's provisions are set to 'sunset' at the end of 2025 – an event that would have at least as much impact as TCJA's initial passage.
Calculated Risk
JULY 8, 2024
Here is another monthly update on lumber prices. SPECIAL NOTE: The CME group discontinued the Random Length Lumber Futures contract on May 16, 2023. I switched to a physically-delivered Lumber Futures contract that was started in August 2022. Unfortunately, this impacts long term price comparisons since the new contract was priced about 24% higher than the old random length contract for the period when both contracts were available.
Speaker: Amanda Adams, Fractional CFO, CPA
Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Amanda Adams, 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.
The Big Picture
JULY 9, 2024
A quick break from book duty and doing our quarterly client call to share this fascinating discussion from tennis great Roger Federer: “In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches… What percentage of the POINTS do you think I won in those matches? Only 54%.” -Roger Federer This is one of those great commencement addresses that will only gain stature over time.
Financial Advisor Source brings together the best content for financial advisor professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Nerd's Eye View
JULY 9, 2024
Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 393rd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast ! My guest on today's podcast is Alex Lewis. Alex is the owner of Blackbridge Financial, a hybrid advisory firm based in Irmo, South Carolina, that oversees approximately $330 million in assets under management for 415 client households. What's unique about Alex, though, is how, at age 29, he took on a multi-million-dollar loan to purchase the firm from its founder as his successor, and, in the 4 years since,
A Wealth of Common Sense
JULY 7, 2024
I’ve been writing about the housing market for years now. It fascinates me to no end because housing is one of the most important decisions from a personal and financial perspective. In recent years, much of my focus has been on how broken the residential housing market is. Higher prices and mortgage rates have driven housing affordability to levels we’ve never seen before in the United States.
The Big Picture
JULY 6, 2024
Source: New York Times The NYT: The final votes in Britain’s parliamentary elections are still being counted, but one thing is crystal clear: After 14 years in power, the Conservative Party is out. More than that: It’s been thoroughly punished by the British public, reduced to barely 120 seats, the party’s worst result in its history. Several prominent figures — including former Prime Minister Liz Truss — lost their seats.
Abnormal Returns
JULY 11, 2024
Defense How Russia has adapted to Western weapons in Ukraine. (wsj.com) Advances in drone warfare has happened outside the purview of the defense giants. (on.ft.com) GPS is increasingly under attack. (nytimes.com) Gambling Stock trading continues to migrate onto smartphones and apps. (bloomberg.com) Smartphones and ubiquitous gambling go hand-in-hand.
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.
Nerd's Eye View
JULY 8, 2024
After several turbulent years in both markets and workforces, 2024 appears to be the 'most normal' year of late, with strong market performance, cooling (or at least no longer rising!?) interest rates, and relatively little new tax legislation (yet). Yet the need for advisor education – and the regulatory requirements to get it (in the form of Continuing Education obligations) – never ends, with the latest focus for most financial advisors being on the ongoing expansion of NASAA's 20
A Wealth of Common Sense
JULY 12, 2024
Charley Ellis wrote a great book about the index fund revolution back in 2016. One of my favorite parts of the book is where Ellis looks at how Wall Street has changed in the past 50 years: MBAs were uncommon. PhDs were never seen. Commissions still averaged 40 cents a share. All trading was paper based. Messengers with huge black boxes on wheels, filled with stock and bond certificates, scurried from broker to broker tr.
The Big Picture
JULY 6, 2024
The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads: • These people still believe in democracy (little d) and are working to keep it. On this July 4th holiday, America’s system of democracy is under threat. These people are working to keep it alive and well. ( USA Today ) • The Fried Chicken Sandwich Wars Are More Cutthroat Than Ever Before : Here’s why everyone from fast-casual chains to chefs at Michelin-starred resta
Abnormal Returns
JULY 10, 2024
Podcasts Barry Ritholtz talks with William Bernstein about changing your behavior for the better. (ritholtz.com) Sam Parr talks with Scott Galloway author of "The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security." (podcasts.apple.com) Dan Haylett talks with David Blanchett about swapping 'financial independence' for retirement. (humansvsretirement.com) Thomas Kopelman and Jacob Turner talk retirement planning with Taylor Schulte.
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Join us in this webinar, where we share best practices on how to think about the reconciliation work each month, when best to do reconciliations, how they should be prepared, and some common pitfalls to avoid. Learning Objectives: This course objective is to understand how to properly prepare and review balance sheet reconciliations and its impact on the financial statements.
Nerd's Eye View
JULY 12, 2024
Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the news that at a time when employee retention has heightened importance for advisory firms given the ongoing competition for advisor talent, recent studies indicate that factors such as firm culture and leadership, as well as providing advisors with a sense of autonomy, can play important roles in building advisor loyalty to the firm.
Calculated Risk
JULY 11, 2024
Here are a few measures of inflation: The first graph is the one Fed Chair Powell had mentioned when services less rent of shelter was up around 8% year-over-year. This declined, but has turned up recently, and is now up 4.8% YoY. Click on graph for larger image. This graph shows the YoY price change for Services and Services less rent of shelter through May 2024.
The Big Picture
JULY 10, 2024
Investing Is Hard with Brian Portnoy (July 10, 2024) Why is investing so hard? It’s because our brains have been trained, over thousands of years, to trust our fear instincts. In this episode, I speak with Brian Portnoy sits down with Barry Ritholtz to explain why humans aren’t built to be good investors. Portnoy has held senior investment roles throughout the hedge fund and mutual fund industries.
Abnormal Returns
JULY 8, 2024
Finance Why Bill Ackman spends so much time on Twitter. (sherwood.news) Hedge funds are boosting their electricity trading capabilities. (wsj.com) Human FX traders are getting replaced by algorithms. (bloomberg.com) Why you should expect to see more ETFs designed by, and for, institutional investors. (institutionalinvestor.com) Housing Housing supply and affordability go hand-in-hand.
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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.
Nerd's Eye View
JULY 11, 2024
Meaningful communication is crucial to building strong, durable relationships, and asking effective questions is an essential part of facilitating impactful conversations. Being able to initiate and lead those conversations has become an important aspect of any financial advicer's skill set , but for many, it's one that isn't always as straightforward or easy to learn … particularly for advicers who might be happiest when nerding out with spreadsheets and flowcharts!
Calculated Risk
JULY 10, 2024
From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications decreased 0.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending July 5, 2024. Last week’s results included an adjustment for the July 4th holiday. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
Alpha Architect
JULY 12, 2024
An efficient way to improve the expected performance of an equity strategy would be to systematically exclude penny stocks, as well with high asset growth and extreme past returns, especially if they have low profitability (and exclude funds that don’t screen out such stocks). Explaining the Performance of Low-Priced Stocks: The Penny Stock Anomaly was originally published at Alpha Architect.
Abnormal Returns
JULY 12, 2024
The biz How a podcast network makes money. (linkedin.com) Spotify ($SPOT) has a bundling problem. (vox.com) Global Tyler Cowen talks with Brian Winter discuss the politics and economics of nearly every country from the equator down. (conversationswithtyler.com) Russell Napier talks with Harold James, author of "Seven Crashes: The Economic Crises That Shaped Globalisation.
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
JULY 9, 2024
Greg Ip at The Wall Street Journal penned a piece recently that warned potential homebuyers about the prospect of low returns from current levels: I don’t need to offer any more details from the story because you already know them. Housing prices are up a lot. Mortgage rates are also up a lot. This is a fair warning. We essentially pulled forward a decade’s worth of housing returns into the first few years of.
Calculated Risk
JULY 12, 2024
The BLS reported yesterday: The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) increased 3.3 percent over the last 12 months to an index level of 308.163 (1982-84=100). For the month, the index increased 0.1 percent prior to seasonal adjustment. CPI-W is the index that is used to calculate the Cost-Of-Living Adjustments (COLA).
Wealth Management
JULY 8, 2024
Today, the conversation isn’t led by you saying, “Let me tell you about our firm.” It’s led by prospects saying, “Hey, I’ve been following your content, and now I want to meet.
Abnormal Returns
JULY 9, 2024
Asset pricing The CAPM doesn't work. Maybe this measure does. (klementoninvesting.substack.com) Brown stocks outperform green stocks. (alphaarchitect.com) Hedge funds Replicating multi-strategy hedge fund returns is kind of a waste. (insights.finominal.com) Do even failed activist investors help stock prices? (klementoninvesting.substack.com) Quant stuff More research is being done on the interaction between social media and market outcomes.
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
JULY 11, 2024
A reader asks: On this week’s episode, you guys mention that nobody uses the 4% rule. I have been tracking my annual expenses for the last few years and multiplying it by 25 as a ballpark figure of what I need to retire. Is this not a good way to estimate? If not, what do you suggest? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but yes, I have read this in a lot of blogs.
Calculated Risk
JULY 6, 2024
At the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter this week: Click on graph for larger image. • FHFA’s National Mortgage Database: Outstanding Mortgage Rates, LTV and Credit Scores • Moody's: Apartment Vacancy Rate Unchanged in Q2; Office Vacancy Rate at New Record High • ICE Mortgage Monitor: Existing Home Inventory Surges in Florida and Texas • Asking Rents Mostly Unchanged Year-over-year • Final Look at Local Housing Markets in May and a Look Ahead to June Sales This is usually published 4 to 6 t
Wealth Management
JULY 12, 2024
Effective immediately, Prime Capital Investment Advisors will become Prime Capital Financial, while Pensionmark rebrands to World Investment Advisors, a nod to its parent company.
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