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Universal Basic Income: An Alternative to the Welfare State?

The percentage of Americans living in poverty in 2021 was 11.6%, roughly equal with the period of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Which is to say that after nearly 60 years since President’s Johnson’s launch of the “War on Poverty” in 1964 and some $25 trillion in...

10 Ideas for Identifying and Hiring the Best Talent

Businesses are generally unable to rise above the talent they employ. Which is why it’s so important to be able to identify exceptional workers, many of whom may not be actively looking for a job. Identifying talent is only a first step, however. Employers must also...

Why We Should Be Asking Ourselves “Why?” More Often

How often do you ask yourself “Why?” It may be the most essential question anyone can ask in both their professional and personal lives. Why am I doing this task? Why am I doing this task the way I’m doing it? Why am I dividing my time the way I am? Only by asking and...

Cutting Wasteful Spending

As inflation eats up more of consumers’ spending power and the demands of saving for retirement and a child’s college education inexorably marches into closer view, many individuals grow increasingly more doubtful of their ability to meet both current and future...

What Ails the Ticket Market?

For many entertainment events, predominately popular music tours like Taylor Swift and The Rolling Stones, over 90% of tickets are not released to the public. Instead, they end up in the hands of credit card companies (via committed blocks of tickets they negotiate as...

Overcoming the Psychological Barriers to Budgeting

Budgeting is foundational to financial success, from young savers to retirees. Despite this, budgeting is unpopular with Americans, as suggested by the general failure of budgeting app providers that had visions of ushering in a new era of individual fiscal...

The Future of AI Regulation

If artificial intelligence (AI) is to serve humans in ways that improve our lives or avert the existential threat that many people believe may exist, AI needs to operate under a regulatory framework with a defined set of guardrails. Indeed, business leaders are...

Should Retirees Sell Their Home?

The answer to whether retirees should sell their home is “it depends,” and the factors that go into the decision are not only financial ones. Retirees may want to sell their home for a wide variety of reasons, including: Downsizing to a more manageably sized house now...

Employing Gamification with Employees

Gamification is a growing business trend used to recruit, train and evaluate employees, as well as to increase organizational productivity. Before determining whether this makes sense for your practice, we should make clear the definition of gamification. Gamification...

The Impact of Higher Yields on Retirees

On average, across all wealth levels, most older retirees still had 80% of their pre-retirement savings after 17 to 18 years of retirement, according to research conducted by BlackRock and the Employee Benefit Research Institute.1 While the predominant fear of...

Creating Effective Client Surveys

There are many good reasons to conduct regular client surveys. Properly designed, client surveys can provide insights into improving product offerings, services and the overall client experience. They may also serve as a way to help retain clients by showing them how...

The Value of a Celebrity Advisor

Delta Air Lines announced in September a strategic partnership with Tom Brady, owner of seven Super Bowl titles. Delta plans on tapping into the quarterback’s expertise and experience in teamwork, performance and perseverance for the benefit of its global employee...

The Impact of the Growing Short-Term Rental Backlash

This past summer, the city of New York passed new regulations that effectively ban short-term rentals, hurting companies like Airbnb and hosts who have rented rooms and apartments to supplement income. New York City is not alone. Similar restrictions were also passed...

Mentoring the Next Generation of Financial Professionals

According to a 2019 study by J.D. Power, the average age of financial advisors is 55, with 20% of financial advisors aged 65 or older.1 The financial advice industry is in desperate need of a new crop of advisors. It matters to all Americans, especially younger...

Should Married Couples Combine Finances?

One of the more consequential decisions a newly married couple will make at the start of their marriage is whether to combine their financial lives or keep their finances separate. There is no one right answer since it depends upon a couple’s financial circumstances...

Is Podcasting Right for You?

Podcasts have become one of the chief ways to reach audiences in recent years. In fact, in 2023, 31% of individuals aged 12 and older said they listened to a podcast in the last week (up from 26% in 2022), while 42% listened to one in the past month.1 Perhaps more...

Sudden Wealth Syndrome

Who among us hasn’t wished to win the lottery or receive a large inheritance from some rich, unknown uncle? It’s a natural and generally harmless exercise imagining having extraordinary wealth and the things we would do with it. Sometimes that dream does come true....

October is Financial Planning Month!

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” —Alan Lakein The need for a sound financial plan and expert planning advice has never been more acute than it is in today’s uncertain times. Consider these findings from a...

Monitoring Your Retirement Income Plan

Physicians monitor the health of their patients by measuring a range of vital signs—e.g., body temperature, pulse rate, respiration and blood pressure—to help detect signs of potentially deteriorating medical conditions in individuals. Similarly, financial...

Understanding Credit Card Interest Charges

Credit card balances reached a record high of $1.03 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2023. According to one survey, 33% of Americans believe it will take more than two years to pay off their debt, which may not be surprising since as many as 14 million...

The Implications of National Weight Loss

Obesity affects 42% of Americans.1 Obesity results in myriad health complications, including higher risk for Type-2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, at least 13 types of cancer, mental illness...

Sign Up for Your Library Card

September is Library Card Sign-up Month. If you think that signing up for a library card is not relevant in your life, consider some of the many benefits libraries offer to you, your family and your community. Libraries offer access to information and resources that...

Recruiting Gen Z Advisors

Every organization needs the vitality and fresh perspective of younger workers. They may be inexperienced, but they are an important link to a new generation of consumers and fill an essential gap created by a retiring generation of workers. Whereas the focus has been...

Standing Out in a Job Hunt

The average open corporate position attracts 250 resumes, on which recruiters spend an average of 7.4 seconds reviewing and of which only four to six submitters will be brought in for an interview.1, 2 You could be the Lionel Messi or Serena Williams of your...

Half the Income, Twice the Spouse: Marital Conflict in Retirement

There is no shortage of discussion of the financial challenges faced by retirees. Even many of the psychological challenges get their fair amount of coverage. One critical topic, however, doesn’t—the pressure retirement places on retirees’ marital relationships. How...

Building a Good Credit History

Having a good credit history is important because it can make credit approval easier, potentially lower interest rates on any loans taken out, lead to higher credit limits and better loan terms, and avoid the security deposits that may be required of individuals with...

Overcoming Women’s Retirement Challenges

However wonderful a dancer Fred Astaire was, Ginger Rogers did everything he did, but backwards and in high heels. Women planning their retirement may sometimes feel like Ginger Rogers—having to execute far more difficult steps just to keep up. Among the hurdles women...

Ten Ideas for Making Home Ownership a Reality

June is National Home Ownership Month—a time to celebrate the value of homeownership to families and communities. Yet, it’s a dream under pressure. Today’s homeownership rate is 66%, down from the 67.9% rate during the summer of 2020 and well below the pre-2008 Credit...

How to Stay Invested in the Stock Market

Investors have heard for years that “time in the market” is much more critical to investment success than “timing the market.” Yet, according to one analysis, only 55% of retail mutual fund investors have an average holding period of more than two years. It’s even...

Should Your Child Have a Credit Card?

Sixty percent of parents in a recent survey said they have allowed their under-18 children to use their credit card to make online purchases, with nearly 50% regretting it. Nearly half (46%) of parents say their child used their credit card at least once without...

Are Post Job Interview Thank You Notes an Anachronism?

A number of traditional etiquette rules seem to have faded away, like standing up when a woman enters the room or addressing a superior with a prefix (e.g., Mr./Ms.). For job seekers, many wonder if it’s still necessary to send a thank you note following an interview....

Surviving Empty Nest Syndrome

As a child prepares to move out of their childhood home or go to college, parents may be inundated with a number of feelings, chief among them stress on how to help a student stand out in the college admissions process, the best way to pay for education and...

The Importance of Mothers

No language can express the power and beauty and heroism and majesty of a mother’s love. Edwin Chapin It is impossible to overestimate the value of mothers to children, family, community and society. A mother’s impact is as profound as it is transcendent for those...

Does a Digital Wallet Make Sense?

The move to digital wallets is on.  In 2021, 43.2% of U.S. smartphone owners used mobile payments, and that number is expected to rise to 50.1% in 2025.1 But, does transitioning to a digital wallet make sense for you? Digital Wallet Defined The best way to think of a...

What’s All the Fuss About ChatGPT?

The media are filled with breathless reporting on the ChatGPT revolution, replacing the metaverse as the “next big thing” in the minds of many investors. There’s good reason for the enthusiasm since it just may change work as we know it. What is ChatGPT? ChatGPT...

Evaluating Big Purchases in Retirement

Retirement dreams, more often than not, involve making big purchases. They may range from a two-month tour of European cities to buying a second home. If you perform an internet search on “big purchases in retirement,” many of the results center on discussing the...

Should You Buy or Rent a Home?

The sharp increase in interest rates has altered the calculus of many financial decisions, including how higher mortgage rates impact the affordability and value of owning a home, especially now that the housing market has cooled. While the decision to rent or buy a...

SECURE 2.0 Act: A Retirement Overview

The SECURE 2.0 Act passed at the end of last year contains a number of retirement and tax provisions that expands retirement coverage, increases retirement savings opportunities and simplifies a number of retirement rules. Among the highlights are: Expansion of auto...

The Multilevel Marketing Side Hustle

The global multilevel marketing (MLM) industry has a market size of about $190 billion. The largest MLM company in the U.S. is Amway, with revenues of almost $9 billion.1 From cosmetics to financial services, MLM businesses have been providing independent-minded...

The Tontine Retirement Income Solution

Tontine is an investment in which individuals pool their money and from which each receives income for as long as they live, with the payout entitlements of deceased participants accruing to the surviving participants. Its origins go back to the 17th century. While...

Alphabet Soup: Navigating Financial Professional Designations

Financial professionals’ names are often followed by a dizzying array of designations. In fact, FINRA (the self-regulatory body for member brokerage firms and exchange markets) lists over 200 professional designations and 10 accredited designations used by the...

Active Listening Versus Hearing

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”  – Epictetus When others are talking, how much do we really listen? Frequently, the answer is “not nearly enough” as our minds are busy readying our response or too distracted by our...

Adjusting Retirement Plans for Inflation

At the roughly 7.5% inflation rate since the start of 2022, retirees have seen the purchasing power of their $100,000 retirement income fall to $92,500, while working Americans will now need to save and invest for a higher retirement income goal, e.g., a $100,000...

Increasing Diversity in the Financial Advice Industry

As the nation’s population becomes more diverse and inclusion more important, the financial advice industry needs to reflect the same since the advice-seeking public will turn to professionals that have backgrounds and experiences similar to theirs. Moreover, as the...

Replacing the Conventional Five-Day Workweek

The five-day, 40-hour workweek goes as far back as 1926 when Henry Ford replaced his six-days-a-week work schedule with a five-day workweek, with no change in compensation. His motivation? He thought his workers would become more productive and use their extra time...

Combating Generational Pessimism

The younger generations are pessimistic—very pessimistic. This gloomy outlook is not completely unfounded given today’s myriad social and environmental challenges. Consider three such issues and the perspectives of Gen Zers and Millennials. Climate Change—In one...

Paying Off Debt vs. Investing

As interest rates have increased and the stock market has struggled, the calculus of whether to use fresh cash to retire debt or make an investment has changed. When confronting this decision, the math is pretty straightforward—if the after-tax investment return is...

Making Plans for Your Passing

Thinking about one’s death is difficult. But if you plan ahead for the one certain thing in your life, you can ensure that your end-of-life wishes are honored, and relieve your loved ones of the burdensome decisions that accompany death and dying at the same time. 11...

There’s An App For That!

It seems that there is an app for every human endeavor, from budgeting and ordering food to travel planning and identifying constellations. There are even app to  help seniors manage their medications and maintain their intellectual sharpness. No one can argue the...

How to Vet Charities

Three out of every 10 dollars in annual contributions to charities are made in the month of December; 10% of annual giving occurs in the last three days of the year.1 Though many Americans may wait until the end of the year to donate to charitable causes, they are...

Delight Your Clients This Holiday Season

With the year-end holiday season fast approaching, time is running short should you want to host a memorable client event to show your appreciation. Here are three simple, easy-to-organize and high-impact ideas to use this holiday season. Sponsor a holiday photo...

Market Impact of Midterm Elections

Politics is the art of the possible. With the recent midterm elections, the scope of what’s possible has been narrowed. While the “red tsunami” turned into a “red ripple” (will pollsters ever get it right?!), the Republicans did manage to gain control of the House—and...

Taking a Bite Out of Rising Electricity Costs

Americans are being eaten alive by inflation. It’s not only food and gasoline prices that seem to jump every month; consumers have also been experiencing substantial price increases in electricity. The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects to see electricity...

The Inflation Reduction Act Impact

Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act may or may not reduce inflation, but it will certainly have consequential impact on businesses, the climate and the financial viability of Medicare. The Impact on Large Businesses Public companies will see their taxes rise,...

Can We Trust Too Much?

Trust is the grease that lubricates both business and personal relationships. Trust between employers and employees, for example, facilities better outcomes by improving communication, raising individual and group performance, reducing conflict, and providing greater...

Increasing Workplace Diversity

America is becoming a more diverse nation. According to recent census data, the percentage of the white-alone population (18-plus years old) has fallen from 74.7% in 2010 to 64.1% in 2020. Though the African American population has remained the same (12%), the...

Evolution: Humans 2.0

Around 5,000-10,000 years ago, humans on the European landmass underwent an evolutionary change that allow them to tolerate the lactose in milk, offering a massive advantage in being able to thrive in a less sunny continent, as well as providing them with an...

Celebrating the Nation’s Military Families

November was declared Military Family Month in 1996 to recognize the substantial sacrifices military families make in the service of our country. These sacrifices range from the emotional to the financial, including frequent transfers, separations, stress and...

How Advisors Can Help in a Natural Disaster

Hurricane Ian was the latest reminder of the need for disaster planning and the urgency of people coming together to help those affected by a natural disaster. While there are steps people can take to plan ahead to protest their family and home, the aftereffects can...

Is a Home Warranty Worth the Cost?

A home warranty is a form of insurance that covers the cost of repairing many home appliances (e.g., washer, dryer, oven, etc.), basic home systems (e.g., plumbing and electrical), and heating and cooling systems (including a hot water heater). Home warranties do not...

Employer as Big Brother

Since the work-from-home phenomenon took flight in the wake of the COVID pandemic, employers have increasingly resorted to tracking employees in an effort to monitor their work activity levels. In the pandemic’s early days, 30% of large employers adopted...

The Great Resignation: Having Second Thoughts

By now everyone is familiar with the Great Resignation. Since the pandemic, the number of Americans quitting their jobs has soared, averaging in excess of four million workers per month for the last year.1 Now, it appears many Americans are regretting their decision...

Annuities: Serenity Now!

With strong sales to begin the year, LIMRA is projecting that annuity sales in 2022 could break the record-setting sales achieved in 2008. LIMRA cites a number of factors behind its projection that total annuity sales may increase from $254.6 billion in 2021 to about...

Top Small Business Marketing Tools

With limited resources and staff, small business owners need to find ways to work smarter to grow their customer base and revenue stream. One particularly attractive opportunity for becoming “smarter” is through tools that make a business’s marketing and communication...

Do Economic Sanctions Work?

President Thomas Jefferson signed the Embargo Act in 1807 in the hopes that Europe’s need of America’s natural resources and agricultural products might end the hostilities of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). It failed spectacularly, with Jefferson signing its repeal...

Avoiding Reputational Risks

Global corporate executives attribute 63% of their company’s market value to the company’s overall reputation. In their view, the top five contributors to reputation are: Quality of products or services Quality of employees Quality of customer service Safety of...

When ESG and Reality Collide

Even as ESG principles are increasingly adopted by investors, portfolio managers and companies, growing pains breed continuing frustration. Perhaps the most consequential of these frustrations is the frequent disconnect between the ESG scores of companies and their...

Bear Markets: Despair, Hyperbole, Recovery

As much as bear markets are an inherent part of investing, they, nevertheless, trigger investor angst and media hyperbole. While the average bear market decline is 40% and lasts an average of about 1.3 years, history has taught investors that not all bear markets are...

The Decision to Unretire

The decision to unretire is not new for Americans. In fact, after dipping to 2% during the COVID crisis, the percentage of retirees re-entering the workforce has returned to its pre-pandemic level, rising to 3.2%.1 This rate of re-entry into the labor market may go...

Applying Behavioral Finance to Decumulation

The study of behavioral finance has provided valuable insights into how individual behaviors can frustrate investment success. Recognizing the inherent biases that adversely affect investment decision-making has led to strategies and actions that have promoted better...

Improving Your Leadership Skills

Google “leadership” and you’ll get over 9.5 billion results, illustrating just how oversaturated the discussion of this topic is. If the subject is so overanalyzed it’s only because using it effectively is so fundamental to organizational success. Leadership can take...

Coming to America: Reshoring Manufacturing and Services from Overseas

The pandemic exposed one of the weaknesses of “just in time” inventory management and locating manufacturing in cheap, faraway locations. Supply chains were then further stressed by increasing geopolitical tensions with Russia and China—key sources of important...

Calculating an Affordable Mortgage

The double whammy of higher home prices and rising mortgage rates have a lot of Americans reevaluating the mortgage they can afford and how much a mortgage lender will lend them.  What do these higher rates mean for you? Calculating Mortgage Affordability There are...

Keeping Children Intellectually Engaged Over Summer Break

It’s a myth that the summer break is an anachronism of our agrarian roots. In fact, the summer break, created by 19th century reformers to standardize the school calendar, is rooted in pre-air conditioned urban schools, which made the summer months the most sensible...

Inflation Survival Tips

Inflation is a tax that hurts all income earners. For lower income workers, higher costs mean very difficult tradeoffs that have an impact on everyday living. For higher income earners, it may have less of an impact of their standard of living, but higher expenses can...

China’s Zero-COVID Policy: The Economic Impact

China took a different path in response to the global outbreak of COVID-19, pursuing a zero-COVID policy, which meant zero tolerance for COVID infections, which resulted in any signs of virus infection with lockdowns and isolation to prevent its spread. Early on the...

Multi-Tasking: Slow is the New Fast

Americans tend to be multi-taskers, or at least they think they are. The truth is that multi-tasking is a mirage because the brain simply lacks the ability to perform two or more tasks at the same time.1 Consider a typical multi-tasking scenario… A worker is on a...

Managing Your Children’s Social Media Risks

Childhood is full of dangers, and every new generation of parents is faced with risks that weren’t present when they were growing up. Today, social media platforms have introduced a new set of risks for this generation of children, as well as heightened the risks...

The Sleep Gene

More than a third of American adults do not get enough sleep on a regular basis, according to the CDC.1 Help may be on the way. Scientists have recently identified a “sleep gene” that allows people who have this gene to feel fully rested with just four to six hours of...

Is Taking a Home Office Deduction Smart?

With remote working now widely-accepted—and, in fact, historically considered a return to our roots—one of the tax benefits of self-employment is the ability to take advantage of the home office deduction. But there are some limitations.  To qualify for a deduction,...

So, You Want to Build a Niche Practice

One of the most effective ways to grow your advisory practice is by focusing on niche markets. In our white paper, Building Your Niche Market: Thinking Small to Grow Bigger, we explored the benefits of niche marketing, the range of niche market opportunities, and how...

Using Clients’ 1040 Tax Returns to Uncover Planning Opportunities

Now that the dreaded tax-filing season is over for most Americans, financial advisors can use their clients’ tax returns to identify important planning opportunities and perhaps capture some additional investible assets. A Forensic Review of Form 1040 Filing...

Spy Versus Spy: The Future of Cybersecurity

Readers of a certain age may remember “Mad” magazine’s famous comic strip parody of the Cold War, in which two spies continuously battled one another to gain an upper hand, with temporary victory alternating between the two foes.  Cybersecurity resembles this unending...

Attracting and Retaining Employees Amid “The Great Resignation”

Throughout history, social upheaval has often been one consequence of pandemics, and this time is no different. The newfound leverage of today’s workers has left many employers struggling to find the right level and mix of incentives that will attract and retain...

Take Our Financial Literacy Test

In recognition of National Financial Literacy Month, we’ve crafted a financial literacy quiz and invite all financial advisors and investors to take this 10-question challenge! (Answers appear at the bottom. See how many you can answer correctly.) 1. What is the age...

Tax Alert: 2021 Tax Credit on Childcare Expenses

The childcare tax credit underwent significant change in 2021.  The new law expanded the child and dependent care tax credit in three potentially meaningful ways for American taxpayers: The amount of qualifying child and dependent care expenses was raised from $3,000...

Time to Review Your Marketing Plan

Just as investment portfolios are not a set-it-and-forget-it exercise, neither is a financial advisor’s marketing plan. There are several good reasons why advisors should set aside time each year to review their marketing plan, including: Conditions on the ground...

Are Higher Interest Rates Bad for Emerging Markets?

Emerging market economies have been challenged by longer wait times to receive COVID-19 vaccine supplies and by their limited ability to use fiscal stimulus to counteract the economic drag of the pandemic. As developed nations’ economies recover, interest rates are...

The Digital Transformation of Your Client’s Experience

We are entering a new era of digital transformation. The integration of digital technology is resulting in fundamental changes in the business landscape—how they operate, their rate of margin growth and, most importantly, the level of customer engagement. Increasing...

Is College the Best Option?

The percentage of high school graduates enrolling in college was over 66% in 2020.1 For those who borrow to attend a university, they will graduate with, on average, almost $26,000 in debt.2 That may sound like a lot, but it needs to be compared to the additional...

Risk Management: Have an Umbrella for the Rain

Wise investing is not the only ingredient to long-term wealth accumulation. Successfully building wealth also requires a rational risk management plan. While market risk is often managed through diversification and other market-based risk strategies, non-market events...

Stock Performance in Midterm Elections

The stock market in 2022 faces a number of significant headwinds, ranging from inflation and supply chain constraints to new COVID variant breakouts and geopolitical frictions. Add another one to that list—the upcoming midterm elections. Midterm Elections Bring Lower...

Thriving in the Hybrid Work Era

After working from home during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now likely operating on a hybrid work schedule, numerous surveys have shown that employees prefer a hybrid work arrangement. Why individuals should favor a hybrid work schedule should come as no...

The Metaverse: A Primer

The metaverse, it appears, is the “next big thing.” So big that one company changed its name to Meta Platforms and multiple ETFs dedicated to metaverse investing have been created, the largest of which has about $900 million in assets and operates under the ticker...

Comparisons to the 1981-82 Recession

The 1981-82 recession was one of the worst economic contractions since the Great Depression. For many investors who lived through that period, today’s conditions hold some unsettling similarities. It’s easy to understand why. Mounting inflation in the early 80s...

The Great Homework Debate

The right amount of homework assigned to young students is a debate that has been raging for decades, refreshed regularly by a new set of parents that discover an urgent relevance in the homework load given to their children. Like many of the political and social...

Evaluating Your Leadership

Owners of a financial advisory practice are leaders, managing and motivating staff to help them achieve their mission to serve clients and grow their businesses. But how often does an advisor take a step back to evaluate their leadership performance? Am I leading...

Digital Transformation: Heard of It?

There may be no hotter topic in the business world than the idea of digital transformation. We are awash in stories of 5G, AI, machine learning, the cloud and the hybrid cloud, and how this digital revolution is transforming consumer behaviors, businesses and...

Green Buildings Changing Cities

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a green building rating system that provides a framework for building healthy, highly efficient and cost-effective green buildings. LEED may be applied to a wide range of building projects, including new...

The Labor Market: State of Change

There has been broad attention given to the changing landscape of the labor market amid the tectonic shifts triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of this attention has been focused on the rise and likely permanency of the hybrid work model and working from home....

Seven New Year’s Resolutions for Your Practice

New Year’s resolutions can be a bore; they are much discussed, widely created and largely ignored. Yet, they can serve as a catalyst to make important changes. As the financial services industry enters a new, post-pandemic year, there may not be a better time to get...

Bond Tapering: What to Expect When the Fed Tapers

There isn’t much historical experience with bond tapering. The first and last time it happened, it didn’t go so well, though it did give birth to one of those great Wall Street alliterations—the “taper tantrum.” Before we examine what investors might expect with the...

How Important is Brand Recognition of a Broker/Dealer to an Advisor’s Productivity?

A recent Wealth Solutions Report survey found that 86% of wirehouse financial advisors believe that the brand recognition of their firms help them to be more effective in gaining new clients.1 This overwhelming belief that national wirehouses provide a distinct...

Giving Thanks This Thanksgiving Day

The original Thanksgiving was a celebration of a successful harvest and shared with local Native Americans who had become trusted allies of the Pilgrims. Thanksgiving remains an important day to remember our good fortune and share our gratitude with neighbors. Amid a...

Stress Testing Financial Plans for Inflation

While many financial advisors discuss the corrosive impact inflation has on purchasing power in retirement with their clients, the truth is that the past few decades of low inflation have made this caution sound a bit hyperbolic. After years of monetary...

A Hybrid Approach to Long-Term Care Insurance

Long-term care (LTC) insurance is a mess. It’s expensive, certain policies or providers may not be available in a client’s state of residence, and who knows if the provider will still be in the business when the time comes to tap a policy’s benefits. Emerging from the...

The Subscription Economy is Taking Over

In an earlier era, the oil baron J. Paul Getty famously said, “If it appreciates, buy it. If it depreciates, lease it.” If he was around today, he might amend that to “If it depreciates, subscribe to it.” The subscription economy is moving in a myriad of different...

Your Own “Billion $” Backdoor Roth IRA Strategy

A news report that PayPal founder Peter Thiel had turned an ordinary Roth IRA into a $5 billion tax-free windfall was greeted first by “How can that happen?” and then by “How can I do that?!” While it’s unlikely that financial advisors can help their clients’ IRAs...

Roth IRA for Children: Asset Retention Strategy

Do you want to make an investment in the future value of your practice? Asset leakage due to client death is a serious long-term danger to many advisory practices since the inheritors of client assets often do not stay with the financial advisor. By working with...

5G Without the Hype

The commercials are breathless. Each of the major phone providers seems to be claiming to have the “most 5G coverage nationwide,” promising speedier connections, greater capabilities, and a more joyful and satisfying life. Yes, 5G is truly here, but its potential for...

Important 529 Plan Facts You May Not Know

A 529 plan is a highly advantageous way to save for a child’s or grandchild’s college education or pay for elementary or secondary school tuition. Earnings grow tax-deferred and avoid federal—and, in most cases, state—income tax when used to pay for qualified...

Unclaimed Funds: Become a Hero to Your Clients

There are approximately $49 billion of unclaimed funds nationwide, with some $3 billion returned to their rightful owners every year.1 Imagine if you found unclaimed funds that belonged to one or more of your clients? That just might make you a hero in their eyes. The...

Hurricane Season: Protecting Family and Home

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center is forecasting a 60% chance of an above-normal 2021 hurricane season, with a likely range of 13 to 20 named storms, of which three to five may be major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5).1...

Hurricane Season: Protecting Your Business

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that businesses suffer $9 billion in annual economic losses from hurricanes and other storm-related flooding, with only 40% of those losses covered by public or private insurance.1 With the hurricane season upon us, businesses...

Returning to School in a COVID-19 World

With most school systems opening for in-person instruction this fall, parents will need to be aware of their school’s policies and protocols, and be sensitive to their child’s anxieties about returning to the classroom. Here are some helpful tips for parents with...

The Future of Air Travel

The near-total shutdown of air travel in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is a memory growing more distant each day, though its impact may last for years to come. It seems clear that air travel has changed forever, but what may be surprising is just what those...

The Future of Labor, and How We Define Work

The labor market is on the cusp of momentous change. Technology, demographics, shifting values and, of course, a pandemic are converging to radically alter how we define work. Two recent surveys about the future of how we define work provide some provocative insights....

Getting Virtual Meetings Right

Despite the recent experience we have all had with virtual meetings, many people still do not understand how to put their best foot forward when conducting or participating in an online meeting. Virtual meetings are here to stay, so whether you are holding them with...

Financial Illiteracy: When Will We Learn?

Financial literacy has a predictive power in determining how well an individual can meet an unexpected expense or how likely someone is to save enough for retirement. A financial literacy gap not only points to a disparity in financial satisfaction, but it is a...

Breaking Loose! Post-COVID Vacation Ideas

After a year of lockdown and social distancing, Americans are ready to enjoy post-COVID life, to travel and connect again with family and friends. Since we’re not totally out of the woods yet, we’ve put together some getaway ideas that avoid the big crowds. Take a...

Resale Value of Home Improvements

The combination of ultra-low interest rates and a coronavirus pandemic has led to an explosion in home buying/selling and improvements. As homeowners increasingly think about selling their home to adapt to a changing environment, they will be confronted with whether...

Second-Opinion Financial Advice

Product line extension is a tried-and-true approach for leveraging an existing infrastructure, brand and capability set into new revenue generation. As financial advisors prepare for a future of tightening margins amid greater competition, offering individuals a...

PEP Up Your Retirement Business

Financial advisors now have a new arrow in their quiver for their small employer retirement plan business—the pooled employer plan (PEP). PEPs are the creation of the SECURE Act and are designed to help small businesses offer retirement plans at a significantly lower...

Is Hydrogen the Next Big Green Trade?

It has long been the hope of clean-energy proponents to use renewable energy sources to create “green hydrogen.” In fact, President Clinton saw it as a key to moving away from fossil fuels. This dream has been frustrated by technological limitations, but that may now...

Six Tips for Working from Home

The era of working from home arrived in an instant. After decades of commuting to the office, suddenly Americans found themselves working from home. For many it has become a permanent arrangement. Here are six ways to make working from home (WFH) more sustainable....

Giving Generation X a Little Love

You have to feel sorry for members of Generation X—they were born in the shadow of the largest generation of Americans in history. They didn’t even get a cool name, like “Baby Boomers” or “The Greatest Generation”; they just got an “X” as if to remind them of their...

Fake News – Fact Checking the Internet

The internet is a powerful tool for conducting valuable research and obtaining news. It is also, unfortunately, a repository for some of the most awful misinformation and lies. In this era of fake news, how does one discern fact from fiction? Mark Twain famously...

Time to Update Your Business Plan

A client’s success is predicated on having a dynamic plan that adjusts to changing circumstances. The same holds true for a financial advisor, whose business plan must be continuously updated so that it can serve its essential function of growing a practice. Reasons...

Corporate Culture: Capitalism 2.0: Beyond ESG

Capitalism has many advantages, but it does have a reputation for having rough edges, especially as it relates to its historical treatment of labor, consumers and the communities in which companies have operated. Many of the worst excesses have been managed and...

When Refinancing Does (and Doesn’t) Make Sense

With mortgage rates nearly 100 bps lower today than in the first quarter of 20191, many of your clients may be considering refinancing their current mortgage. If they haven’t already discussed refinancing, it may be a good idea for you to start that conversation....

Diversity and Inclusion: What it Means and Why it Matters

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace has become a hot button topic. It is catalyzed by the growing awareness of continued inequities in our society. Motivated by both moral and sound business reasons, Corporate America has become a leader in effecting real change....

The New Role of CEOs: Speaking Out on Social Issues

Michael Jordan, Hall of Fame basketball player and entrepreneur, once explained his silence on social issues by saying that “Republicans buy shoes, too.” This perspective was common for the time. Most business leaders shied away from taking a stand on political or...

Working From Home: A Millennia-Long Tradition

The widespread view of this new wave of working from home is that it’s a revolutionary transformation in the way humans perform their labor. History teaches us that it is less a revolution and more a return to our historic roots. Take any historical period prior to...

The Confluence of University-Based Retirement

Baby Boomers have redefined the culture since the early 1960s, and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they are redefining retirement. One of the ways they are doing this is through university-based retirement. In other words, Boomers are headed where educational...

Do Professional Designations Add to Advisor Credibility?

The primary reason advisors pursue professional designations is so that the knowledge gained can help them better serve their clients. An indirect outcome of obtaining that professional designation is that it can add to an advisor’s credibility among his or her...

Disruptive Technologies in Financial Services

The disruption in financial services is breathtaking. A recent survey of the financial services landscape by PwC,1 a global consultancy, identified the top 10 disruptive technologies affecting the financial industry today. Fintech will drive a new business model....

Advancing Women in the Workplace

Women have made exceptional progress at work, but there remain many miles to travel before gender equality is truly achieved in the workplace. While this current inequality can, in part, be addressed with public policy initiatives, there are a number of things that...

Press Releases: A Marketing Staple

Often overlooked amid the attention and energy spent on social media marketing, the prosaic press release remains an effective and inexpensive way for promoting the visibility of your practice. Let’s explore the benefits of press releases and how you can maximize...

Are Energy Stocks a Smart Source of Retirement Income?

Is it smart to make energy stocks a part of a retiree’s income plan when the demand for oil is low, the end of the fossil fuel era many be nearing, and a new generation of ESG-oriented investors and portfolio managers avoid them? Consider that Exxon Mobil, once the...

Previewing a Post-COVID-19 World

The coronavirus pandemic is changing our world in two broad ways: by accelerating trends that were already under way and by igniting entirely new and unexpected changes. But what will the world be like post-COVID-19? Since the pandemic began, forecasters have been...

The Inflation Tail Risk

While deflation remains the predominant fear of central bankers thanks to the depressed demand in the wake of a coronavirus-ravaged global economy, there is a small body of economists and market observers worried about inflation resurrecting itself after years of...

The Financial Advisor’s Role in Sustainable Investing

Sustainable investing is not a fad. Following responsible environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices is the new face of capitalism. Increasingly, ESG considerations are priority objectives for corporate leadership, key inputs for how asset managers deploy...

Re-Configuring America’s Supply Chains

Catalyzed by the trade war between China and the U.S., and accelerated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, American businesses are increasingly examining their supply chains to reduce their reliance on Chinese sourcing and enhance their resiliency against...

Millennial Financial Advisors

Every generation makes its mark — the Millennial generation is no different. We already see signs of how Millennial financial advisors are changing the landscape of the financial advisory business. One of the biggest ways in which Millennial financial advisors will...

How Digital Drives Financial Performance

There is a case being made that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated by five to 10 years the transformation of the American economy by forcing businesses to push ahead with digital solutions and strategies in a stay-at-home world. So, whether it’s a...

Is China’s Economy the Future?

There is a wide consensus that China’s economy will overtake the U.S. economy in the next 10-15 years. For many Americans, the idea of a country opposed to the principles of democracy and free-market capitalism becoming the world’s economic superpower causes great...

The Imperative of Visual Communication

It is known through the discovery of early cave paintings that humans have long communicated using pictures. The adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” speaks to the broad understanding that visual communication is easier to recognize, process, and recall than...

Monetary Policy and the Stock Market

It’s no secret that central banks play an influential role in the direction of the stock market. To illustrate just how much of a factor they are in setting stock prices, we only need to go back to late 2018 when stocks plunged on the Fed’s turn toward quantitative...

Revisiting the Sequence of Returns Risk

Any advisor knows the sequence of returns risk may be the greatest risk facing retirees. The danger of down markets occurring near to or early in retirement, coupled with withdrawals to fund retirement spending, can be lethal to the longevity of an individual’s...

The Future of … Privacy at Risk – How the Internet Exposes You

Your home has always been your safe space; inside those walls, you and your family found refuge and privacy. This safe space is swiftly eroding, thanks to the rise of the home Internet of things. Smart TVs, security systems, fitness and health wearables, and networked...

Five Indicators of Economic Recovery

Listen to the financial news and you’ll probably hear many conflicting views on what data to follow to determine the state of our economic recovery. It can be confusing, but it needn’t be so complicated. Here are the five critical economic measures that, I believe,...

What is the GDP Impact of Free Technology?

From search engines to GPS, the mark of this latest iteration of technological evolution is that so much innovation is made available to consumers for free. Despite the advent of companies like Google, Uber and Facebook, economic growth has been below trend for the...

The Psychology of Credit Cards

Credit cards are indispensable in our modern economy. They facilitate economic transactions, save consumers from carrying cash and finance purchases on the spot. They also come with a huge drawback—they often encourage overspending, which can undermine an individual’s...

At Your Own Risk: Ignoring the Risk Conversation

The raison d’etre of financial advisors is helping individuals build wealth and reach important financial goals while ensuring risk management. Perhaps the greatest risk to an individual’s wealth accumulation plan is the risk of financial loss due to lost income,...

COVID-19 Playbook: Managing Your Staff

Managing employees can be challenging under the most ordinary of circumstances. Introduce a health danger, like the Coronavirus, and motivating employees and helping them balance their professional and personal lives adds an altogether different level of challenge....

Three Investment Lessons from the Coronavirus Pandemic

The coronavirus (COVID-19) impact on the market has been unsettling. Uncertainty regarding its spread and ultimate economic impact has resulted in exceptional price volatility. While we don’t have any special insight into these two unknowns, we do believe that there...

The COVID-19 Playbook: Client Meetings

However long the COVID-19 pandemic lasts, individuals’ degree of comfort with re-engaging socially will take much longer to reach its pre-COVID-19 level, with the recovery period varying by individual and by region of the country. In the months ahead, as the nation’s...

Will Emerging Markets Ever Emerge?

Perhaps the most crowded trade coming into 2019 was emerging markets. In a world of aging demographics and slowing economic growth, developing countries were viewed by many market experts as the most recent place to find outsized growth. Here’s what one of the...

The COVID-19 Playbook

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the landscape of the everyday normal we all took for granted, from going to work and visiting friends to eating out and shopping. Your practice has been no exception. Whether the changes that the COVID-19 outbreak have wrought are...

What is Your HNW Client Experience?

Mandarin Oriental is known for its extraordinary customer experience. So is Porsche. High-net-worth clients and investors have different, higher expectations for everything, from the products they consume to the services they engage. What are you doing to create an...

Retirement Black Swans

A well-planned retirement contemplates the risks that could upend financial security in retirement. For the most part, a prudent, comprehensive plan incorporates these major, known risks, such as inflation, investment risk, sequence of returns risk, health care costs...

Does Borrowing Against Life Insurance Cash Value Make Sense?

Many of your clients purchased a permanent life insurance policy years ago, dutifully paying the premiums and building cash value along the way. They understand the value of life insurance during retirement. This cash value may now represent a source of funds to pay...

Do Your Clients Understand Your Value?

There is considerable skepticism in many corners about the value of a financial advisor, ranging from traditional media outlets to the guy in the basement blogging on financial matters. Of course, this mistrust is nothing new—after all, “Where are the Customers’...

In the Regulatory Crosshairs: The Cost/Benefit of Regulation

With growing calls for more regulation on big tech companies, it’s easy to get caught up in the hyperbole of talking heads and crusading politicians. No one today has any idea where this talk will lead, but it’s clear that some of America’s biggest companies have...

Women Jumping Back Into the Workforce After Raising Family

Studies show that 74 percent of professional women return to the workforce after taking a break to raise children.1 Very often, this re-entry into the working world isn’t with a previous employer or even in the same profession; this may happen for a variety of...

Latest Trends on Sustainable and Responsible Investing

Since 1995, the U.S. SIF: Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment has produced a biennial survey of the SRI (Sustainable, Responsible, Impact) asset management industry. Its most recent report, “Report on U.S. Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing...

Modern Monetary Theory: Voodoo Economics Redux?

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) postulates that countries that incur debt denominated in their own currency needn’t worry about government deficits because they can always print new money to fund their debt. The central idea behind MMT is that conventional views about...

Ways to Manage and Reduce Student Debt

Student debt hit a new high in 2019, reaching a massive $1.5 trillion owed by 44 million borrowers.1  This debt represents a heavy individual burden and has extracted a high economic toll, with excessive student loan debt soaking up a disproportionate share of income...

The Next Digital Disruption

The digital disruption of the U.S. economy will continue unabated, though in new and potentially more disruptive ways, so argues Thales Teixeira, a Harvard professor, in his new book “Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Customer Disruption.”...

Surviving the Great Disruption—A Framework for Investment Professionals with Fee Compression

When Amazon announced its acquisition of PillPack—signaling its seriousness about entering the drug prescription delivery business—shares of the major drugstore companies plummeted by more than $12 billion. The loss of the stock is the same as an investment...

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria is a framework for evaluating a company’s impact on the environment, community and employees, and for measuring the effectiveness of their corporate governance policies. Impact investing, Socially Responsible...

Protect Clients with a “Trusted Contact”

New rules went into effect in February 2018 to help protect seniors against financial abuse. Rule 4512 now requires advisors to make reasonable efforts to obtain the name and contact information of a trusted contact for a customer’s account. Additionally, Rule 2165...

The Measure of Alpha

In 1973, author and social critic Norman Mailer coined the word “factoid” to describe false information, which when repeated often enough, would come to be viewed as a fact. Today, more often than not, factoid is used to describe a trivial piece of information. A...

The Emotionally Unprepared Retiree

The financial services industry’s perspective of retirement tends to be a narrow one, viewing it as largely a financial experience. We calculate how much individuals need to fund retirement, determine the required annual savings and implement an appropriate investment...

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