Webinar

A Guide to Helping Clients with Succession Planning and Liquidity Events

Business owners have unique needs; among them are answering the question of how to preserve wealth and successfully transition their businesses.

Join the experts at Clark Capital Management Group as they explore how advisors can help business owners navigate liquidity events, plan for succession, and plan for the next big change. Drawing on experience from hundreds of business owner clients and the expertise of Clark Capital’s Client Portfolio Management Team, this free educational webcast is a can’t-miss event for advisors seeking to better serve their clients.

Commentary

Navigating Market Uncertainties

It’s been an interesting first half of the year. Markets performed very well in the face of continued Fed tightening, calls for an imminent recession, a regional banking crisis, debt ceiling debate, and drama around an 11th-hour deal to avoid a default on U.S. debt.

White Paper

The Independent Advisor’s Guide to Pitching High Net Worth Clients

We believe one of the most important yet overlooked aspects of winning high net worth clients is putting together a pitch that creates trust, confidence, and comfort. Drawing on our experience of meeting with high net worth clients for over 35 years, we’ve compiled this guide to help you.

Commentary

Navigating Mid-Term Elections: Smooth Sailing or Choppy Waters Ahead?

Trade tariffs, feuds with the Fed, Russia investigations…Today’s political environment is anything but ordinary. What should investors expect ahead of this year’s mid-term elections?

Commentary

What Clients Want: The Case for Collaborative Portfolio Construction

Today, people want and expect to be informed and active participants in the products and services they buy. This is a huge benefit to your practice if you embrace the process of collaborative portfolio construction. From an investment standpoint, the end result is a personalized portfolio centered around the client’s needs, built to last for the long term.

Commentary

Health Tracking vs. Wealth Tracking

The industry is rapidly shifting towards an outcome-oriented, goals based investing framework and the way we decide to report information to investors will have consequences, for better or for worse.

Commentary

Trump Wins, Trump Wins — Uh-Oh, What Now?

Wow. Our Brexit moment! We just witnessed a political revolution in the U.S. that hasn’t been seen since Ronald Reagan in 1980. Now what do we believe this means for the markets and the economy?

Commentary

Delivering Anxiety-Adjusted Returns with a Time Segmented Approach

Time and time again, advisors say their largest challenge is managing client emotions. If clients are unhappy or anxious about their investments, they run the risk of making impulsive or emotionally fueled decisions.

Commentary

High Yields: Love ‘em if You Can Leave ‘em

Investor demand for high yield debt has been strong in recent months. And even though spreads have come down and the opportunity for capital appreciation is lower, there simply aren’t many other options for investors looking for yield. Although things look good now, conditions in high yields can deteriorate rapidly. It’s important to be able to move to safer areas of fixed income when necessary.
Commentary

Is Your Client a Modern-Day Sisyphus?

Managing clients’ emotions is challenging and frustrating, yet it can be extremely rewarding when executed well. Here are three ways you can help a client get a handle on their reactions to the ups and downs of the markets and avoid feeling like a modern day Sisyphus.
Commentary

Central Banks Playing Chutes and Ladders

Chutes and Ladders is a child’s board game, based on a 10 by 10 grid numbered 1 to 100. Children are rewarded for good deeds by advancing up the ladder and drawing closer to the winning #100 square. Bad deeds cause you to go backwards, sliding down the chutes toward the beginning of the game at square #1. In the game, there are 9 ladders and 10 chutes. Let’s examine the issues facing the Fed within this simplistic construct.
Commentary

Gain Over Pain: Helping Investors Stay in the Game

Ironically, clients would have the same emotional response to a bear market as they would have to an actual bear chasing them in the woods. In either scenario, adrenaline spikes, areas of the brain responsible for rational decision-making are reduced, and the body turns on systems that can help a person run away from danger and preserve their safety. As financial professionals, it is our job to help ensure that our clients prioritize gain ahead of pain while also obtaining some level of comfort with pain.
Commentary

Collaboration – the New Model for High-Net-Worth Investors?

If you’re seeking to grow your high-net-worth client base, I’d like to propose a new framework for the portfolio construction process: co-creation or collaborative portfolio construction. As we embark on a post-DOL reality, this model may be the most appropriate way to ensure that investment strategies are truly in the client’s best interest and fully support their long-term goals.
Commentary

Commit to a Great Communication Strategy in 2016

Our industry is suffering from a communications crisis. In fact, a wealth of industry statistics cite poor communication as a top reason clients fire their financial advisor. Too often, our clients just don’t understand what we’re saying. Here are three tips for ensuring clients understand the messages you’re trying to convey.
Commentary

Managing Fixed Income in a Changing Interest Rate Environment

Tired of the constant chatter about where interest rates are headed and what will happen when they finally rise? We’ve compiled the following five ideas for positioning your clients’ bond portfolios to capture opportunities and navigate risks in fixed income — regardless of where rates go.