For almost three decades the acronym TAMP, for turnkey asset management program, has stuck. It’s time to kill it.

Tax proposals and changes to the tax code are a near daily story right now.

Frank Pape is the senior director, portfolio consulting for Russell Investments’ advisor and intermediary solutions business. In this interview, he discusses the latest research on how advisors can maximize the after-tax income for their clients.

New research documents the abject failure of the vast majority of municipal bond funds to outperform a passive benchmark.

Tweedy Browne is one of the most respected value managers in the world, with a legacy that includes having Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett as clients. In this interview, members of its investment committee explain why value investing is on the cusp of a resurgence.

Two months. That’s how long the pandemic-triggered recession lasted, from February to April 2020, making it the shortest economic downturn in U.S. history, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research’s (NBER) Business Cycle Dating Committee.

Rising interest rates generated negative year-to-date returns for investment grade bonds in 2021, but the second half of the year looks more promising. We believe the combination of reduced supply and strong demand will create attractive opportunities, and we are constructive on corporate credit and asset backed securities (ABS).

Form CRS is under greater SEC scrutiny by the Biden administration. How advisors and broker-dealer representatives are compared matters. A review of a few major firms’ CRS is illustrative.

The most torrid Treasuries rally in a year is likely set for a breather as traders reassess their rush to abandon reflation bets with some potentially decisive events looming in the coming days.

For years, David Horowitz at Agilon Capital was a rare breed in the bond market: a quant in a notoriously old-school business where prices were a call rather than a click away.

TINA has been applied to investing. You must buy stocks because TINA. You can’t make money any other way. Just close your eyes, buy and hold forever. Or at least through a full market cycle. Frankly, I think that’s stupid.

With respect to managing portfolios in an inflationary environment, we have taken great care to emphasize companies that we believe have pricing power due to the mission-critical or value-add nature of their products and services.

Legendary global investor John Templeton once said that the best time to buy was when there was “maximum pessimism,” and the best time to sell was when there was “maximum optimism.”

Here are the components of a succession communications plan and the steps to take to put them together.

Inflation continues to be a concern these days, and many investors are looking for investments that can keep pace with, or hopefully beat, the rate of inflation

Buying shares trading at 40 times earnings may not sound like a good deal. But that’s exactly what Maneesh Deshpande is telling clients to do.

Growth stocks have lagged cyclicals so far in 2021, but we remain steadfast in our belief that secular growth is the key to generating long-term returns. In this piece, we discuss how we find attractive opportunities in the small cap universe.

A proposal by the Biden administration would remove the preferential tax considerations for long-term holders of stocks. In so doing, it will cause investors to favor active ETFs over traditional actively managed mutual funds.

Dimensional Fund Advisors just became one of the biggest players in the $6.5 trillion exchange-traded fund arena.

Millions of people – many of whom are excellent financial planning prospects – may not realize that they have to deal with cross-border planning complications which, if handled clumsily or not at all, will significantly reduce their wealth.

Past studies found some evidence of persistence of outperformance in private equity and venture capital. But new research challenges those findings and makes a compelling case that advisors and their clients should proceed with caution in those assets classes, investing only when they are confident they have identified a compelling strategic advantage.

The strength of the municipal-bond market shows no sign of fading in the next few months, sustaining the securities’ historic valuations with investors plowing money into funds that buy tax-exempt debt.

Treasury yields fell again in May and credit spreads approached recent tights as the virus continued to recede, allowing the reopening of the economy to progress. Economic data was noisy this month, largely due to base effects, but confirms the ongoing trend of renewed growth and signs of inflation.

Proponents of the fiduciary standard claim that it will lead to better financial outcomes for clients. But a new study of Canadian advisors, who resemble U.S.-based RIAs but do not adhere to a fiduciary standard, casts doubt on this assertion.

In 2021, municipal (“muni”) bonds have been a tough asset class to manage due to overwhelming demand and limited supply in the market.

One of the most asked questions I receive is; how do I evaluate ETFs?

In good news for high-yield bonds, recovery rates on defaults are also improving from the concerningly low levels of recent months, as energy-sector defaults have worked through the system. However, recovery rates are still well below their historical level, which indicates weak bond covenants.

In a November 1789 letter addressed to his good friend, Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin shared that America was off to a great start and the recently established U.S. Constitution showed much promise but immediately added, “In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.”

Custodians, technology vendors, compliance firms, service platforms, TAMPs, etc., all make for a wonderful ecosystem of solutions from which advisors can choose. But it also makes for a complex and intimidating review and selection process. It doesn’t have to be.

Passive equity portfolios continue to gain popularity, but some investors might not know that a small group of outperforming stocks have driven most of the gains in recent years.

In a complete reversal from what was expected roughly a year ago, the outlook for muni issuers is much brighter.

Investors following an ESG mandate can achieve their goals only if they can accurately and consistently identify stocks that meet their criteria. But new research shows that those criteria have been subject to arbitrary revisions and that there are wide discrepancies among the vendors providing the data.

I don’t question Elon Musk’s good intentions, but I respectfully disagree with the underlying insinuation that crypto miners in particular are a threat to the climate. It’s just not true, for reasons I explain below.

This week’s fund-raising round for online brokerage Wealthsimple Inc. shows how Power Corp. of Canada’s fintech investments will pay off for the financial conglomerate, IGM Financial Inc. Chief Executive Officer James O’Sullivan says.

It is a particularly good time to invest in the commodities markets.

A host of impediments stand in the way of allocating funds to annuities. Some issues relate to brokers or advisors, and others involve their clients. Some are valid, but others are questionable and reflect irrational behavioral biases.

One of my all-time favorite quotes comes from Winston Churchill, who was just as witty as he was a great leader: “We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”

America’s municipal bonds are staging their longest winning streak against Treasuries in seven years.

Climate research informs us that in 2017 anthropogenic global warming reached1.0° C above pre-industrial levels (IPCC, 2018).

This “fat, juicy pitch down the middle” stock-picking opportunity could stretch many months into the future. Professional managers and investors should embrace this opportunity for as long as it lasts.

In less than four months, investors have already poured more cash into ETFs tracking U.S. stocks than they did in all of 2020.

The exchange-traded fund revolution sweeping through U.S. money management is eliciting little more than a shrug from a European cohort arguably next in line for disruption.

For those who elect to take passive strategies, like TDFs, assess your risk profile and that of the markets and invest accordingly.

A flexible bond strategy can deliver strong performance with low volatility by diversifying across global markets.

From 1949 through 1964, the S&P 500 enjoyed an average annual total return of 16.4%. In the 8 years that followed, through 1972, the total return of the index averaged a substantially lower 7.6% annually; strikingly close to the 7.5% projection that Graham had suggested based on prevailing valuations, yet still providing what Graham had suggested would likely “carry a fair degree of protection” against inflation, which averaged 3.9% over that period.

Yes, the housing market is a bit overheated, but for reasons that make far more sense than the rationalizations of stock market bulls. Some buyers are certainly overpaying and may regret it. Nonetheless, I don’t foresee another 2008-style housing crash in the near future, nor anything like the subprime crisis. There are altogether different fundamentals working here.

Green funds have gained a reputation of benefiting from the tech rally during the pandemic. As the economy recovers and investors shift to cheaper stocks, those products might still be able to thrive.

In retail investing, do the “blind lead the blind?” Such was a question I asked recently about young investors who are “Long Confidence And Short Experience.”

My generation, millennials (those born from 1980 to 2000), have been noted for much of the last 10 years to be a risk averse group.

I recently discussed why “Free, Isn’t Really Free” regarding the retail investor. While “free trades” have certainly reduced the transaction costs, the selling of data to the highest bidder has likely cost investors more than they saved.