Search - Advisor Perspectives

Growth for an RIA usually means boosting assets under management and/or client count. However, this presents a problem for the diligent RIA: How do you responsibly grow your firm without jeopardizing quality – and, with it, the existing client relationships you cherish? The answers could fill volumes. Avoiding these four big mistakes is a crucial start to grow while maintaining quality.

The Investing Implications of Negative Interest Rates

by Russ Koesterich of BlackRock, 3/1/16

BlackRock's Russ Koesterich and investment strategist Terry Simpson explain how negative interest rates may impact various asset classes.

Ed Hyman: The Next Recession is Five to Six Years Away

by Jeffrey Briskin, 2/29/16

The U.S. economy is showing signs of weakness, but the next recession is five to six years away, according to Ed Hyman, the chairman of Evercore ISI, a global economic research and investment banking advisory firm.

On My Radar: Expect More Money Printing

by Steve Blumenthal of CMG Capital Management Group, 2/29/16

“Time to put 25% to 30% of your wealth in cash.” – Mohammed El-Erian

Breaking: Golden Cross for Gold

by Frank Holmes of U.S. Global Investors, 2/26/16

Today, gold experienced a “golden cross,” a technical indicator that occurs when an asset’s 50-day moving average crosses above its 200-day moving average. It’s the first such movement in nearly two years and is a sign that gold might have further to climb.

An Escalating War on Cash

by John Browne of Euro Pacific Capital, 2/25/16

On February 16th, The Washington Post printed the article, "It's time to kill the $100 bill." This came on the heels of a CNNMoney item, the day before, entitled "Death of the 500 euro bill getting closer." The former cited a recent Harvard Kennedy School working paper, No. 52 by Senior Fellow Peter Sands, concluding that the abolition of high denomination notes would help deter "tax evasion, financial crime, terrorist finance and corruption."

Will HELOCs Trigger a Banking Crisis?

by Keith Jurow, 2/22/16

After disregarding the looming home equity line of credit (HELOC) disaster for several years, Wall Street and media pundits have finally taken notice. Homeowners with HELOCs will soon see them convert to fully amortizing loans and will face a huge increase in their monthly payment. Banks have not set aside adequate reserves to cover a HELOC-driven crisis, which would impact even those investors in broadly diversified index funds.

The Fed Prepares to Dive

by John Mauldin of Mauldin Economics, 2/22/16

This week’s letter has two parts. The first deals with some of the practical aspects of negative rates and what the Fed is really signaling. The second part, which is somewhat philosophical, deals with why the Fed will institute negative rates during the next recession. This letter is longer than usual, but I think it’s important to understand why we will see negative rates in the world’s reserve currency (and the currency in which most global trade is conducted). This policy trend is truly a foray into unexplored territory.

Monopoly Is Going Cashless. Could We Be Next?

by Frank Holmes of U.S. Global Investors, 2/20/16

Hasbro Gaming just released an “Ultimate Banking” version of the popular board game Monopoly that nixes the funny money in favor of play credit cards and an electronic scanner.

5 Myths About the Recent Decline in the Stock Markets

by Jim Atkinson of Guinness Atkinson Asset Management, 2/17/16

The financial news in early 2016 hasn’t been good. When we say the news hasn’t been good what we really mean is that the news media has been hyperbolic in their treatment of the weak market. Here are a few of the adjectives used to describe market activity: nightmarish, plunged, dive, rocked, plummeted. And this is just from a single article! Yes, we know the market is down and frankly we’re not happy about it. But…

Global Stock Index In Bear Market - What To Do Now

by Gary Halbert of Halbert Wealth Management, 2/17/16

The plunge in global equity prices that has accelerated this year continued last week. Investors around the world are worried and as usual, many are bailing out of their buy-and-hold strategies. This is nothing new, unfortunately.

5 Reasons to Keep Calm and Stay Diversified

by Kristina Hooper of Allianz Global Investors, 2/17/16

Recent market turmoil underscores the necessity of active management and the ability to take advantage of volatility. US Investment Strategist Kristina Hooper says this is not a time to move to cash, but to take a longer-term view—with confidence—through periods of tumult.

International Economic Week in Review: Data Points To Continued Weak Growth, Not Recession, Edition

by Hale Stewart, 2/14/16

Most major economies are OK. Yes, there are potential issues related to emerging market weakness bleeding into larger, advanced economies. But, as of this writing, we’re still in a slow, grinding growth.

Trump: We’re Getting Railed by High Taxes and Regulations

by Frank Holmes of U.S. Global Investors, 2/12/16

It’s not the first time Trump has made a wild claim, but in this case he’s right, by one very important measure—the corporate statutory tax rate. Since 1990, this rate has hovered around 39 percent, making it the highest among OECD nations, and for the largest GDP in the world.

70 Is the New 65: Demographics Still Support 'Lower Rates for Longer'

by Matthew Tracey, Joachim Fels of PIMCO, 2/10/16

The so-called demographic cliff remains at least a decade away; meanwhile, global demographics should continue fueling the savings glut.

Suffering Stock Market Stress?

by Chuck Carnevale of F.A.S.T. Graphs, 2/8/16

It would be an understatement to call the recent stock market activity turbulent. High stock price volatility makes investors anxious and some people even become downright frightened. These emotional responses are often exaggerated for people in or near retirement. Therefore, I contend that all investors need to find ways to keep their emotions in check in order to avoid panicking, which typically leads to the making of a devastating financial mistake.

$100 Trillion Up in Smoke

by John Mauldin of Mauldin Economics, 2/6/16

The total value of all the world’s oil reserves is over $100 trillion less than it was just a year and a half ago.

10 Numbers to Know for the Chinese New Year

by Frank Holmes of U.S. Global Investors, 2/6/16

I’ve put together 10 figures to know as China enters a new year.

GMO Quarterly Letter

by Ben Inker, Jeremy Grantham of GMO, 2/5/16

In a new quarterly letter to GMO's institutional clients, co-head of asset allocation Ben Inker examines U.S. high yield corporate bonds, an "asset class that had a notably bad year," concluding, "at current spreads, high yield seems to be no worse than fair value and probably better than that... In today's environment, that makes it one of the best available risk assets for investors" ("Giving a Little Credit to High Yield").

What Would Minsky Do Now?

by Laurence B. Siegel, 2/1/16

In the two decades since his death, Hyman Minsky’s stature has grown enormously. He foresaw the great financial crisis of 2007-2009, and economists routinely refer to “Minsky moments” as the tipping point when seemingly stable financial markets collapse with catastrophic consequences. It’s instructive to speculate on how Minsky would view our post-crisis economic recovery, and a new book allows us to do just that.

Tokyo Doubles Down

by John Mauldin of Mauldin Economics, 2/1/16

I’ve been busily writing a letter on oil and energy, but in the middle of the process I decided yesterday that I really needed to talk to you about the Bank of Japan’s “surprise” interest-rate move to -0.1%. And I don’t so much want to comment on the factual of the policy move as on what it means for the rest of the world, and especially the US.

Why Most Equity Mutual Funds Underperform and How to Identify Those that Outperform

by C. Thomas Howard, PhD, 1/26/16

The real culprit for the underperformance of actively managed funds is the structural decisions made by fund companies: asset bloat, closet indexing and over-diversification. These structural inefficiencies can be measured and ranked using a methodology dubbed the Portfolio Drag index. Once understood, it is fairly straightforward to avoid high portfolio-drag funds and reap the value add of skill.

The First Eagle Portfolio Management Team on the Trends Driving Global Opportunities

by Robert Huebscher, 1/25/16

First Eagle’s Global Fund (SGENX) is its flagship fund, with over $45 billion in assets. Since inception (1/1/79), it has returned 13.35% annually, versus 9.50% for the MSCI world index. Over the last 15 years, it has been in the top 2% of its peer group. I recently spoke with its managers about the global trends driving opportunities for their fund.