Soon-to-be retirees are reevaluating things like when to stop working, whether they should move and how to strategize their spending.
Since healthcare costs are the number one fear in retirement for Americans, this article will focus on which states are the least expensive to retire in based on healthcare costs.
After the steep drop in prices during the first half of this year, yields on many corporate bond investments are at or near 12-year highs.
What are the most common scenarios that give rise to private foundations converting to DAFs (or making a thoughtful decision not to convert), while preserving the original donor’s intent and satisfying the administrative concerns of surviving family members?
I’m having a hard time training one of our newer advisors on how to be a good listener.
To celebrate Pride Month, four PIMCO executives share their perspectives on inclusion and diversity in the workplace and the importance of visible representation.
My CFP peers must be tired of hearing me sing the praises of living in South Dakota. But one of them recently emailed some disturbing news. A recent national survey that ranked financial literacy placed South Dakota in 49th place.
Social Security applies a substantially higher penalty on people subject to GPO for claiming widow(er) and spousal benefits prior to normal retirement age.
Latin America tilted further left this week as Colombian voters elected Gustavo Petro as president. Come August, the former Bogotá mayor and member of the M-19 guerrilla organization will join the region’s growing list of leftist leaders in a political shift some are likening to the “pink tide” of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
While everyone’s financial journey is different, there are actionable steps advisors can take to empower their female clients’ financial futures and health.
Lifetime income solutions are high on the wish lists of defined contribution (DC) plan participants, with the certainty of a guaranteed lifetime income stream ranking as the top feature in our surveys over the past decade.
Here’s how to position yourself for a lifetime of relationships by creating better touchpoints with a client’s family.
Because the consequences of leaving longevity unmanaged are likely to be the most devastating, advisors must act now to address it.
There is no Hall of Fame for single parents. There should be. The challenges of being a single parent are monumental.
US credit-card rates have soared past 20%, mortgage costs have climbed to the highest since 2008 and companies are having a harder time borrowing money.
In 2003, at age 19, Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos, and it became a $10 billion company by 2014. But it was a fraud. Aspects of target date funds mirror the Holmes story.
I have identified a few opportunities within my portfolio and wealth management practice that prompt consideration for your own strategies as you plan for large estates.
I would be very concerned if my financial planner didn’t have their own planner. Research shows that financial planning results in increased emotional and financial wellbeing, even for clients who are planners themselves. Use our Premium membership to add your logo to this article and send it to your clients and prospects.
With the Federal Open Markets Committee due to meet Wednesday, there was no way policy makers could guide the market on how last week’s awful inflation data for May had changed their plans.
Social Security has a problem.
Even as the US real estate market shows signs of cooling, inflation and higher interest rates are making it difficult for young house hunters to buy properties — at least on their own.
US workers can’t quit quitting.
Using this five-question framework will go a long way to help you be effective as you work with foreign-born families in the U.S.
I’ve supported many clients through times of loss and transition such as divorces, deaths of parents or spouses, business failures, and natural disasters. Following are some of the things I’ve learned.
The Social Security benefit formula is short-changing a select group of retirees, and the losses are apt to exceed $25,000 over a lifetime. There is no effort to fix the flaw, so the concern is on-going.
I’m going to review the research on safe-spending rates and then critique common methods of risk mitigation. I’ll offer the practical methods to reduce sequence-of-return risk that I suggest to my clients.
Despite the massive selloff in equities this year and persistently high inflation, Dawn Fitzpatrick isn’t worried about a recession in the immediate future.
Even in 2022, pensions still command an aura of reverence. A benefit where you work for one company for 30 years and then retire with a livable wage? And you don’t have to fret about picking investments? What’s not to like?
How can you put the “know, like, trust” element of relationship marketing to work for your business at scale?
Meet a woman driven to change investment regulation and understand why it’s important that she succeeds.
How are advisors coping with the new Department of Labor (DOL) rollover rules? Here are a dozen observations.
Memorial Day deserves the great recognition it gets. Remembering the service of those who died for our country is a civic duty. This includes remembering, doing and acting in a manner that there is no doubt the character of military and finance leaders must be first.
The price of foods, fuels and other essential items are spiraling ever upward as Russia’s war on Ukraine compounds supply-chain woes stemming from the pandemic. Central banks may be in the driving seat when it comes to tackling inflation, but it’s governments that face the fallout and so are compelled to act.
How much money would it take to make you feel wealthy? What is wealth? What is money? These are just some of the mind-bending questions raised by the results of a new Charles Schwab Corp. survey taken way back in Ye Olden Times of February.
Every advisor will agree with the goal of giving their clients peace of mind. But there’s mounting evidence few actually do. Why is that?
Many Americans expect a significant shortfall in their retirement savings. Fifty-six percent said they expect to have less than $500,000 saved by the time they retire, including 36% who anticipate having less than $250,000.
The parallels between the 2020s and the 1970s grow more numerous by the day. The economy faces the threat of stagflation. Fuel prices are surging, and shortages loom. Politicians are flailing. The international environment is deteriorating. The Supreme Court is revisiting the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.
The U.S. was experiencing some of the highest inflation in its history.
A fatal shortcoming lies beneath the academic papers that have relied upon “back-testing” to promote the 4% rule. Use our Premium membership service to add your logo and send this to clients.
New graduates face fierce financial headwinds of soaring rent, ballooning student debt and inflation. The oft-repeated message to the young to “save early and often” may feel near-impossible. Still, it's worth highlighting the benefit of doing so for those who can somehow squirrel some money away.
Our weekly commentaries provide Euro Pacific Capital's latest thinking on developments in the global marketplace.
Plan for long-term Inflation that will be fought aggressively by the Fed, higher policy rates, and slower economic growth, according to Raghuram Rajan.
Note: This commentary has been updated with the latest numbers from the latest Employment Report for April. Consider: Today nearly one in three of the 65-69 cohort and one in five of the 70-74 cohort are in the labor force.
Modern slavery is a lucrative business that can’t exist without the financial system.
Unless RIAs modify their communications strategies, the failure to address the need for retirement income communications will be felt for years.
When stocks are plunging, checking your investment accounts is risky business. The market turbulence is jarring for younger investors, who had gotten used to the idea that stocks always go up. And for those with a bit more experience, watching hard-earned money suddenly disappear is a terrible experience.
We have a woman on our team who seems to enjoy stirring things up.
“Agents are standing by” to help your clients make one of the most pivotal financial decisions of their retirement… a decision that will blindside you as their advisor and throw even the most carefully crafted retirement plan for a loss. Sometimes, a very big loss.
From organizing your closet to deep cleaning your kitchen, we're sure there's plenty for you to do. But we've got one more item to add to your list – spring clean your business plan.
In an ambitious new book, the economist Andrew Smithers rejects core “Newtonian” principles of economics, replacing them with radical departures from conventional wisdom. But as I will explain, some of Smithers’ theories fail meet the standard of empirical verification.
Here is the just released our 2022 T3/Inside Information Software Survey. It ranks, by market share, the leading software solutions in advisory-firm tech stacks in 35 different categories.
The most challenging financial event for investors in the coming decade will be the repricing of securities to valuations that imply adequate long-term returns, following more than a decade of reckless and intentional Fed-induced yield-seeking speculation.
Imagine that you have joined some friends for a day of fishing. About two miles offshore, you sense that something is wrong. The small, single engine boat’s handling has changed. There seems to be more. Use our premium service to add your company’s logo and send this to clients.
Firms often consider launching multiple niches rather than focusing on just one. Though sometimes successful, this approach can dissipate your marketing efforts. This article offers guidelines to determine whether having multiple niches is for you.
You’re often asked for your opinion on matters within and outside your core competence. It’s tempting to respond with confidence and authority. But doing so reflects an absence of what I call the “H factor.”
Many advisors would greatly benefit from scale yet are hamstrung by the very temperament that led to their success in the first place.
As if all that’s going on in the world wasn’t enough to worry about, Bloomberg News reports that young people are seeking mental health treatment to break all-consuming cycles of cryptocurrency trading. Those profiled complained that frantic trading in the hopes of scoring quick riches in a rapidly growing, $2 trillion asset class led them to neglect ordinary life and destroyed their peace of mind.
I want to draw your attention to a mistake that is most commonly made by tax preparers, but trips up financial advisors as well: doing tax planning one year at a time.
Here are five ways to win new business and clients for life by creating urgency, so your prospects want to create a financial plan now with you.
Only 5% to 6% of people 50 and older include charitable giving in their wills.
This is a hard time to retire. The market is down 7% from last year and the rate of inflation has risen to 8.5%. Both are brutal to your bottom line when you're on a fixed income. But buck up! As bad as things seem, odds are you are in better shape than your parents or grandparents. And if they got through retirement comfortably, so will you.
Each April, we are moved by hope – it is financial literacy month. To help close the growing savings gap, we strongly feel financial literacy and better knowledge of retirement and financial planning fundamentals are critical to securing more stable financial futures.
On May 29, Colombia could elect its very first leftist president should Gustavo Petro receive a majority of the vote. The former congressman and mayor of the capital city of Bogotá, Petro is an unabashed admirer of and Hugo Chávez.
If you haven’t noticed—perhaps because you live on Mars—inflation is here. Not just in the US but almost everywhere. Prices for everyday goods and services, including necessities like food, are climbing rapidly. The US Consumer Price Index rose 8.5% in the 12 months through March… and we know it understates categories like housing.
Concerns about the Ukraine war, inflation, and the Fed were top of mind last quarter, but a lesser appreciated long-tern headwind is the de-globalization of the labor force, which could have profound effects on the economy.
Jerome Powell wants to quell inflation without sinking the labor market. Success or failure will be a defining part of the Federal Reserve chair’s legacy and the pro-employment policy he’s championed.
Depending upon the annuity that is being recommended and its purpose, your discovery process should include these questions. This article is written for clients and can be forwarded to them using our Premium Membership Service.
Millennials took one look at their financial future and, early on, realized it was bleak. The YOLO generation started saving for retirement — stuffing away money in 401(k)-type accounts — nine years earlier than their baby boomer parents did, according to a new study.
Can I afford to retire? Is it the right time? Here is how I answer those questions from my clients.
We’ll tackle IRMAA in this article. I’ll provide you with information to teach you how you might be able to get rid of IRMAA.
Comparing advisors to big-rig truck drivers makes more sense that you think, once you consider the eerie similarities in their business models.
Does the scenario below sound likely? If so, you are among the thousands of RIAs who are likely to lose significant assets over the next decade.
While the lower fees associated with GLWB Lite products make them seem more attractive, the expected income is significantly lower than other annuities.
In this article, I will explain how to structure an income strategy that best serves the needs of constrained investors. Demographic, economic, cultural, and social forces argue for a new approach to retirement planning.
RIAs must align their communications, planning methodologies, and product set with the needs of retirees, especially women, whose chief priority is reliability of income more than return on investment.
Will the cloud drive massive increases in productivity and wealth – as the internet did before it? That is the central question asked by Mark Mills in his stunning new book, The Cloud Revolution.
It’s Easter weekend, so we are going to revisit a 2018 letter about the yield curve. The yield curve is much misunderstood and misused by many analysts. This letter will give you the tools to understand the correct importance and relevance of the yield curve. And then, a few comments about Ukraine.
For years, small accounts have been overcharged and underserved. I’m encouraged, however, by what I see some advisors doing, I wish the rest of the profession were inspired to similarly elevate the value provided for the price charged small clients.
This article discusses how to build a prospect list, from generating leads to getting potential clients to meet with you.
People tend to associate environmental, social and governance investing with stock-picking, a way to sort through companies based on their ESG practices. But not every investor can be choosy about the companies they own. Big pension, endowment and sovereign wealth funds oversee tens of billions and even trillions of dollars, which means they have to own practically everything.
As a financial planner and financial therapist, I have some thoughts on how COVID will affect individuals' relationships with money.
Here’s how to customize your calendaring system so that you weed out unqualified prospects and spend your time talking to qualified ones.
I’m going to focus on getting tax information from prospects and demonstrating how working with you will prevent them from overpaying the IRS.
In my work with clients, one of the most important services I provide, in addition to coaching on finance, estate planning, and investing, is facilitating cross-generational conversations about what it means to have wealth, and especially about what it means to use wealth wisely.
I hope the discomfort and pain you experience reading this piece are but a small fraction of what I experienced writing it. I keep reminding myself that most of our problems today are first-world problems that are generally trivial and insignificant compared to what people in Ukraine are going through.
An estimated 30,000 people attended this week’s Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, which is rapidly becoming a major global crypto-finance hub.
As a solar panel was raised onto the roof of their mud-brick home in a Tanzanian village in sight of Mount Kilimanjaro, Akida Saidi and his wife felt giddy at the prospect of entering a new era. In a place where most residents make do with pit latrines instead of toilets and till their fields of maize and pigeon peas with hoes, suddenly having electricity would catapult them into the 21st century.
The Bluetooth logo is a bind rune merging the Younger Futhark runes(Hagall) (ᚼ) and (Bjarkan) (ᛒ), Harald’s initials.
Watch replays for CE credit. We recap the webinars presented at our Market Outlook Summit.
Retirement income planning is the key to your future success. Winning the confidence of "Boomer" women investors is the key to your future success. Shifting how you think about annuities is the key to your future success. Wait! Which one is the key to my future success? The answer is, they all are!
Life Events
Now What? Advice for Retiring Into a Recession
Soon-to-be retirees are reevaluating things like when to stop working, whether they should move and how to strategize their spending.
Seven Least Expensive States Based on Retirement Healthcare Costs
Since healthcare costs are the number one fear in retirement for Americans, this article will focus on which states are the least expensive to retire in based on healthcare costs.
2022 Mid-Year Corporate Credit Outlook
After the steep drop in prices during the first half of this year, yields on many corporate bond investments are at or near 12-year highs.
Common Scenarios for Transitioning a Private Foundation to a Donor Advised Fund
What are the most common scenarios that give rise to private foundations converting to DAFs (or making a thoughtful decision not to convert), while preserving the original donor’s intent and satisfying the administrative concerns of surviving family members?
When Advisors are Bad Listeners
I’m having a hard time training one of our newer advisors on how to be a good listener.
Power of Representation: the 'Us'es'
To celebrate Pride Month, four PIMCO executives share their perspectives on inclusion and diversity in the workplace and the importance of visible representation.
My State Flunked Financial Literacy. How About Yours?
My CFP peers must be tired of hearing me sing the praises of living in South Dakota. But one of them recently emailed some disturbing news. A recent national survey that ranked financial literacy placed South Dakota in 49th place.
An Update on the Social Security Problem with GPO Benefits
Social Security applies a substantially higher penalty on people subject to GPO for claiming widow(er) and spousal benefits prior to normal retirement age.
A New “Pink Tide” in Latin America?
Latin America tilted further left this week as Colombian voters elected Gustavo Petro as president. Come August, the former Bogotá mayor and member of the M-19 guerrilla organization will join the region’s growing list of leftist leaders in a political shift some are likening to the “pink tide” of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The Future of Female Financial Empowerment is Today
While everyone’s financial journey is different, there are actionable steps advisors can take to empower their female clients’ financial futures and health.
Lifetime Income Fees vs. Costs: Look Beneath the Tip of the Iceberg
Lifetime income solutions are high on the wish lists of defined contribution (DC) plan participants, with the certainty of a guaranteed lifetime income stream ranking as the top feature in our surveys over the past decade.
Five Touchpoints to Build Family Relationships
Here’s how to position yourself for a lifetime of relationships by creating better touchpoints with a client’s family.
The Emperor of All Risks
Because the consequences of leaving longevity unmanaged are likely to be the most devastating, advisors must act now to address it.
Single Parents Deserve a Hall of Fame
There is no Hall of Fame for single parents. There should be. The challenges of being a single parent are monumental.
Credit Cards at 20%, Mortgages Near 6%: The Fed's Rate Hikes Are Already Having an Impact
US credit-card rates have soared past 20%, mortgage costs have climbed to the highest since 2008 and companies are having a harder time borrowing money.
Elizabeth Holmes’ Lesson for Target-Date Funds
In 2003, at age 19, Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos, and it became a $10 billion company by 2014. But it was a fraud. Aspects of target date funds mirror the Holmes story.
Opportunities in Tax Efficiency
I have identified a few opportunities within my portfolio and wealth management practice that prompt consideration for your own strategies as you plan for large estates.
Why Your Financial Planner Needs a Financial Planner
I would be very concerned if my financial planner didn’t have their own planner. Research shows that financial planning results in increased emotional and financial wellbeing, even for clients who are planners themselves. Use our Premium membership to add your logo to this article and send it to your clients and prospects.
The Fed Has No Choice But to Let This Tantrum Rip
With the Federal Open Markets Committee due to meet Wednesday, there was no way policy makers could guide the market on how last week’s awful inflation data for May had changed their plans.
Social Security: Whistling Past The $96 Trillion Graveyard
Social Security has a problem.
Parents Are Buying Homes for Kids Priced Out of the Housing Market
Even as the US real estate market shows signs of cooling, inflation and higher interest rates are making it difficult for young house hunters to buy properties — at least on their own.
People Keep Quitting Their Jobs Even as Recession Fears Mount
US workers can’t quit quitting.
A Framework for Working with Foreign-Born Families in the U.S.
Using this five-question framework will go a long way to help you be effective as you work with foreign-born families in the U.S.
Coping with Finances While Coping with Grief
I’ve supported many clients through times of loss and transition such as divorces, deaths of parents or spouses, business failures, and natural disasters. Following are some of the things I’ve learned.
Why Some Retirees are Losing Social Security Benefits
The Social Security benefit formula is short-changing a select group of retirees, and the losses are apt to exceed $25,000 over a lifetime. There is no effort to fix the flaw, so the concern is on-going.
Real-Life Strategies to Mitigate Sequence-of-Return Risk
I’m going to review the research on safe-spending rates and then critique common methods of risk mitigation. I’ll offer the practical methods to reduce sequence-of-return risk that I suggest to my clients.
Soros’s Money Manager Warns Recession ‘Inevitable’ But Market Timing Is Off
Despite the massive selloff in equities this year and persistently high inflation, Dawn Fitzpatrick isn’t worried about a recession in the immediate future.
Today’s Pensions Just Don’t Favor Millennials and Gen Z
Even in 2022, pensions still command an aura of reverence. A benefit where you work for one company for 30 years and then retire with a livable wage? And you don’t have to fret about picking investments? What’s not to like?
Relationship Marketing: Scaling the “Know, Like, Trust” Factor
How can you put the “know, like, trust” element of relationship marketing to work for your business at scale?
Are You Selling a Verb or a Noun?
Meet a woman driven to change investment regulation and understand why it’s important that she succeeds.
How to Handle the DOL’s New IRA Rollover Rule
How are advisors coping with the new Department of Labor (DOL) rollover rules? Here are a dozen observations.
Leadership and Character on Memorial Day
Memorial Day deserves the great recognition it gets. Remembering the service of those who died for our country is a civic duty. This includes remembering, doing and acting in a manner that there is no doubt the character of military and finance leaders must be first.
Inflation Forces Desperate Leaders to Try and Soften the Blow
The price of foods, fuels and other essential items are spiraling ever upward as Russia’s war on Ukraine compounds supply-chain woes stemming from the pandemic. Central banks may be in the driving seat when it comes to tackling inflation, but it’s governments that face the fallout and so are compelled to act.
The World’s Richest Country Has No Concept of Wealth
How much money would it take to make you feel wealthy? What is wealth? What is money? These are just some of the mind-bending questions raised by the results of a new Charles Schwab Corp. survey taken way back in Ye Olden Times of February.
How to Give Your Clients Peace of Mind
Every advisor will agree with the goal of giving their clients peace of mind. But there’s mounting evidence few actually do. Why is that?
A Comfortable Retirement Appears Out of Reach for Most Americans
Many Americans expect a significant shortfall in their retirement savings. Fifty-six percent said they expect to have less than $500,000 saved by the time they retire, including 36% who anticipate having less than $250,000.
The 1970s Had a Big Bright Side, Too
The parallels between the 2020s and the 1970s grow more numerous by the day. The economy faces the threat of stagflation. Fuel prices are surging, and shortages loom. Politicians are flailing. The international environment is deteriorating. The Supreme Court is revisiting the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.
Which Investments Worked 40 Years Ago When Inflation Was This High?
The U.S. was experiencing some of the highest inflation in its history.
Don’t Believe in the “Safe Withdrawal Rate”
A fatal shortcoming lies beneath the academic papers that have relied upon “back-testing” to promote the 4% rule. Use our Premium membership service to add your logo and send this to clients.
The Best Gift for College Graduates Is Help With Retirement
New graduates face fierce financial headwinds of soaring rent, ballooning student debt and inflation. The oft-repeated message to the young to “save early and often” may feel near-impossible. Still, it's worth highlighting the benefit of doing so for those who can somehow squirrel some money away.
The Fed Girds For Battle
Our weekly commentaries provide Euro Pacific Capital's latest thinking on developments in the global marketplace.
Raghuram Rajan: Inflation, Higher Rates and Slower Growth to Come
Plan for long-term Inflation that will be fought aggressively by the Fed, higher policy rates, and slower economic growth, according to Raghuram Rajan.
Demographic Trends for the 50-and-Older Work Force
Note: This commentary has been updated with the latest numbers from the latest Employment Report for April. Consider: Today nearly one in three of the 65-69 cohort and one in five of the 70-74 cohort are in the labor force.
How the Financial Industry Can Help Stop Modern Slavery
Modern slavery is a lucrative business that can’t exist without the financial system.
The Urgent Changes to Improve Your RIA Website
Unless RIAs modify their communications strategies, the failure to address the need for retirement income communications will be felt for years.
How to Navigate Turbulent Stock Market Depends on When You Want to Retire
When stocks are plunging, checking your investment accounts is risky business. The market turbulence is jarring for younger investors, who had gotten used to the idea that stocks always go up. And for those with a bit more experience, watching hard-earned money suddenly disappear is a terrible experience.
How to Prevent Office Gossip
We have a woman on our team who seems to enjoy stirring things up.
Why Joe Namath May Be the Biggest Threat to Your Clients’ Retirement
“Agents are standing by” to help your clients make one of the most pivotal financial decisions of their retirement… a decision that will blindside you as their advisor and throw even the most carefully crafted retirement plan for a loss. Sometimes, a very big loss.
Spring Clean Your Business Plan
From organizing your closet to deep cleaning your kitchen, we're sure there's plenty for you to do. But we've got one more item to add to your list – spring clean your business plan.
Is a Rejection of Classical Finance Justified?
In an ambitious new book, the economist Andrew Smithers rejects core “Newtonian” principles of economics, replacing them with radical departures from conventional wisdom. But as I will explain, some of Smithers’ theories fail meet the standard of empirical verification.
This Year’s Top-Ranked Software Products
Here is the just released our 2022 T3/Inside Information Software Survey. It ranks, by market share, the leading software solutions in advisory-firm tech stacks in 35 different categories.
Repricing a Market Priced for Zero
The most challenging financial event for investors in the coming decade will be the repricing of securities to valuations that imply adequate long-term returns, following more than a decade of reckless and intentional Fed-induced yield-seeking speculation.
The Income Annuity is the Constrained Investor’s Life Jacket
Imagine that you have joined some friends for a day of fishing. About two miles offshore, you sense that something is wrong. The small, single engine boat’s handling has changed. There seems to be more. Use our premium service to add your company’s logo and send this to clients.
Should Advisors Have More Than One Niche?
Firms often consider launching multiple niches rather than focusing on just one. Though sometimes successful, this approach can dissipate your marketing efforts. This article offers guidelines to determine whether having multiple niches is for you.
The “H Factor” is Critical to Your Success
You’re often asked for your opinion on matters within and outside your core competence. It’s tempting to respond with confidence and authority. But doing so reflects an absence of what I call the “H factor.”
Are Advisors Ignoring Mergers?
Many advisors would greatly benefit from scale yet are hamstrung by the very temperament that led to their success in the first place.
Crypto-Trading Addiction Is the 'Reefer Madness’ of 2022
As if all that’s going on in the world wasn’t enough to worry about, Bloomberg News reports that young people are seeking mental health treatment to break all-consuming cycles of cryptocurrency trading. Those profiled complained that frantic trading in the hopes of scoring quick riches in a rapidly growing, $2 trillion asset class led them to neglect ordinary life and destroyed their peace of mind.
Advisor Tax Mistake #4 – Doing Tax Planning One Year at a Time
I want to draw your attention to a mistake that is most commonly made by tax preparers, but trips up financial advisors as well: doing tax planning one year at a time.
Five Ways to Create Urgency and Win Planning Business
Here are five ways to win new business and clients for life by creating urgency, so your prospects want to create a financial plan now with you.
Why Are Bequests to Charity So Rare?
Only 5% to 6% of people 50 and older include charitable giving in their wills.
Buck Up, Boomers. You're Still Better Off Than Your Parents.
This is a hard time to retire. The market is down 7% from last year and the rate of inflation has risen to 8.5%. Both are brutal to your bottom line when you're on a fixed income. But buck up! As bad as things seem, odds are you are in better shape than your parents or grandparents. And if they got through retirement comfortably, so will you.
Financial Literacy Month: An Opportunity to Empower Investors
Each April, we are moved by hope – it is financial literacy month. To help close the growing savings gap, we strongly feel financial literacy and better knowledge of retirement and financial planning fundamentals are critical to securing more stable financial futures.
Colombia at Risk of Electing Its First Socialist President
On May 29, Colombia could elect its very first leftist president should Gustavo Petro receive a majority of the vote. The former congressman and mayor of the capital city of Bogotá, Petro is an unabashed admirer of and Hugo Chávez.
Into the Fire
If you haven’t noticed—perhaps because you live on Mars—inflation is here. Not just in the US but almost everywhere. Prices for everyday goods and services, including necessities like food, are climbing rapidly. The US Consumer Price Index rose 8.5% in the 12 months through March… and we know it understates categories like housing.
Equity Investment Outlook: Globalization in Retreat
Concerns about the Ukraine war, inflation, and the Fed were top of mind last quarter, but a lesser appreciated long-tern headwind is the de-globalization of the labor force, which could have profound effects on the economy.
Fed Risks Shattering Pro-Jobs Policy by Taking Hammer to Prices
Jerome Powell wants to quell inflation without sinking the labor market. Success or failure will be a defining part of the Federal Reserve chair’s legacy and the pro-employment policy he’s championed.
How to Think About Annuities
Depending upon the annuity that is being recommended and its purpose, your discovery process should include these questions. This article is written for clients and can be forwarded to them using our Premium Membership Service.
Millennials Save for Retirement Years Earlier Than Boomers — Because They Have To
Millennials took one look at their financial future and, early on, realized it was bleak. The YOLO generation started saving for retirement — stuffing away money in 401(k)-type accounts — nine years earlier than their baby boomer parents did, according to a new study.
Helping Clients Determine When They Can Retire
Can I afford to retire? Is it the right time? Here is how I answer those questions from my clients.
IRMAA – Who is She and How to Deal with Her
We’ll tackle IRMAA in this article. I’ll provide you with information to teach you how you might be able to get rid of IRMAA.
Ask Brad: Are You Really a Big-Rig Truck Driver?
Comparing advisors to big-rig truck drivers makes more sense that you think, once you consider the eerie similarities in their business models.
Why RIAs Are Going to Lose in Retirement-Income Planning
Does the scenario below sound likely? If so, you are among the thousands of RIAs who are likely to lose significant assets over the next decade.
GLWB Lite: Lower Costs but Much Worse Benefits
While the lower fees associated with GLWB Lite products make them seem more attractive, the expected income is significantly lower than other annuities.
How to Plan Retirement Income for a Constrained Investor
In this article, I will explain how to structure an income strategy that best serves the needs of constrained investors. Demographic, economic, cultural, and social forces argue for a new approach to retirement planning.
2025: The Post-Ken Fisher World of Annuities
RIAs must align their communications, planning methodologies, and product set with the needs of retirees, especially women, whose chief priority is reliability of income more than return on investment.
Cloudy with a Chance of Technological Breakthrough
Will the cloud drive massive increases in productivity and wealth – as the internet did before it? That is the central question asked by Mark Mills in his stunning new book, The Cloud Revolution.
More on the Yield Curve and Helping Ukraine
It’s Easter weekend, so we are going to revisit a 2018 letter about the yield curve. The yield curve is much misunderstood and misused by many analysts. This letter will give you the tools to understand the correct importance and relevance of the yield curve. And then, a few comments about Ukraine.
How Much Should Advisors Charge Small Accounts?
For years, small accounts have been overcharged and underserved. I’m encouraged, however, by what I see some advisors doing, I wish the rest of the profession were inspired to similarly elevate the value provided for the price charged small clients.
Six Ways to Build a Prospect Pipeline
This article discusses how to build a prospect list, from generating leads to getting potential clients to meet with you.
Institutional Investors Are Flexing Their ESG Muscles
People tend to associate environmental, social and governance investing with stock-picking, a way to sort through companies based on their ESG practices. But not every investor can be choosy about the companies they own. Big pension, endowment and sovereign wealth funds oversee tens of billions and even trillions of dollars, which means they have to own practically everything.
COVID’s Long-term Impact on Your Financial Health
As a financial planner and financial therapist, I have some thoughts on how COVID will affect individuals' relationships with money.
Use Your Calendaring System to Qualify Prospects
Here’s how to customize your calendaring system so that you weed out unqualified prospects and spend your time talking to qualified ones.
Advisor Tax Mistake #6 – Your Tax Knowledge Isn’t Getting You More Clients
I’m going to focus on getting tax information from prospects and demonstrating how working with you will prevent them from overpaying the IRS.
Helping Your Clients Define the Meaning of “Wealth”
In my work with clients, one of the most important services I provide, in addition to coaching on finance, estate planning, and investing, is facilitating cross-generational conversations about what it means to have wealth, and especially about what it means to use wealth wisely.
War in Ukraine: Part 4 – Are There Neo-Nazis in Ukraine?
I hope the discomfort and pain you experience reading this piece are but a small fraction of what I experienced writing it. I keep reminding myself that most of our problems today are first-world problems that are generally trivial and insignificant compared to what people in Ukraine are going through.
Bitcoin 2022: We’re Still So Early
An estimated 30,000 people attended this week’s Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, which is rapidly becoming a major global crypto-finance hub.
Tesla-Backed Startup Made Cheap Power a Debt Burden for the World’s Poorest
As a solar panel was raised onto the roof of their mud-brick home in a Tanzanian village in sight of Mount Kilimanjaro, Akida Saidi and his wife felt giddy at the prospect of entering a new era. In a place where most residents make do with pit latrines instead of toilets and till their fields of maize and pigeon peas with hoes, suddenly having electricity would catapult them into the 21st century.
NewsLetter - Vol 15, No. 1 - March 2022
The Bluetooth logo is a bind rune merging the Younger Futhark runes(Hagall) (ᚼ) and (Bjarkan) (ᛒ), Harald’s initials.
Highlights From Our Market Outlook Summit
Watch replays for CE credit. We recap the webinars presented at our Market Outlook Summit.
Demographics, Gender and Wealth: Profiting from The Retirement Income Revolution