Inside Information

Take a good look at the article on bringing interns into your practice--or better yet, look for the more comprehensive white paper on the same subject, at the authors' web site: www.fjyfinancial.com. It's something you rarely see these days: a comprehensive explanation of how to do something complicated in your office.

Meanwhile, Financial Planning has selected a group of "influencers," and instead of picking the same old names, it dared go outside the box and identify some people you may not have heard of. You probably already know the IRA distribution rules when clients reach age 70 1/2, but Don Korn does a nice job of making those rules accessible and easy to follow. And I liked the article on how to deal with clients from hell, even though for many of you it might hit too close to home. [Read more »] 

All I can say is that the Journal has a lot of work to do to improve the quality of its articles; aside from a very good column by Bonnie Sewell (known to some of you as Bonnie Hughes), there isn't much to like here, and the worst of it is the "research" that the FPA insists on conducting without having any visible idea what they're doing. The folks who promote non-traded REITs--limited partnerships in a new guise--sponsored this recent study, which cheerfully reports (several times) that 64% of advisors are embracing alternative investments and venturing beyond those boring old stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs. However, read the fine print, and "alternative investments" includes REITs, commodities funds and gold, which have all been part of a mainstream diversified portfolio for years. Ah well... [Read more »] 

I wish I could give you the page numbers of this issue of Investment Advisor, but the magazine never arrived in my mailbox, and apparently not in the mailbox of an advisor here in town either. Have you received it?

Investment Advisor conducts a roundtable discussion with the executives of the "broker-dealers of the year," who pledge to fight the fiduciary standard, wonder how to work around the social media compliance question, and ask where the next generation of producers will come from. Eliza DePardo and Dan Inveen offer some highlights of FA Insight's latest People & Pay survey, telling us that people-related costs are rising, but so too are profit margins.

Meanwhile, Joni Youngwirth recommends that you look at "The Checklist Manifesto," and wherever possible use checklists to document internal procedures and workflows. It's a great suggestion. You should also check out Mark Tibergien's column on collaboration, telling us that despite what you see in Washington, collaboration is a sign of strength, not weakness. Angie Herbers helps you identify your unhappy employees, Dan Skiles offers some good advice on how to get out of the technology rut, Tom Giachetti updates us on the new SEC guidelines for transferring more than 3,000 advisory firms to state registration, and Peter Montoya tells us which marketing initiatives are doomed to failure. All in all, a good issue, even if you have to read it online. [Read more »] 

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