Inside Information

RIAs can learn something about portfolio management from corporate managers and consultants who manage complex "portfolios" of companies, divisions and product lines. [Read more »] 

What's the endgame for the European debt crisis? [Read more »] 

Something nobody ever seems to notice about the Journal is that it is clearly not advertiser-supported; it relies almost completely on subscription fees to turn a profit. This month is an interesting case-in-point: eight sold advertising pages (the rest are in-house ads inserted by the FPA, which generate no revenue), and one of those pages, from IMCA, is probably a trade-off for an FPA ad in IMCA's publication.

There are two highlights in this issue. The first is Baylor profession Bill Reichenstein's rebuttal of an article that never should have gotten past the Journal's screening process in the first place, and ought now to be retracted. Reichenstein totally debunks the article, but of course that doesn't matter because in sales situations, aggressive insurance agents will direct the prospect's attention to the original article and not bother with the debunking part.

The other highlight is Wade Pfau's introduction of a sustainable savings rate during the accumulation phase of a client's financial life--rather than the usual focus on the sustainable withdrawal rate after the fact. It makes for very interesting reading.
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Down one day, up the next. What's really going on? [Read more »] 

I wish Bob Clark's column on the new Equity Management System by FP Transitions had contained more details on how it works, and less airy discussion of what advisors in the marketplace, generally, are or are not doing, but it gives us a heads-up, and maybe I'll get into more detail in a future newsletter. Meanwhile, a lot of advisors will recognize their firm as a "tweener" in Mark Tibergien's prescriptive column on how to move beyond this awkward stage, and the article by the FA Insight folks might spur you to create a formal marketing plan... whenever you can get around to it.

Have a great week; I just sent out two client articles on the debt ceiling debate and the ratings downgrade on U.S. Treasuries, giving a plain english description and some reasons not to panic. This will be an interesting week in the markets, and I suspect there will be others who DO panic. [Read more »] 

Why this may be the worst "own goal" in history. [Read more »] 

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Angie Herbers is about to come out with a remarkable white paper on how to create a happy and productive staff in a planning practice, and we're seeing bits and pieces of it in her Investment Advisor column--including this one, where we should not be surprised to find that employees want to control their jobs and feel like what they do is significant and important.

Bob Clark takes on FINRA, exposing a naked effort to cripple the independent (and especially fee-compensated) advisory profession in favor of the brokerage firms. And Mark Tibergien suggests that leaders of advisory firms should set the tone by cultivating an environment of happiness. [Read more »]