Climbing the Wall of Worry

February 13th, 2023 Markets were down last week, taking a break from a run that has been strong so far this year. Investors are somewhat baffled by the market’s rise this year, given the economic and corporate earnings backdrop. It seems to many that the market’s trajectory is totally divorced from economic reality. Many wonder,…

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What’s the S&P Worth?

The rally in stocks so far this year has been impressive. Here are the year-to-date returns for broad market averages through February 3, 2023: Nasdaq Index 14.77%, S&P 500 Index 7.86%, and Dow Jones Industrial average 5.40%. The hotly debated question is: at what level “should” stocks be trading given the Fed’s ongoing inflation battle,…

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How to Choose a TAMP to Help You Grow

  Key Questions: Is a TAMP the right solution for your business? What are the benefits and concerns around using a TAMP? How do you leverage a TAMP service to grow your business?   Every financial advisor knows the value of time, especially when every part of the business requires it. One of the most…

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The Well-Supported Advisor

  Financial advisors, like any business leaders, have dreams of what their practice could become over time. You can see the path you’d like to take and how it could accomplish the goals you have set. The problem? Executing your plan. Turning the vision into reality. While we can be our own worst enemies when…

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Fintech Trends for Financial Advisors

  Those of us who have been in the industry a few decades have seen just how rapidly the business has been transformed by tech. There are more great tools than ever before that you can use for customer support, productivity, and other business aspects. Here’s the challenge: Advisors who are not leveraging new technology…

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What Each Generation Cares About in Economic Downturns

  Right or not, many envision the role of a financial advisor as that of a market sage providing timely predictions that help clients time the market to maximize profits. While that is far from an advisor’s only role, it’s one that exists under a great deal of pressure. Especially in volatility, financial advisors are…

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Hope is Never a Great Investment Strategy

There is a great deal of discussion in the financial media by professional investors expressing a hope for the so-called “soft landing” as the Fed continues to fight inflationary pressures. Much of what was written and said in the week just passed reflected such hope-filled sentiment in reaction to a rally in stocks so far…

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The Rising Tide of Advisor Independence

Not many people watch the headlines like advisors. Especially in recent days, some of these headlines have stirred up controversy in the financial planning world. In addition to the normal clamor of investing news, this new controversy is talking about the business model of financial planning. At the center of this disruption: an accelerated movement…

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A Day of Reckoning Fast Approaches

Below is a three-year technical chart of the S&P 500 Index. This chart contains: The daily returns of the index (red and more volatile series) A 50-day moving average (blue line) A 200-day moving average (orange line) A relative strength line at the bottom (also in blue)     Some market participants pay close attention…

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The 2022 Stock Market Stats: Pops and Drops!

Below is a picture of the 2022 US Stock Market daily returns as measured by the S&P 500 Index through December 16th. In looking at the chart below, it’s rather obvious: 2022 will be a down year. The S&P is down 19%… There are ten trading days left in the year; as such, it seems…

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Getting Your Team to Buy In To Your Vision

  There’s an old saying, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” It carries real wisdom, especially for the financial advisor. It’s every leader’s challenge, but few seem to have unlocked this question: how do I get my team to buy into my vision for the…

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Listen to the Money Talk

  In April of this year (2022), we wrote a piece called “Money Heaven” in which we discussed money creation and destruction in the US economy. Briefly, this was a treatise postulating that unprecedented excess money growth was a leading cause of inflation. Moreover, we discussed the various ways the economy eliminates “excess” money. To…

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