1. Investors Are Exuberant, Despite the Correction
Despite the recent correction in the markets, leading to a hedge fund imploding, investors remain exuberant. The hopes for more stimulus, government spending, and Fed liquidity displace fears of a correction. — Lance Roberts
2. Financial Advisors in the Post Apocalyptic World
The sign in the bookshop window read: “Post Apocalyptic Fiction Has Now Been Moved to Current Events.” You’ve probably seen that joke going around by e-mail. Everyone had their view of normal life before the pandemic. Most agree the “new normal” afterwards will be different. Financial advisors fared better than most during the pandemic. Suppose you faced a different apocalyptic event. What would you do? — Bryce Sanders
3. Removing Friction from Your Referral Process
When it comes to generating referrals we’re attracted to new, shiny objects. We want to know what others are doing, what works and what doesn’t. Seems logical. But it’s also important to understand what’s creating friction in the referral process as well as what may be slowing you down. — Julie Littlechild
4. The Generational Transfer of Assets is Now
For years the financial services industry has predicted and anticipated the transfer of assets from Baby Boomers to their children. It has been forecast as the greatest transfer of wealth in history. And for the past two decades, Spectrem has been awaiting the occurrence of this great generational transfer but hasn’t been able to validate its occurrence within its research. Finally, Spectrem’s research is beginning to validate a transfer of wealth from one generation to the next. The great wealth transfer, however, isn’t as simple as forecast. This wealth transfer will change the role of investment advisors and advice as well as the manner of how wealth is created within the U.S. Will it change our values? — Catherine McBreen
5. Biodiversity Is the Next 'Climate' for Investors
There is no denying that natural capital – renewable and non-renewable natural resources like plants, animals, soils, minerals, and water from which humans derive a wide variety of services – is critical to our economic wellbeing. According to the World Economic Forum, more than half of the world’s GDP (USD 44 trillion) is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services. But we are exhausting the resource that is ‘nature’ at an unsustainable rate. — Heidi Ridley and Kathryn McDonald
6. Two Ways to Acquire Clients Post-Pandemic
Sorry to disappoint but .. there is no secret sauce to client acquisition! There are two ways to organically acquire clients right now. — Penny Phillips
7. Like Chocolate and Peanut Butter, Growth, Value Better Together
For more than a decade, it was value that lagged. Recently, with the assistance of rising Treasury yields, growth took a back seat to value. Instinctively, a client may decide to join the “great rotation” and ditch growth for now, but this is where advisors can prove their mettle, articulating to clients the advantages of deploying growth and value at the same time in a single portfolio. — Todd Shriber
8. Screen Time: Distinguishing the Useful From the Harmful
Is it possible that something almost 100 years old is making you sick? Television has been around since the late 1920s but the age of Covid-19 has seen a sharp uptick in TV consumption. Of course, it’s not just TV. Computers, phones, and other devices connected to the all-knowing internet are also engaging us more hours of each day. — James E. Wilson
9. The Advisor Business Has a Founder Problem
RIAs, we have a problem. According to the Investment News 2020 pricing and profitability study, 52% of new business growth for advisors is coming from founders. No matter the type of firm – solo, ensembles, enterprise ensembles or super ensembles – the founders were the primary driver of growth. A founder-driven growth model isn’t sustainable or efficient. What happens when the founder is ready to retire or transition? — Shauna Mace
10.What Is Going on With the “Average” Stock?
For the majority of the bull market that followed the global financial crisis (GFC), and pretty much all of last year, a handful of stocks were responsible for the majority of the U.S. equity market’s gains. As these high-growth, mega-cap companies outperformed, more and more investors piled in, pushing the S&P 500 to an all-time high just months after hitting a pandemic-induced low. However, the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, coupled with positive news on vaccines late last year, has resulted in a significant shift in market dynamics. — David Lebovitz and Peter Hamburger
11. Visa and PayPal Give the Green Light to Cryptos. Should You?
It’s happening. The acceptance of digital currencies as a form of payment expanded greatly last week, foreshadowing the increasingly important role cryptos such as Bitcoin and Ether will play in our lives going forward. Both Visa and PayPal announced they will begin allowing the use of cryptocurrencies to settle transactions. This came a week after Tesla said it will now accept Bitcoin as a method of payment, and a month after Mastercard signaled it would start supporting cryptos sometime this year. — Frank Holmes