1. When Is The Next Bear Market? 3-Things Will Tell You
The question I get most often is, “when is the next bear market?” Three specific items tend to predict bear markets and recessions with some accuracy. However, before we get to those points, a “bear market” requires excesses that need reversion. In other words, a mean-reverting event needs “fuel.” Several measures suggest excesses are sufficient to fuel a meaningful reversal. — Lance Roberts
2. Have Clients Forgotten “Buy Low, Sell High”
You know plenty of stock market sayings. My favorite is “The stock market goes up like an escalator and down like an elevator.” Who can forget Will Roger’s observation: “Don’t gamble. Take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don’t go up, don’t buy it.” Many clients might need a reminder the stock market often moves in cycles. — Bryce Sanders
3. Are You Really Committed to Innovate?
So, to help me think about where companies lie in terms of their innovation chops, I built a simple tool that I call the Innovator’s Matrix. Most companies claim, “We’re committed to innovation!” But the truth is, most of them aren’t. They might say they are. But they’re really not. When you look deeper, you see that they’re really only focused on incremental changes. Doing things a little better, a little faster, a little bit more efficiently, with a little bit better design. That’s not innovation! — Jeff Rubingh
4. Decrypting Bitcoin and Gold
The Senate just approved a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that’s now the business of the House. Among the parts of the bill that I seriously hope lawmakers will consider amending is the part that creates new tax reporting requirements for the cryptocurrency industry. Specifically, the bill would require crypto “brokers” to provide the names and addresses of their clients. At issue is the vague way in which the bill’s authors define a crypto broker, which would unintentionally include not just brokers such as Coinbase but also crypto miners, software developers and more. These types of companies do not keep track of who owns the Bitcoin, Ether or other cryptos they may have mined. Doing so, in fact, would be impossible. — Frank Holmes
5. Why the Future of Financial Services Isn’t Financial
In this highly commoditized financial industry, selling excellent investments or advice isn’t enough. So, what are clients looking for? You’re about to find out! In this episode, Matt Halloran talks to Dennis Moseley-Williams, the founder of Dennis Moseley-Williams Strategic Consulting and a certified expert in the experience economy. Dennis shares unconventional ways for advisors to make their client experience highly memorable. — ProudMouth
6. Advisor Satisfaction By Generation
My neighbor and I were chatting last week about financial advisors. She was not very impressed with the communication and performance of her advisor. Now, we have similar financial situations and families, however she is younger than I am. She is on the younger side of Gen X, while I am on the younger side of Baby Boomers. Another thing that struck me about this conversation was that a few weeks prior to our conversation she had introduced someone to her advisor. — Catherine McBreen
7. Sustainable Investing: What We’re Hearing from Institutions and Why it Matters
Understanding expectations among institutions today can provide a valuable snapshot of what sustainable investing may look like in the future and in turn helps inform us here at AGF of the capabilities we need to continue to invest in to remain at the leading edge of sustainable investment offerings. As an example, institutions looking to allocate to sustainable strategies are now digging deeper into asset managers’ overall business practices and investment processes to separate true ESG commitment from “greenwashing”. They are asking questions such as “Does the manager maintain its own internal ESG research capabilities and conduct proprietary ESG analysis?” and “Has the manager demonstrated a pattern of active ownership through proxy voting?” This can provide an opportunity for asset managers to address these expectations by continuing to invest in evolving policies and processes including a focus on increasing measurement and reporting of specific outcomes. — Karrie Van Belle
8. When Will the Semiconductor Shortage Be Resolved?
In normal times, manufacturing a simple semiconductor wafer takes an average of twelve weeks. However, this can take up to twenty weeks for more advanced chips. Additionally, once the chips are manufactured, they must then go through a process known as assembly, test, and packaging (ATP) which can take another six weeks. This means that even with the right processes in place, it can take anywhere from 4-6 months from when an order is placed until the chips are delivered. Furthermore, ramping up production is not as simple as turning a dial – perfecting the fabrication process in order to increase production can take up to twenty-four weeks. — David Lebovitz
9. How Can a Leader Build a Strong Resilient Organization Able To Survive?
If there’s a single subject that’s dominated media conversations over the past while, it’s how individuals are dealing with COVID-19, and specifically the mental health challenges they are facing. COVID continues to challenge people to be resilient and to successfully navigate through the pandemic; to develop the coping mechanisms that will allow them to survive and thrive the formidable forces they’re facing. Organizations face the same resilience challenges as individuals do; if they aren’t able to get through the bad times, so many people are affected: investors, employees and customers. — Roy Osing
10. $100 Billion Spent on FinTech in Just Six Months …
The world is getting interesting. Circle announces plans to become a fully registered bank; Lending Club buys a credit union; Credijusto (Mexico) buys a bank; Raisin (Germany) acquires a bank … the list has, is and will go on. Meantime, JPMorgan snaps up OpenInvest; US Bank buys Bento; Lloyds (UK) acquire Embark Group; Visa eats CurrencyCloud … the list has, is and will go on. Oh, and don’t forget Starling Bank (UK) swallowed Fleet; Nexi (Italy) merged with NETS; Railsbank munched on the left-overs of Wirecard; Solarisbank (Germany) swooped down on Contis … the list has, is and will go on. — Chris Skinner
11. Climate Risk Is Value-Add Opportunity for Advisors
The sustainable investing movement and increasing prioritization of environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles is gaining momentum. This is a seismic shift that's unlikely to revert anytime soon. It may never. Not when younger, up-and-coming investors are craving access to investments that reflect their personal values, many of which center around improving the climate change situation. Overall, this tectonic shift is a positive for advisors because many clients know they want exposure to ESG-friendly concepts and climate-aware strategies, but they aren't aware of the potential benefits and drawbacks these strategies may have within their portfolios. Indeed, climate change is a great value-add opportunity for advisors and excellent way to initiate client conversations while perhaps wooing younger, more climate-savvy prospects. Adding to the case is budding urgency around the issues of climate change and risk. — Todd Shriber