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1. How a Couple Earning $500,000 Can Be Living Paycheck to Paycheck
Is a better title for this article, “A tale of two families?” You decide. Let us look at two couples with no children, living in identical houses with similar, but not identical lifestyles. How does one manage while another couple almost spends far more than they earn? — Bryce Sanders
2. Dumb Money Almost Back to Even and Persistent Mistakes
After over two years, retail investors, also known as the “dumb money,” are almost back to breakeven. A recent chart by Vanda Research shows that the average retail “dumb money” investor portfolio still sports a drawdown despite the markets making new all-time highs. — Lance Roberts
3. Stocks Should Be Falling Right Now
Nvidia knocked it out of the park with earnings, again. It was the most impressive quarter I’ve seen from any company, ever. Revenues jumped 265% over the past year, while artificial intelligence (AI)-related revenues quintupled! Anyone who runs a business knows how hard it is to double sales in a year. Nvidia is growing like a nimble startup, but at a multibillion-dollar scale. I still think it could become the world’s most valuable company before the AI boom is over. — Stephen McBride
4. Heating Up Cold Prospects: Strategies for Effective Outreach
You thought they were ready to start working with you. And then they ghosted you. This happens to the best of us. Even when we’ve asked great questions and exposed the gaps in their plans or shown them great opportunities. They knew they needed to move forward. And then they didn’t. — Bill Cates
5. Five Questions for Considering Private Markets
With attractive potential returns, prospective private markets investors often ask: “How do I know if private equity is right for me? And where do I start?” While private markets have traditionally served institutional and ultra-high-net-worth investors (UHNW), high-net-worth (HNW) investors are now also able to access this alternative asset class. — Hamilton Lane
6. Advisors Need To Recognize the SHEconomy
The investment community loves buzzwords and catchy acronyms and while “SHEeconomy” is memorable, it’s relevant for advisors to properly understand and not delay that objective. SHEconomy isn’t just another Wall Street catchphrase. In fact, it hasn’t been getting much attention of late, but the underlying principle should be garnering focus, particularly among advisors. The SHEeconomy is, in part, rooted in notions such as women increasingly being highly educated, climbing the corporate and closing the pay gap. — Todd Shriber
7. Taxes Are a Powerful Force — But You Can Take Control
We manage the flow of rivers to protect valuable land assets from constant erosion. Likewise, tax-savvy financial professionals work to manage the flow of taxes to prevent the erosion of client portfolios. Recently, we’ve considered whether protected investments function as an asset class. It’s just as important to analyze the protection from taxation offered by annuities, and the advantages it offers to increasing investment portfolio alpha. — Daniel Herr
8. Navigating Mixed Signals: How Advisors Handle Investment Ambiguity in Couples
Client communication is one of the most important facets of the advisor/client relationship. We want to do the best for each client (and spouse when it comes to a couple), but what do we do when the couple gives mixed signals or cannot seem to agree on making a decision? — Jay Mooreland
9. Unlocking Value: Exploring the Benefits of a One-Year Indexed Term Strategy in Structured Annuities
According to the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association (LIMRA) 2021 study on structured annuities, almost half of all structured annuity sales utilized a strategy term of five or six years. The other half was broken down between one and two-year indexed terms.1 So why are so many advisors choosing to make their clients wait five or six years before interest gets credited to the policy? It’s my opinion that the majority of advisors choose a strategy with the primary objective of avoiding a negative return. Maximizing growth is a secondary goal once the desired level of protection is chosen. — Scott Stolz
10. Taking the Client Experience to New Heights
Markets are proving to be a perfect storm of opportunity for advisors. Product complexity and market volatility are driving clients’ desire for stability and support. Clients are searching for insight and advice on navigating their financial futures, and many need a trusted advisor that provides value at each touchpoint. Anything short of that, and clients start looking to add a new advisor or switch providers altogether. This means there is more pressure than ever before for advisors to retain clients and grow their book of business by focusing on providing truly excellent service. — Michael Roth
11. Large Stock Momentum: The Positive Impact of Stock Buybacks
Stock buyback authorization announcements are soaring this year. As shown in the graph on the left, the $207 billion in 2024 stock buyback announcements is already on par with the annual totals for 2020 and 2021 and only 29% behind the record-setting $293 billion last year. Mind you, there are still ten months to go in 2024. Stock buybacks provide a tailwind for the market. Not only does a company that buys back its stock reduce the supply of its shares, but in doing so, it increases its earnings per share. Earnings don’t change, but the denominator, the number of shares, declines. — Michael Lebowitz