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1. 14 Reasons to Call Your Client Now
Years ago, when business was transactional, advisors called clients all the time. There was the “are they looking for a trade” suspicion in the background, but many clients knew they were getting attention. In today’s world of asset based pricing, calling isn’t directly related to ringing the cash register. Now the pendulum has swung in the other direction. — Bryce Sanders
2. Finding Gems and Giants Before They Go Public
Many advisors – and probably all of their clients for that matter – have a story about missing out on a hot initial public offering (IPO). “If only I had been able to get in on the ground of Amazon, Facebook or Tesla” is how these tales often start. The situation is made worse by the fact that current IPO market is hot and clients are hearing more about early investors cashing on their ability to, well, get in early. — Todd Shriber
3. Why Is Everyone Talking About SPACs Right Now?
When it comes to tapping public markets, the trend is definitely in SPACs’ favor. Last year, 248 SPACs listed, a record, compared to 209 traditional initial public offerings (IPOs). To my knowledge, this is the first time SPAC issuances outpaced IPO issuances. The amount of cash raised was also a nearly one-to-one ratio. — Frank Holmes
4. Advisors: What Can You Do To Make Things Better for Your Team?
On occasion, advisers can get frustrated with their back-office team. Perhaps it’s the errors they spot in reports, investment statements, or other client communications. Often it’s about the time it takes to get a client report out the door. Don’t they know that all these errors and delays cost money? — Brett Davidson
5. How Could Vaccine Hesitancy Affect the Global Recovery?
Despite many other measures to help slow the spread of COVID-19, there is only one that can end the pandemic: broad global vaccination. The world has already met multiple milestones in the vaccine journey—developing several safe and effective vaccines, establishing production supply chains, creating protocols to vaccinate, and even ramping up supply and speed. One obstacle still remains: ensuring everyone actually takes it. — Meera Pandit
6. The Importance of Frequent Client Contact
Advisers underestimate the importance of frequent client contact and “Frequent contact” is in itself a phrase that is interpreted differently amongst advisers. So how often is “frequent”? How often is often enough? For a long while the mantra was “be in touch every 90 days”, but that was in a time of expensively printed paper newsletters which required the full team to turn out and stuff envelopes and lick stamps 4 times a year….man; 4 times a year of doing that sure felt like it was pretty frequent! — Tony Vidler
7. Recognizing When it's Time to Sell
Selling your business or allowing an outside firm to take a minority interest is a very personal decision for you, for your employees, and - most of all - for the relationships you have with your clients. — Derek Bruton
8. Inflated Fears of Rigged Markets and Hyperinflation
Our economy is recovering; the stock market is booming. Yet I'm hearing investors express much more fear now than they did last March when the stock market was falling off a cliff. I see a couple of reasons for this. First, market movements are largely emotional and unrelated to the current economy. Markets tend to go up when we feel they should be going down and go down when we feel they should be going up. We tend to panic and sell stocks when evidence and logic say it’s time to buy, and we tend to panic and buy when evidence and logic say it’s time to sell. — Rick Kahler
9. 3 Types of Prospects Financial Advisors Should Pursue
All financial advisors know that prospecting is the lifeblood of their business. Filling the funnel with a constant flow of qualified leads has long been the biggest challenge facing advisors, regardless of how long they’ve been in the business. Scores of books and articles have been written on “the best” prospecting tips and techniques. Yet, many advisors continue to suffer from the “spinning your wheels” syndrome, feeling as if their efforts keep dredging up the same results—poor-quality prospects or prospects who have neither the incentive nor financial capacity to take action. — Don Connelly
10. Is The End Of The Value Trade Near
We are firm believers in “value investing.” However, after years of artificial interventions, accounting gimmicks, share buybacks, and massive balance sheet leveraging, there is little “real” value in the markets currently. Given that the markets have not been allowed to reset, speculators are now simply chasing the next “momentum” trade called “value.” For now, we have to continue to navigate markets for what they are rather than what we “hope” they could be. We suspect that this year could wind up disappointing both economists and investors alike. — Lance Roberts
11. What the Wealthiest Americans Aren't Helping Their Kids With
Investors who have in excess of $25 million in net worth could afford to help their children with a wide variety of expenses as they are growing up, but just because they can doesn’t mean that they do. These children can often have lifestyles that are very comfortable and they are accustomed to a certain quality of life. Do these wealthiest Americans feel that they should pay for their children’s first car, first home, college or graduate school? — Catherine McBreen