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1. Why Affluent Clients Fire Advisors
Why affluent clients fire advisors, specifically what you must never do and what advisors need to do to keep from getting fired. — Annette Bau
2. Inflation Is Starting to Weigh on Consumer Confidence and Spending
This week US CPI inflation for June rose at a stunning 0.9% MoM, or 11% annualized, placing it among the highest sequential inflation readings in the past 40 years. Sure, much of the reading can be chalked up to used car prices and airline tickets, which are unlikely to continue to rise at this pace and may actually fall back. Still, food inflation rose 0.8% MoM, energy inflation rose 1.5% MoM, and rents increased 0.5% MoM. When food, energy and rent prices rise like this it inevitably starts to crimp consumer confidence and consumption related activity. That may be what we are seeing now. — Bryce Coward
3. Driving Business: When Business Development and Marketing Are in Sync
Business development and marketing go hand-in-hand. And when they are in sync, your professional services firm can see increases in visibility, growth, profitability, and more. For this to happen, each team needs to understand the other and how to best support one another. But time and time again, we’ve seen that this often isn’t the case. — Elizabeth Harr
4. Is There Too Much Hope Priced Into the Market?
That's just one of the challenges that we're going to see when you look at the the what's really going on in the economy if you're a company and all you hear is inflation, inflation, inflation. Of course, you're gonna take the opportunity to increase your prices, even all of this is and I'm doing the air quotes, transitory, you're going to take the opportunity to increase your prices. — The Week Ahead
5. YOUR Need Will Kill the Sale
I think it has always been true, but it is more true than ever: a needy adviser is a major turn off to potential clients. YOUR need will a sale. Sometimes, perhaps too many times, the reason why consumers do not buy is because of us. Whether we are trying to sell an idea, a service, a fee or a product, often the reason why clients and prospects do not buy is because they just don’t want to be pushed around. — Tony Vidler
6. 8 Red Flags That Come Up During Portfolio Reviews
Many clients multitask. They invest with you. They invest on their own. They might have another advisor. You encourage them to keep you supplied with enough information so you can look at the big picture during portfolio reviews. Red flags might be difficult questions clients ask or mistakes they are making on their own. You want to be prepared. — Bryce Sanders
7. Financial Services Industry Still Has Work to do on Diversity, Inclusion
Diversity and inclusion are not just buzzwords. In the non-financial world, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are being worked into the everyday lexicon and that's a trend advisors can't afford to sleep on. The reasoning is simple. Data and studies confirm clients are prioritizing diversity and inclusion and that extends to what they want to see in an advisory practice. New research from FlexShares confirms as much. FlexShares commenced a DEI survey in 2019 and inspired by the events of summer 2020, the fund issuer returned with a deeper dive this year. — Todd Shriber
8. Creating A Business You Can Be Proud Of
Great advisers attract more clients…and more clients…and more clients. Before you know it, you’re facing a bunch of business management issues you didn’t sign up for at the start of your career. You hit a ceiling and get stuck. The solution? Business owners try all sorts of things to get their business moving again, using the skills they deployed in the startup and early phases of their career. — Brett Davidson
9. Why Most Investors Wind Up Losing
Knowledge vs. experience. When it comes to investing, such is what separates long-term success from failure. Amid a “market mania,” retail investors believe they have “knowledge” as every investment they make seems to be successful. As the bubble inflates, continued success breeds over-confidence to the point where it is widely believed “this time is different.” — Lance Roberts
10. The Peril of “Expert Forecasts”
One of the most deceptive and destructive investment pieces has been published under the title “2021 Midyear Roundtable”. Those are pretty strong words for something that seems innocent, and may even appear helpful for investors. Don’t let the subtlety fool you – that is part of what makes this so destructive. It may come across as helpful; that is just an illusion. This type of article may very well influence investors to abandon their plan and make unwise financial decisions. — Jay Mooreland
11. Having a Bear Market Game Plan Will Set You Apart From Your Competitors
Bear markets happen. And even though stock and bond market declines have been more like whiplash events than enduring periods of wealth destruction, your clients still need you to speak straight to them about threats to their retirement objectives. There is no better way for financial advisors to prove they are truly putting their clients first than to prepare them for the range of possible investment climates. If you can eliminate the element of negative investment surprise, you may outshine many of your competitors. That will matter when the proverbial dung eventually hits the fan. — Rob Isbitts