Archives Of Weekend Reading For Financial Planners

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the announcement that both Schwab and Fidelity are further expanding their list of commission-free (i.e., No Transaction Fee or NTF) ETFs, further expanding their offerings from both BlackRock and State Street, along with a number of secondary ETF providers… but still with the notable absence of Vanguard’s ETFs, as the battle of RIA custodians requiring back-end shelf space payments for access to NTF platforms continues to heat up (and raising the question of whether Vanguard may someday launch its own RIA custody platform with open access to all ETFs on a no-transaction-fee basis, to match its recent retail NTF ETF offering). Also in the news this week was the announcement that UBS is looking to launch its own internal independent channel, ostensibly to further stem the tide of brokers still moving independent even after the firm left the Broker Protocol.

From there, we have several articles on practice management, including: how industry benchmarking data shows that advisory fees are not declining (despite robo-advisor competition), but profit margins are beginning to suffer as advisory firms reinvest into providing more value-added services to justify their current fees in the face of competition; why it’s important to focus on service to clients and not pursue industry recognition awards (and more generally, the danger of “vanity metrics” that can distract from an advisory firm’s core focus); and how to think about segmenting services to clients in order to serve smaller clients profitably.

There are also a number of marketing articles this week, from some tips from marketing directors at large RIAs about what smaller RIAs could be implementing as well, to ways to show clients you’re really “worth it” when trying to justify fees, why new clients toss the typical advisor’s Welcome Packet in the trash (and how to make it better), and an interesting tactic of learning more about your ideal clients and what they really care about by simply trying to figure out what their favorite magazine would be (because niche magazines themselves have often already spent extensively on researching what’s most important to their niche clientele).

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of industry change and disruption: the first looks at Ken Fisher of Fisher Investments, which recently crossed the stunning threshold of $100B of assets under management, driven heavily by aggressive spending in marketing even as most advisory firms maintain there’s no value to spending on marketing for clients; the second examines the big buzz at the recent Inside ETFs conference, that even as ETFs continue to disrupt the mutual fund industry, the next disruptor – of ETFs themselves – may have already appeared, in the form of technology-driven “Direct Indexing” that replaces the need for funds altogether; and the last similarly looks at how, even as Vanguard grows in its dominance amongst asset managers, changing competitive dynamics raise the question of whether Vanguard itself will have to restructure under new CEO Tim Buckley to stay ahead over the next 10 to 20 years.

And be certain to read to the end, where we include a video from advisor tech guru Bill Winterberg, highlighting some of the notable advisor FinTech trends on display in the VEO Village at the recent TD Ameritrade National LINC conference!

Enjoy the “light” reading!

Read More…

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the news that state legislators are taking action yet again to fill the fiduciary void left by vacating the DoL fiduciary rule and the SEC’s non-fiduciary Best Interest Regulation… this time, from Maryland, which has proposed a new fiduciary rule that would uniformly apply to RIAs, brokers, and insurance agents, and setting off the usual objections from industry product manufacturers that a state patchwork of fiduciary rules will create an unnecessarily high burden of regulatory complexity (albeit while the industry also continues to fight against fiduciary regulation at the Federal level, too!).

Also in the news this week is coverage of the recent TD Ameritrade LINC National conference where CEO Tim Hockey vowed not to compete with the RIAs on its platform (as the issue of RIA custodians with retail divisions competing against their own RIAs becomes an increasingly sensitive issue), a new diversity push at Edward Jones to steer retiring advisors’ books of clients to advisors who are women and people of color that some are claiming goes “too far” by paying advisors more to hand off clients to minorities (and less to transition their clients to another white male), the news that within 2 weeks of Bogle’s death Vanguard removed its claims of being an “at-cost” and “no-profit” provider (though it’s unclear if the firm is really changing its strategy, or simply backing off claims that were causing it legal troubles about whether its pricing was an inappropriate tax dodge), and a look at Fidelity’s expansion of its model portfolios as advisors increasingly outsource investment model design and implementation (which asset managers like Fidelity are using as an opportunity to increase their own assets by offering pre-built models that “happen” to predominantly use their own proprietary funds).

From there, we have several articles on advisor technology, from a discussion of whether presentations on advisor technology should be eligible for CFP CE credit, highlights from the T3 advisor technology conference, how the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will likely play out with advisors in the coming years (think less “robots replace advisors” and more “software that combs through data to identify planning opportunities for advisors to discuss with their clients”), and a review of the ongoing technology initiatives at all the major RIA custodians as a veritable “technology arms race” gets underway as platforms compete for advisors’ attention.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of the changing landscape of the financial services industry itself: the first looks at the recent Royal Commission report in Australia, a highly critical review of their conflicted financial advisor landscape, and the rather drastic changes that the regulators may now implement to ensure advisors are truly acting in the best interests of their clients and not merely as salespeople for their company’s products; the second is a fascinating exploration of the evolution of the financial services industry over the past 130 years, which finds that, despite exponential growth in technology efficiencies, the financial services industry all-in takes the same 1.5% to 2% of assets to facilitate investment now as they did more than a century ago (albeit while providing more value-adds for the same aggregate fee); and the last which looks at research on the true value that clients get from planning for their future finances, and how financial advisors, in particular, appear to provide the most value and best outcomes for at least those planning-oriented clients.

Enjoy the “light” reading!

Read More…

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the big industry news that eMoney Advisor founder Edmond Walters is “back”, with a new high-end financial planning software to support tax, estate, and legacy planning conversations with ultra-high-net-worth clients… positioned not necessarily to compete with traditional financial planning software, but to go beyond it, as the offering is actually being developed in partnership with MoneyGuidePro and Envestnet’s Logix planning software.

Also in the news this week is a great series of profiles on the leading “Women In WealthTech”, as ThinkAdvisor highlights the rise of gender diversity in enterprise technology for financial advisors (even as the gender diversity of financial advisors ourselves continues to struggle).

From there, we have several articles on the (re-)emergence of fixed indexed annuities, as DPL Financial Partners facilitates the launch of a new no-commission fixed indexed annuity for the RIA channel, Roger Ibbotson publishes a study suggesting that indexed annuities may be a superior fixed income alternative to traditional bonds in a diversified portfolio, and Michael Edesess suggests that real-world annuity contracts may still be too expensive to beat bonds in practice (and for those who wish to pursue the strategies anyway, could accomplish even more by simply using options strategies themselves instead).

We also have a number of career and practice management articles this week, from tips on the first tasks to outsource to a virtual assistant as a solo financial advisor, more tips on how to make your advisory firm more attractive and compelling when hiring talent in the midst of a severe advisor talent shortage, even more tips on how to manage the overwhelm of meetings, and some fascinating insights from an advisor on what she wishes she learned in practice management sessions about running an advisory firm but instead had to learn “the hard way” instead.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of social media and email overwhelm and how to combat it, including: a recent study that analyzed the effects of taking a 1-month break from Facebook and how it not only created more free time (obviously, from the freed up Facebook time) but also lifted up participants’ mood and reduced their political polarization (but also their political knowledge as Facebook is a key source of political news and information); the second explores the effects of taking a month off from email as well (hint: most of your emails are not as important as you think they are!); and the last explores the idea of doing a “digital declutter” and that it’s not enough to just try to take a break from social media, and instead we have to rethink the kind of digitally-minimalist lifestyle we really want to live (or not).

Enjoy the “light” reading!

Read More…

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the big news that the Nevada Securities Division has released a working proposal of its new fiduciary rule, which would expansively apply a fiduciary duty to both investment advisers and brokers who give advice or merely hold out as an advisor in the state, as more and more states move to implement their own uniform fiduciary rules in the absence of any effort from the SEC to do so instead.

Also in the news this week is the announcement that Raymond James is buying boutique RIA M&A investment bank Silver Lane (in what signals an anticipation of even more growth in RIA mergers and acquisitions in the coming years), and updated regulations from the Treasury on the new Section 199A Qualified Business Income deduction (including important clarifications and some new restrictions for real estate investors).

From there, we have a few articles on savings and spending habits, including advice on how to not just save more effectively but to lift your savings rate over time, tips for juggling multiple credit cards to maximize credit card rewards points, and a look at the rise of “luxury concierge” services for the affluent providing “bespoke experiences” as the affluent increasingly focus on not just buying goods but services and experiences as well.

We also have a number of retirement articles this week, from a look at how the “bucket approach” to retirement actually tends to decrease retirement success by almost any measure, how deferred income annuities improve retirement readiness (by only using, but only needing, a small portion of the portfolio in the first place), and the unanticipated challenges that one early retiree faced when he actually retired early at the age of 41.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of income and wealth inequality, which has been increasingly in the news lately: the first looks at a recent study by Oxfam, which finds the top 26 billionaires now have as much wealth as the bottom 50% of the entire population of the planet, with the top 1% overall capturing nearly 82% of the world’s annual wealth increase last year (further amplifying wealth and income inequality); the second looks at Senator and president-candidate Elizabeth Warren’s recent proposal of a new wealth tax of 2% to 3% as a means to raise government revenue and reduce wealth inequality; and the last explores the recent proposal from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has proposed a new top tax bracket of 70% on those earning more than $10M, based in part on the fact that the US had top tax brackets from 70% to 90% through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s… except as it turns out, the high tax rates were also accompanied by a wide range of tax shelters and other tax avoidance schemes at the time, and that in reality the effective tax rate on the top 1% wasn’t all that different back then than it is already today.

Enjoy the “light” reading!

Read More…

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the incredibly sad news that Vanguard founder and index investing pioneer, Jack Bogle, has passed away at the age of 89… but his legacy will live on, in both the books he wrote, the index funds he created, and the company he built with a unique mutual structure that ensures it will continue to support his legacy long after he’s gone.

Also in the news this week is the ongoing government shutdown, which looks increasingly likely to drag on for an extended period of time… and is leading economists and analysts to start assessing all the secondary effects that may soon emerge as agencies run out of stop-gap measures, from TSA shortages at airports to the Department of Agriculture’s food stamps program and nearly $460M of lease payments to various commercial real estate investors that won’t be paid every month the shutdown continues.

From there, we have a number of tax planning articles this week, including an announcement from the IRS in Notice 2019-11 that tax underpayment penalties will be waived in 2018 for anyone whose estimated tax payments and withholding added up to at least 85% of their total tax liability (instead of the usual 90%), a look at the various above-the-line tax deductions you can still take even with a higher standard deduction that limits the ability to itemize, and some tips on how to prepare and get organized for the upcoming tax season.

We also have several advisor technology articles, from a look at the increasingly sticky issue of who really owns a client’s financial data (and how the industry may need to change to really empower consumers to own and control their own financial data), a look at what AI will really likely do for financial advisors (hint: think “make advisors more proactive,” not “replace them”), the hazards of “legacy technology” for financial advisors, and how the creator of the modern password requirement (with upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters) regrets what he created as we’ve now reached the point of requiring passwords that are very difficult for consumers to use and remember but easier and easier for malicious computers to hack (as computing power grows exponentially greater every year).

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of the habits and time use of successful and affluent people: the first looks at how the affluent spend their time, finding that what leads to happiness isn’t just having more wealth, or spending it on experiences per se, but simply engaging their leisure time in any kind of more “active” leisure (e.g., exercising or volunteering) rather than more passive leisure (e.g., watching TV or just relaxing); the second explores the “boring” habits of successful people, who tend to write things down, simplify their lives to reduce unnecessary choices, but still remain open to updating and changing their systems over time; and the last looks at how one of the most common first or early jobs of the ultra-wealthy was some kind of “sales” job, as the reality is that for everyone – even, and including, fiduciary advisors – it’s still absolutely vital to have sales skills in the modern era, if only to be able to sell yourself and your value (whether it’s to a client or boss).

Enjoy the “light” reading, and Happy New Year!

Read More…

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with a striking new projection from Cerulli that direct-to-investor platforms are projected to grow to over $9 trillion of assets by 2022… driven not by robo-advisors, but by the existing leading direct-to-consumer platforms (primarily Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, and TD Ameritrade, that collectively own 84% of the direct-to-investor marketplace) that are increasingly competing with financial advisors by launching their own in-house advisory solutions for investors.

From there, we have a number of other notable industry news articles this week, including the news that Schwab, Fidelity, and TD Ameritrade (along with 6 other banks, brokerage firms, and trading firms) are launching a new alternative stock exchange that will be known as MEMX (Members Exchange) to try to undercut trading and data costs of the “traditional” stock exchanges like NYSE and Nasdaq, a discussion of how Schwab is working with the Investment Advisers Association to try to roll back the repeal of the advisory fee deduction and allow financial advisors to be eligible for the 20% QBI deduction as insurance agents are (though progress is not likely until after the 2020 election at best), and a preview of how the CFP Board is getting ready to “beef up” its disciplinary and enforcement capabilities in advance of its new higher fiduciary standard taking effect later this year.

We also have several articles on the theme of mergers and acquisitions of advisory firms, from tips for RIAs that want to be acquired about how to better position themselves, how RIA deals are becoming so lucrative they’re beginning to mirror the wirehouse recruiting deals of old (which in turn may be further accelerating the wirehouse breakaway broker trend), some technical issues to consider for those evaluating a merger (from entity structure to compensation policies and decision-making processes), the significance of cultural fit in a merger and how to assess it, and why the key to being a successful acquirer isn’t just about offering the right price but scaling the firm’s own operational capabilities to truly be able to take the load off the shoulders of advisors who want to sell (often to simply get back to the client-facing advisory work they enjoy the most).

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of how technology in general (and FinTech in particular) is evolving: the first looks at how, while platforms like Facebook become popular because of their ability to facilitate connections and sharing of information, their success has created platforms so cluttered with information that it “forces” the companies to create algorithms to manage the newsfeed (which is now leading to other unintended consequences); the second explores how platforms like Google have become so dominant that it’s in their interests to not be biased in any way (that might open up half the marketplace to a competitor) but the longer they succeed, the more they may unwittingly stifle innovation anyway; and the last is a fascinating look at the rise of Ant Financial in China, a “FinTech” digital financial services firm that has been so successful, it may have already achieved what many advisors fear Google or Amazon will attempt here in the US (using their technology brands to compete in a wide range of financial services products)… even as, ironically, Ant Financial is now facing a regulatory backlash because of its success and is trying to reposition itself as not being a financial services firm but “just” a technology firm, which may help to explain why companies like Amazon and Google have been content to not directly enter the highly-regulated world of investments and financial advisors themselves, either.

Enjoy the “light” reading, and Happy New Year!

Read More…

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with a deep dive from Bob Veres into the Consultant’s Report recently released by FPA that was reportedly the driver of their recent OneFPA Network initiative to dissolve and consolidate all the FPA chapters… which, as it turns out, wasn’t actually a recommendation from the Consultant in the first place, and in fact the Consultant had cautioned FPA that chapters were concerned about how National was encroaching on chapters and that they valued their autonomy! And raising troubling questions about who is really driving the OneFPA Network initiative.

From there, we have a number of articles about advisory industry trends, including two interesting retrospectives on the major events in 2018 (e.g., fiduciary rulemaking and RIA consolidation) and the potential industry issues still looming in 2019 (will a new advocacy organization emerge for the growing RIA channel?), a discussion of whether recent market volatility will impair the valuation of advisory firms and potentially even bring an end to the current seller’s market (or whether revenue decreases from the market decline will just make buyers push even harder to acquire more to grow their revenue instead!), and how a cottage industry is forming around the FINRA expungement process to cleanse brokers’ BrokerCheck records (which helps to clean up frivolous customer complaints, but with a 93% expungement rate, may be proving too easy to remove bona fide regulatory black marks as well?).

There are also a number of cash-flow and budgeting oriented articles this week, from a look at how bankruptcy judges are starting to reconsider whether student loans should be adjusted in bankruptcy, how to do a credit freeze for a child (now that Congress has passed a law allowed any parents to do so, for free), tips for navigating the financial conversation in a (new) couple’s relationship, and some tips about how to determine what is “reasonable” spending for ultra-wealthy clients who really can afford almost anything.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of self-improvement and creating (good) new habits in the New Year: the first explores the research on how to cultivate better habits (drawing on James Clear’s recent “Atomic Habits” book); the second looks at how to minimize being “stupid” (i.e., overlooking or dismissing conspicuously crucial information, or avoiding avoidable mistakes and errors); and the last provides some further food for thought about how to better meet goals even as we all struggle from time to time with our own willpower to do so by creating habits that avoid any need to have or rely on willpower in the first place (and just let the automatic habit take hold instead!).

Enjoy the “light” reading, and Happy New Year!

Read More…

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with an interesting look at industry trends looming in 2019, as the “war” between wirehouses on the one end and independent RIAs on the other end continues… but the real winners may be the rise of “New Nationals” (from certain independent broker-dealers to entirely independent advisor support platforms) that are providing the requisite support infrastructure around independent advisors that help them to remain independent while providing at least some of the benefits of size and economies of scale.

From there, we take a deeper look into the swirling trends around broker-dealers, including a look at the rising level of upfront recruiting checks being paid from independent broker-dealers (but often with problematic strings attached), how despite criticism the withdrawal from the Broker Protocol appears to be going well for Morgan Stanley and UBS and actually improving their retention, how regional broker-dealers are on the rise (in large part by the success they’re still having in pulling brokers away from wirehouses), and tips on how brokers can better navigate their broker-dealers to get the level of customization or exceptions they want in ever-growing bureaucracies.

There are also a number of marketing articles this week, from a high-net-worth investor study finding that most prospects can’t distinguish advisors at all based on their undifferentiated websites, tips on how to write better email subject lines so your marketing messages actually get read, why it’s better to describe your financial planning process as a series of accomplishments (rather than just a series of chronological steps), and how the most successful version of “content marketing” for advisors requires not just producing broad-based personal finance content by hyper-targeted specialized content that truly demonstrates the advisor’s unique expertise.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of thinking differently: the first is a fascinating reminder that for many businesses, the most valuable asset (that a bad employee can lose) is not the firm’s computers or other equipment, but the attention of clients and prospects and their willingness to read your emails and other messages (which means attention is an “asset” that should be respected and even obsessed over); the second looks at the phenomenon of a “scarcity mindset”, why it was evolutionarily advantageous to focus on and always be worried about the next scarcity, and how doing so in today’s environment may be taking away from our ability to enjoy the great richness the world currently has; and the last explores the “spaced retention” approach to learning, and how – whether we’re trying to study for the CFP exam, deepen our expertise in a niche, or simply learn something new for ourselves – that cramming and rote memorization are actually terrible ways to learn, and that repeatedly taking in small amounts of information over a sustained period of time is far more effective to really learn it!

Enjoy the “light” reading!

Read More…

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with a fresh look at the rise of T shares and Clean shares, which emerged after the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule as a way to provide less conflicted mutual fund share class options for broker-dealers to make available on their platforms… though with the DoL fiduciary rule being struck down, T shares have vanished almost entirely and Clean shares are primarily surviving in their “semi-bundled” form that still permits at least some revenue-sharing payments to platforms. Though with the explosive growth of truly-no-revenue-sharing Clean shares in fiduciary retirement plans, the potential remains for a Clean shares resurgence amongst individual financial advisors as well… particularly if the regulators re-emerge with a new fiduciary rule in 2019.

From there, we have a number of retirement planning articles this week, including a look at how couples often benefit significantly from a financial perspective by not retiring at the same time (facilitating everything from delayed Social Security for the higher-earning spouse to employer-provided health insurance to bridge the gap from retirement to Medicare at age 65), the factors that drive when couples do (or don’t) retire together, how Baby Boomers are emerging as the “loneliest” generation in retirement (due to lower rates of children and higher rates of divorce) with substantial loneliness-related health complications, and the rise of a new model for promoting social connectedness for seniors called the Villages (started with the Beacon Hill Village in Boston) that encourages “younger” senior citizens in their 50s, 60s, and 70s to support and interact with older seniors in their 80s and 90s with a social pay-it-forward ethos.

There are also a number of practice management articles, from rising fee pressure amongst asset managers driving them into the wealth management business where they’re increasingly competing with financial advisors themselves, to some ideas about how advisors can better differentiate in an increasingly crowded advisor marketplace, the ways that advisors sometimes unwittingly negotiate “against themselves” on their advisory fees (conceding pricing discounts for all based on just a few outlier clients), and a look at how one advisory firm rolled out a “Milestone Rewards” loyalty program that discounts client fees if/when they stay with the firm for at least 3 years.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of advisor regulation in 2018 and 2019: the first looks at how tumultuous the changes in advisor regulation have been in Australia, which went through an even more extreme version of fiduciary rulemaking back in 2012 and is now struggling with the aftermath consequences of product manufacturing firms that employed their own advisors and continued to give conflicted advice anyway; the second explores how the regulatory shift in Australia is fundamentally shifting power away from investment product manufacturers and into the hands of advisors and clients themselves (which is good for advisors and consumers, but not something the industry is willing to let go of lightly!); and the last is a look at some of the issues that may play out with the SEC’s own looming “Regulation Best Interest” proposal anticipated to be issued in revised form in 2019, which has already been under fire not only from fiduciary advocates but even the study that the SEC itself commissioned RAND to conduct, that found that the disclosure-based Form CRS only confuses consumers even more about the actual differences between the standards of care that apply to brokers versus investment advisers.

Enjoy the “light” reading!

Read More…

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the big industry news that asset manager Blackrock is partnering with Microsoft to create a new digital financial planning and retirement platform for consumers, aiming to leverage both Microsoft’s tech prowess and workplace reach to insert Blackrock-created digital advice tools directly into the employer marketplace… for which the software’s recommended solutions will include new Blackrock retirement income products, as Blackrock increasingly focuses on technology, not just as an effective tool to manage portfolios, but literally a distribution channel for its investment products.

Also in the news this week was a surprising “double-header” of fee-only news, as both Ron Carson and Ric Edelman have converted their practices to be entirely fee-only going forward, with Edelman’s firm shedding the last sliver of its commission-based trails (which were down below 1% of revenue anyway) and Carson forming his own limited-purpose broker-dealer to house and sell off his prior commission-based trails to (in order to drop his own FINRA licenses for good).

From there, we have a slew of investment-related articles this week, including: a look at the significance (or not) of the recent inversion of the yield curve; how the U.S. is now reaching the crossover where, for the first time in 75 years, it is now a net exporter of oil, as the country approaches energy independence (albeit still in a globally-interdependent energy marketplace); a deep-dive look at securities lending and its rise as a tool to reduce the cost of ETFs; Betterment’s decision to launch a new “two-way sweep” that shifts client cash into short-term bond funds with higher yield (including automatically transferring and investing “excess” client cash held in outside bank accounts, potentially attracting over $2B in new AUM in the coming year); the shift of ultra-high-net-worth investors towards “direct investing” into businesses in lieu of public market (or even hedge fund or private equity) investing, and what may be underappreciated risks in doing so; and a fascinating study from Riskalyze that finds a substantial relationship between the risk tolerance of clients… and other individuals who live in the same state, providing yet another reminder and affirmation that investing is often a herd behavior.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of looking out to the opportunities and challenges of 2019: the first is a look at the major challenges likely to loom in 2019, from the SEC’s anticipated re-proposal of Regulation Best Interest and the rising risk of a bear market to the industry’s ongoing transition away from an AUM-centric model and the growing availability of “fee-only” insurance and annuity products; the second explores similar industry trends in the UK, which remarkably mirrors the US in everything from the need for succession planning, to the rise of next generation advisors, the emergence of the “second generation” (i.e., non-founder) CEO of advisory firms, and the growing pressure on advisory firm founders to develop business skills to manage their growing advisory business enterprises; and the last is a fascinating discussion around Vanguard’s stated intent to come into the financial advice business and drive away high-cost low-value financial advisors just as they did to high-cost low-value mutual fund managers… even as the firm builds its advisory business on top of its own (admittedly low-cost and popular) mutual fund and ETF business, raising the question of whether Vanguard really represents the future of financial advice or the last remnant of its proprietary-product-centric past?

Enjoy the “light” reading!

Read More…