Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - highlights this week include two great year-end wrap-up articles on technology, including an overview of Financial Planning magazine's huge annual tech survey, and technology highlights from consultant Bill Winterberg in MorningstarAdvisor. Also included in a striking interview with research and planning pioneer Bill Bengen, who suggests that safe withdrawal rates are still valid, but that buy and hold isn't, and an interesting article from Angie Herbers in Investment Advisor about some owners who may be experiencing "owner's guilt" over the profitability of their business, and making some bad decisions as a result. Then there's a quick look at some thoughts about the new cost basis reporting rules that are being implemented by the IRS, and two somewhat non-traditional investment and economic pieces from some industry stalwarts, Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital and Jeremy Grantham of GMO. Enjoy the reading!Read More...
Notwithstanding its risk and the painful volatility of the past decade, stock investing is still a cornerstone of financial planning advice. However, investing in equities - even just a little bit - is not for everyone. Some aren't interested in the risk; the trade-off just isn't worth it to them.
Of course, financial planning advice has much value to offer beyond just how to allocate an equity-centric portfolio. There's just one problem... financial planning advice may still be so equity-centric, that people who don't want to take investment risk just don't use a financial planner at all, as a recent Journal of Personal Finance revealed!Read More...
As a country, our national savings rate is among the lowest in the world, and in practice the average American struggles to save much of anything. A recent survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling indicated that 64% of Americans don't even have enough cash on hand to handle a $1,000 emergency expense. The standard advice of financial health to address these problems is to "Spend Less, and Save More" or its extended version, "Spend Less Than You Make, And Save The Rest." Yet notwithstanding the nearly universal nature of this advice, it doesn't seem to be having much of an impact. Perhaps the problem is because in reality, the advice just isn't specific enough to be actionable, and as a result it's ineffective. In other words, if we really want people to spend less and have more money left at the end of the month, what we need to do is not just tell people to "Spend Less, and Save More" - we actually need to tell them HOW to spend! We need to create the "food pyramid" of recommended spending!
Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - highlights this week include a new pieces about tactical asset allocation by yours-truly in the Journal of Financial Planning, an interesting article about the correlation between use of financial planners and willingness to invest in risky assets, a number of great articles about the unfolding debt crisis in Europe and its economic and investment implications, and a nice discussion about the importance of establishing a work environment that's right for you. We also look at a great piece from Angie Herbers discussing how different today's new financial planners are compared to those of 10, 20, or 30 years ago - and the ways firms need to adjust to maximize on the opportunity. Enjoy the reading!Read More...
It's a common financial planning challenge - the planner provides recommended action items for the client to implement, but the client struggles to follow through on them. In some cases, it may be because the client doesn't really believe the recommendations are best; in others, it's a matter of trust; but in most, it may simply be a matter of "buy-in" to the action items (or a lack thereof!) in the first place. After all, it's easy for a client to procrastinate about implementing recommendations if the client isn't really committed to them in the first place.
But as it turns out, just a few small changes to the process of delivering action item recommendations by inviting clients to physically write down part of their commitment can potentially increase client buy-in and follow through.Read More...
Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - highlights this week include two recent pieces about the FPA (one positive and one negative), some articles about how behavioral finance is starting to change how we look at various financial and economics problems, a few technical articles on health care and non-spouse beneficiaries of inherited IRAs, and another great piece from John Hussman about the current economic environment. We also look at two pieces highlighting new ways to look at the value and power of blogging and starting a Twitter account. Enjoy the reading!Read More...
