Member Activities
- vschiavi reviwed Junxure: Company unresponsive to requests to upgrade product - not unusual for software providers.
- pdr reviwed ACT: too much work to change it now
- CompassAMG reviwed Albridge Solutions: Allbridge Evaluation
- CompassAMG reviwed Microsoft Outlook: Microsoft Outlook Review
- russw215 reviwed Junxure: Good overall functionality, requires well thought out plan
- BEdelman commented on Don't worry, you can buy that new computer with Windows 7.: The Dell Small Business segment has confirmed the last date ...
- mrowland commented on Bond Rates Point To Recovery: One reader writes to tell me that the bond market is only half ...
- searcy commented on Smaller iPad Could Be a Better Business Tool: I agree with Bill. And I love the line about business travelers ...
- billwinterberg commented on Smaller iPad Could Be a Better Business Tool: Smaller? I want a little bit bigger touch screen. The 9.7" is ...
- billn904 commented on Manage Households, Not Accounts, Or Risk Getting Fired!: in theory it's great...understanding the tax consequence is ...
- Monsieur Gagne posted to the Salesforce.com forum: Templates/Overlays for Salesforce?
- Paul@EWM posted to the Orion Advisor Services forum: Orion's dropping the ball
- nritchison posted to the RedTail/eMoney forum: EMoney/ Redtail Integration
- Paul@EWM posted to the RedTail forum: Email Archiving Problems at Redtail
- Golden Mesa posted to the ACT! forum: Re:Workflow in Act.
- Monsieur Gagne
- Floodlight Investing is looking for is looking for advisers and firms looking for asset allocation based portfolio construction software! 30 days free trial...
- Peter
- bills314 trying to figure out how to complete profile
- JimVoss says chat with fellow A4A members using the toolbar in the lower right corner
Webinars
- Rise Up From The Financial Crisis & Reclaim Your Power! 08/27/2010
- The 10-Year Exit Plan: Controlling Your Future 08/20/2010
- Portfolio Accounting & Performance Reporting Using BOSS—A PortfolioCenter Service Bureau 08/19/2010
- Continuity Planning For Advisors 08/13/2010
- Collaborating With Estate Planning Attorneys 08/06/2010
- Sin Stocks Are A Blessing In A Difficult Market 09/09/2010 4:00 pm
- kanthony reviewed Continuity Planning For Advisors:
Commentary
Investing News
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Mary Rowland
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What's Your Opinion?
Yesterday we received an email from Wendell B. Fuller, a NAPFA advisor in Virginia, who said that he enjoys receiving the morning digest. What he doesn’t enjoy are headlines that convey the author’s political point of view but are not labeled as such. He makes an important point.
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Technology
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Bill Winterberg
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Want To Boost Productivity? Try This $9 Fix
Interruptions force you to reboot your thought process. This one simple solution can help you maintain your focus throughout your workday. |
Compliance
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Christopher E. Winn
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Attention RIAs: SEC Passes New Changes to ADV 2
On July 21, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously voted to adopt changes to Form ADV Part 2, which is referred to as the "Disclosure Brochure". Changes to Disclosure Brochure have been in discussion for nearly 10 years, with the shortcomings of duplicate information to ADV Part 1, a limiting "check-the-box" format, and inconsistency between requirements for SEC- and state-registered advisors.
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Tax Efficient Investing
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Sheryl Rowling
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Doing What’s Right For Clients By Recommending Roth IRA Conversions
Let’s face it, advising clients to convert to a Roth IRA reduces the assets you manage for them. This cuts your fees and makes it difficult for you to recommend that they convert. Apart from being unethical, dishonest, and short-sighted, you are probably shooting yourself in the foot! There are a lot of ways to make up for the loss of assets caused by the tax bite. |
Client Communications
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Scott Farnsworth
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Story is the Key to Client Connection
Story is the key to a truly client-centered practice. As professional advisors, we actually begin to make the transition from transactional to relational when we become willing to meet clients on this common ground of sharing and listening to stories about what the client has been through, what events shaped and influenced their values, and what matters most.
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IT
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Brian Edelman
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Don't worry, you can buy that new computer with Windows 7.
Just when you got all of the bugs out using the Windows XP operating system Microsoft no longer sells it. Most advisors still use XP, and upgrading to Windows 7 will render many of your programs and files unworkable. |
Operations & Processes
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Blane Warrene
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Social Research Tools?Research and analysis are built directly into the DNA of working in financial services and I would venture that you have received a solicitation to evaluate a research tool in the last 30 days. Over the years of building, buying and supporting advisory technology platforms - research has been the cornerstone. However, it has not always just been about Advisory World or Morningstar or Thomson Reuters (though portfolio analysis is a key component of the research process).
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Public Relations
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Cyrus Afzali
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Retirement Crisis Presents PR Opportunities
As any advisor knows, retirement planning has never really been an American strong suit. However, now more than ever, clients aged 50 and older are dealing with many worries as a result of the one-two punch brought on by the real estate collapse and the fluctuations of the stock market. Given the fact they've got relatively few years left to play catch up before retirement, customizing marketing messages with this group in mind is a great way to get both ink/airtime and clients. |
Document Management
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Joanne Day
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Get Real – Accepting Advisors’ Natural Tendencies (And What To Do About It)
Having worked within a planning firm and with planners for over a decade, here’s what I observed about advisors’ tendencies. |
Market & Economy News
- High-Frequency Trading Globally
- Kass: The Lost Decade Has Passed Us
- Growth Slows In Health Spending
- Democrats Lean Against Tax Increases
- U.S. Frets Over Foreign Investors In GM
- Retailers Show Surprising Strength
- Probe Circles Globe To Find Dirty Money
- HP Wins Bidding War For 3Par
- Hear This Forbes: The 20 Richest People Of All Time
- Bernanke Regrets Reticence On Lehman
- Burkle, In Testimony, Objects To B&N 'Poison Pill'
- Merck Plans Layoff of 15% of Work Force
- Europe To Put Strict Limits On Banker Bonuses
- AIG, Citi Tell SEC They Classified Repos as Sales
- Krugman or Paulson: Who You Gonna Bet On?
- Battle at AIG Board: You Go, or I Do
- BP Says It Has Stopped Flow Of Oil To Gulf
- How Brokers Became Bookies
- How Low Can the S&P 500 Go?
- Andy Grove: How To Create American Jobs
Industry News
- Bruised Quant Funds Seek Human Touch
- What's Behind Schwab Deal For ETF Manager Windward
- Regional Broker-Dealers Making A Comeback: Cerulli
- Silver Bridge Nabs Bostonian Financial PlanningTeam
- One Key To Advisor Success: Pruning Smaller Clients
- Insurance Agents Throwing Sand In Fiduciary Gearbox
- Revisiting The Misty Historical Past Of ERISA
- Hewitt Associates Buying Ennis Knupp + Associates
- Brinker Capital To Offer Absolute Return Strategy
- Malgoire, McClanahan Named To NAPFA Board
- LPL To Acquire National Retirement Partners
- 12b(1) Change A Nail In Coffin Of Commision Brokers
- Advisors Abandoning American Funds
- Alternative Fund Added By TD Ameritrade, Vanguard
- Where Do We Take Our Firms From Here?
- Fidelity May Be Getting Traction With 401(k) Advisors
Technology News
Practice Management
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Andrew Gluck
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Is Dunn & Bradstreet A Racket?
Dunn & Bradstreet calls me every few months to try to scare me into buying its credit monitoring services for my company. Call me crazy, but I am beginning to feel like D&B is little more than a protection racket, threatening my company with an adverse report unless I pay them. Does anyone else feel this way? |
Succession Planning
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David Grau Sr., JD
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Advisory Practices Have No Value?!
Industry pundits routinely offer opinions that your lifetime of work has no real value as a business. Can it possibly be true?
Building a Business That Can Outlive You Equity Compensation – A Powerful Weapon The Truth about Succession Planning in this Industry How to Apply a Minority Discount |
Financial Planning
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Kristen M. Jankowski
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The Multiple Benefits Of Charitable Giving
With anticipated rises in federal and some state taxes, many people are looking to utilize charitable planning as a means to navigate this new economic terrain. In addition, those converting to Roth IRAs are also considering charitable giving as a way to offset the additional tax liability. There are several options that your clients can select if they choose to give charitably, not just in the decision of which organization to give to, but in how to efficiently and effectively give. |
Estate Planning
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Rick Randall
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Still Stuck in Estate Tax “Purgatory”!
Here’s an conundrum for you—as advisors we’re often forced to share an “update” with our clients regarding the estate tax “repeal” situation, but there’s still nothing solid to report! We’re all still stuck in “estate tax purgatory.” |
Insurance
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Glenn Daily
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Life Insurance Guaranteed Values Are a Big, Fat Idiot
One of my pet peeves is that sales illustrations for life insurance policies show the guaranteed cash values and death benefits on the same page, side by side, using the same formatting, as the non-guaranteed values. This leads many life insurance buyers to think that the guaranteed values are an important factor in choosing a policy. In the worst case, it can lead a buyer to make a really dumb decision.
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Industry News
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Scott Martin
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Clock Ticking On The Estate Tax
If you blinked, you probably missed the Senate’s short-lived deal on the federal estate tax. Now that it’s fallen apart, advisors probably won’t get any new guidance before November. |
Industry News
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Robert Casey
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Trends In Family Offices and Multifamily Offices
Pressed by losses to family wealth during the recent market turmoil, many single-family offices are struggling with growing concerns about their long-term viability. They are also casting about for ways to achieve more reliable and less volatile investment returns.
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401(k)s
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Charlie Epstein
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Finding The “Pea-Guy” In 408(b)(2) Final Reg. Fee Disclosure!
Remember the guy on the street corner with the little table and the three walnut shells?
He would call out to an unsuspecting passerby, “$25 to find the pea, $25 to find the pea. “
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Practice Management
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George Tamer
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Control Your Email Instead if Letting It Control You
The enemy of most financial advisors is time. There is only so much of it in a day, so the challenge is to become as productive as possible in all aspects of your professional and personal life. One of the more deadly time killers is email. Because it’s so easy to use and so pervasive, often times for advisors this communication channel becomes overwhelming with literally hundreds of messages incoming on a daily basis.
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