Gaining Perspective

Financial firms are not growing and not adapting as quickly as businesses in other industries. Slow to employ new technologies, look at client segmentation, and consider new outlets for client growth, the financial industry seems stuck in a bygone era. Matt Reiner shares a solution to these issues.

My guest today, Stephanie Bogan, is here to talk about the key trends that will drive growth in the advisor profession over the next several years. We all know that the pandemic has disrupted the ways advice is marketed and delivered, placing a lot more emphasis on technology and competitive differentiation. Stephanie is here to explore those trends and offer steps for advisors seeking to achieve...

Insurance-backed investments, or annuities, offer unique benefits not available in other asset management or investment strategies. And RIAs are starting to see the light, according to a recent survey from RetireOne and Protective Life Insurance. David Stone, RetireOne’s CEO, is my guest today, and will outline the results of its recent survey, how insurance products have changed in recent years,...

The wealth management industry is consolidating. A global pandemic did not slow the pace of merger and acquisition activity, with advisory practices being bought up by roll-up firms, banks and larger advisory firms. Some of the activity was fueled by private equity money and cheap debt financing abetted by the low-interest rate environment. Some of the activity is from publicly traded firms. Here...

Over the past year there has been a groundswell of interest in passive ESG ETF products as investors look to fill the core areas of their investment strategy with more sustainable solutions, while gaining substantial returns. Despite the increased interest, financial advisors and retail investors have been slower to embrace this generational-driven change due to a lack of education or by not havin...

Fear of inflation and nerves around the all-time equity market highs are driving investors to seek protection from the volatility markets experienced during the pandemic. More importantly, investors are starved for income.  We are recording this in mid-July, and the 10-year Treasury is yielding only 130 basis points. Here to talk about a solution to those challenges is Troy Cates.

At the beginning of July, Equitable announced the addition of customized managed accounts and a cash balance plan to its group retirement plans for small-to-medium sized businesses. These additional services will allow business owners and their employees to further tailor their investment portfolios and allow business owners to lower their tax burden. These solutions come at a critical time for sm...

My guest today, Rick Bookstaber, has held chief risk officer roles at Morgan Stanley, Salomon, Bridgewater, and the University of California Regents Pension Fund and served at the U.S. Treasury in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis. He is the author of The End of Theory (Princeton, 2017) and A Demon of Our Own Design . He is founder and head of risk at Fabric RQ.

The Boston Consulting Group just released its 19th annual Global Asset Management report. The report, The $100 Trillion Machine , takes a look at some of the most promising ways that asset managers can become private market investment leaders in a post-pandemic economy, including developing products for retail investors, gaining an edge in advanced data and analytics, and moving to the forefront o...

Early adopters to VIX options, Brian Stutland and Joe Tigay were active pit traders who grew the firm into the largest electronic market makers of VIX options at a time when VIX popularity was second only to the SPX. The team identified a knowledge gap for advisors wanting to hedge for their customers versus experienced traders. Using their expertise, the team forged Equity Armor Investments into...

With the SECURE Act 2.0, Improving Access to Retirement Savings Act, looking like it will become law, 401(k)s and other retirement plans finally have a chance to recover some of the ground lost as defined contribution plans eclipsed defined benefits. 

Charitable giving is triggered by one of five events, when clients have: 1.  Experienced a financial life-changing liquidity or similar event; 2. Had a life-threatening health situation themselves or have a family member who has, and they want to honor them; 3.  Expressed an interest in talking to the next generation about their wealth; 4.  Stated the intention to establish a legacy; or 5.  Volunt...

Today's market presents a unique set of challenges to building robust portfolios. Advisors have a wide range of client preferences and needs that those portfolios must address. My guest, Eric McArdle, is here to discuss how to identify the most critical portfolio challenges, both market-based and client-based, and how to directly address them by deploying options.

One of the great success stories in the ETF industry over the last several years is Innovator Capital Management. Since its launch four years ago, it has accumulated approximately $5.2 billion in assets in the 70 ETFs it offers. It has led the ETF industry in the development and commercialization of defined-outcome ETFs, and has built a suite of unique, risk-protection strategies for advisors and...

Nasdaq Dorsey Wright is a recognized global leader in momentum investing. Advisors rely on its flagship “Relative Strength” system that powers the investment decisions for $11 billion in assets. Dorsey Wright and Nasdaq are one of the largest smart-beta providers, with over $450 billion tracking their indexes.  The ProShares Nasdaq-100 Dorsey Wright Momentum ETF (QQQA), which is the topic for the...

The fastest-growing financial advisory firm this year, according to SmartAsset, is Integrated Partners. It has added nearly $1 billion in recruited advisory assets this year to date.

Studies show that customized marketing makes clients feel more appreciated and understood. In today’s episode, we are going to learn how to implement your own efforts to surprise and delight clients.

My guest today, Ken McAtamney, says we are witnessing the “Mother of All Recoveries,” with yearly growth at a level not seen in decades. He expects this recovery to last years, not months or quarters. Unlike the post-global financial crisis recovery, he says this cycle will likely be driven by domestic demand, not relying on China’s stimulus to drive the global economy.  I am going to ask Ken abou...

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note is 1.62%, and that is up approximately 130 basis points from its low of 32 basis points in March of last year. Moreover, the central debate among economists is whether the U.S. faces a new regime of inflation and higher rates, or whether inflation will be only transitory, as the Fed expects. This context of volatility and uncertainty about interest...

New York Life Insurance recently celebrated its 175th anniversary. It is the largest mutual life insurance company in the U.S., with approximately $605 billion in assets under management. It is very committed to helping advisors deliver innovative solutions to help their clients achieve financial security in their retirement. Here today to talk about some of those solutions and the ways in which N...

Today’s episode will focus on advanced tax-planning issues. There are a couple of issues that my guest, Steven Jarvis, says will come as a surprise to advisors. The first is qualified disaster retirement plan distributions reported on form 8915-E. This was an election that had to be made for 2020 but Steven keeps running into advisors who are caught off guard that their clients' tax preparers made...

The global energy landscape has changed dramatically over the last decade, primarily as a result of the significant growth in production and exports of oil and natural gas from the United States. Energy infrastructure companies have played a significant role in facilitating the growth of US energy production and moving the US towards energy independence all while generating fees that support gener...

Earlier this month, Protective Life Corporation announced enhancements to its variable annuity product line, recommitting to the space.  We are going to talk about those enhancements, which include the addition of four investment managers for its subaccounts, as many new sub accounts for its commission and fee-based products. Throughout its history, Protective’s variable annuity products have allo...

David Swensen, the manager of Yale’s endowment who passed away earlier this month, wrote the following in his 2005 book Unconventional Success: Southeastern Asset Management (sponsor of the Longleaf Partners mutual-fund family) exemplifies every fundamentally important, investor-friendly characteristic conducive to active-management success. Portfolio managers exhibit the courage to hold concentra...

My guest today, Christine D. Moriarty, has more than 25 years of experience coaching individuals, couples and business owners on their finances.  Her focus has been the intersection of emotions, behavior and money.  She brings deep experience in financial planning to national conferences for planners.