Talk about the quintessential utility player.

What can model portfolios do? The wind up and the pitch: by leveraging research, market insights and a deep well of experience, these offerings, crafted for clients by asset managers salted away time for advisors, allowing them steer the focus onto clients, according to etfdb.com.

That said, the questions hanging in the stratosphere, according to WisdomTree Investments research, is the way in which advisors, on behalf of clients, enter the terrain of model portfolios. Not only that, which clients will most enthusiastically embrace working with an advisor all in on the models.

“Smaller accounts” might be the way some advisors kick things off – or they might do so with tax exempt accounts. 

Meantime, scoop de jour: investing’s a tough enough nut to crack. Meaning you need every advantage you can leverage.

For example, socking money into a model portfolio means you’ll be packing the insights of indust4ry experts who not only know their stuff – but, heck, in all likelihood, they designed them, according to smartasset.com.

After all, prior to tabbing the assets for each portfolio, financial advisors and investment managers, for the most part, tap their analysis as professionals and deep will of research to generate investment strategies that show that detail’s king. 

Seems this wasn’t one of those prototypical meetings convened simply to discuss when to gather to conduct the next prototypical meeting. Ya da and Ya da.

Banking industry leaders from Grant Thornton recently gathered to chew over what prompted volatility to flare up and its impact on not only financial institutions, but the economy as well, according to grantthornton.com.

The one two punch of a lack of liquidity and asset liability management that wasn’t cutting the muster was at the root of the ills. The current environment has stirred plenty of uncertainty. Also deal in the Silicon Valley Bank run and the shuttering of Signature Bank, not to mention the wider sell off of stocks that unfolded at other institutions.

Meantime, typically, it might be sunny there, but in Miami-Dade County, employment in financial activities is burgeoning at a slower rate than last year, according to miamitodaynews.com. In fin-tech companies, prompted by the financial sector’s volatility, jobs are headed south.

The load down: in South Florida, jobs in financial activities climbed by 3.3% from March of last year to March of this year.

Return flights.No return policy.

Well, whichever way you look at it, as the first half of the year hits the rearview mirror, you might say  fixed income has a take of its own. according to schwab.com.

The topsy turvy market aside, all signs are up on year to date returns in virtually every sub asset class of the fixed income market, Modest gains were posted by short term investments with low durations. Meantime, a duo of higher starting coupons and yields, which tracked south, boosted intermediate to long term bonds.

All that said, in 18 months, fixed income markets have been feeling their oats. 

That wasn’t the case last year, according to janushenderson.com. After all, that was in light of the central bank’s concerted monetary tightening. With that, yields rose sharply while the prices of bonds retreated. The feeling toward bonds these days? Markedly different.

Global flows into fixed income? Thumb’s up. Year to date, $152 billion entered fixed income funds, reported EPFR Global.

The tickets are going fast.

Must be a rock star in the house. Though not demanding bowls brimming exclusively with red M&Ms, of late, model portfolios have become all that and more, at least as far as some financial professionals are concerned, according to tifin.com

And, hey, they’re onto something. Besides salting away mucho time for investors, giving them all the opportunity to serve more clients with stepped up efficiency, they also play a pivotal role in their ability to ensure investment strategies remain on track throughout the client bases. What’s more, they make sure overexposure to any particular investment or asset class doesn’t burgeon into an issue.

Target risk models are a staple among a plethora of model portfolio types. Among several attributes, they’re designed to align with the goals of investors, who have specific risk tolerances. The range stretches from conservative to aggressive.

So, how popular are they? As of March of last year, assets following model portfolios hardly sat on their hands; they parachuted to $$349 billion, according to Morningstar, reported smartasset.com. That’s an approximately 22% bounce between June 30, 2021, and March 31, 2022.

Even at his advanced age, Warren Buffett continues to make prescient moves. The most recent example includes loading up on energy stocks just prior to the sector’s incredible gains in 2020 and 2021. While prices have receded amid concerns that a recession is near, Buffett is using the weakness to increase his exposure to the sector.

However, his most aggressive bet in the sector is on Occidental Petroleum of which Berkshire owns 222 million shares which is equivalent to nearly 25% of the company’s market cap. While Occidental is an integrated operator, the bulk of its revenues are from drilling which means that it’s sensitive to swings in the price of crude oil.

Based on his public comments, Buffett sees the energy supply chain as being constrained given a lack of capital expenditures over the last decade, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and changes wrought by increased electrification. At the same time, global demand for oil continues to increase, leading to a tighter equilibrium between supply and demand. 

In addition to his Occidental investment, Buffett also has a $22 billion stake in Chevron. Additionally, Berkshire Energy contributes $25 billion of revenue to its parent company and is composed of power generation and distribution companies like pipelines, renewables, and utilities.

Finsum: Energy has delivered poor returns in 2023 amid increased supply and growing recession fears. However, Warren Buffett continues to increase his exposure to the sector.