Social media can be a goldmine for financial advisors with a plan and system to consistently create content. However, it can also be a curse for advisors who don’t represent their practices properly or spend time and resources ineffectually.

In theory, social media gives an advisor the ability to reach thousands of users on various platforms, many of whom may be in the market for a financial advisor. It can also help you target prospects in your niche and customize content accordingly. For SmartAsset, Rebecca Lake CEFP shares some additional tips on effective content creation for social media.

The first goal is to create brand awareness through a presence on social media. This is the first step in the journey from gaining a social media follower, converting them to a prospect, and eventually a client. The next step is to use interactions on social media to build a following and deepen connections with existing clients and prospects. One strategy to do so is to run polls and ask questions of your followers to gain a deeper understanding of their perspective on various matters and spark thought and conversation.

Another important step is to do some research in order to understand where your ideal client spends time on social media. For instance, an advisor targeting younger clients may have better results on Tiktok or Instagram whereas a client targeting older clients would have more success on Facebook. 

Finsum: Social media is increasingly how advisors connect and communicate with clients and prospects. Here are some tips to increase your odds of success. 

For Vettafi’s ETFTrends, James Comtois discusses some of the key advantages of direct indexing for investors, and why the category is expected to continue growing at a healthy clip over the next decade. In essence, it’s become increasingly evident over the past decade that investing passively and consistently in low-cost, diversified funds is the key to outperformance. Currently, there is $260 billion in assets managed via direct indexing with this figure expected to exceed $500 billion over the next decade. 

At the same time, society continues to evolve in a manner that serves consumers with content, products, and services that are customized to their taste. Concurrently, there has been technological innovation in the financial space that has resulted in drastic declines in the cost of stock trading and money management. 

Direct indexing is at the intersection of all these trends. It captures the best parts of passive index investing as it recreates an index in an investors’ account with some tweaks if necessary to reflect one’s personal values and beliefs or unique financial situation. It utilizes technological innovations to scan for tax loss harvesting opportunities which then can be used to lower an investors’ tax bill. Due to this factor, direct indexing strategies outperform especially in more volatile environments. 

Finsum: Direct indexing is one of the fastest growing areas in wealth management. Here are some factors behind its increasing popularity. 

Financial advisors have been leaving Merril Lynch at a steady clip over the past couple of years in search of greener pastures. Recently, David B. Ammerman and Sara E. Graham, who managed $353 million in client assets, left the firm to join Raymond James’ independent advisors division. He was ranked as the #37th best wealth advisor by Forbes this year and had been with Merrill Lynch since 1998.

Similarly, William Edward ‘Ed’ Winegar and Gregory W. Berg also left Merrill Lynch to join LPL’s employee brokerage unit two weeks ago. They are naming their new practice, Winegar Berg Wealth Management. The duo managed $205 million in client assets and generated $1.6 million in revenue last year. Both had been with Merrill Lynch since 2005.

This continues a trend of Merrill brokers leaving for Linsco which is LPL’s employee advisor channel. LPL continues to grow at an impressive rate, in part due to several affiliate options it offers for prospective advisors. Last month, it added about $800 million in client assets from Merril. Currently, LPL has 22,000 advisors, and it continues to take advisor and market share away from big banks and legacy providers of financial advice.  

Finsum: Merrill Lynch continues to see brokers leaving the firm. One of the firms seeing an influx of advisors is LPL which has a variety of offerings.

One of the biggest surprises of 2023 has been the resilience of the economy and inflation despite the Fed embarking on the most aggressive rate hike campaign in decades. For fixed income investors, it’s been a challenging environment. 

Inflows have been strong and sustained given higher rates and expectations that a recession was imminent. Yet, returns have been mixed especially with there being no change in the Fed’s stance despite some encouraging data on the inflation and economic fronts. Specifically, shorter duration bonds have outperformed, while longer duration bonds have underperformed.

According to Vanguard, it’s simply a case of short-term pain equating to longer-term gains. The selloff in fixed income will lead to higher returns over the intermediate and long-term while generating decent income for investors. Ironically, it’s an inverse of what we experienced over the past decade when bonds were in a decade-plus bull market due to the Fed’s dovish policies. In this environment, there was no value and limited income opportunities in the asset class. 

The firm recommends that investors have exposure to a mix of short and long-duration bonds. The factors that resulted in shorter duration outperformance are unlikely to continue especially given that the labor market is rapidly cooling and yields are at historically attractive levels. 

Finsum: Fixed income has been particularly challenging in 2023 due to the Fed continuing to hike rates. Here are Vanguard’s thoughts on how to navigate the market.

Over the last couple of years, REITs have been one one of the weakest parts of the market. REITs own and operate income-producing real estate and are obligated to distribute more than 90% of profits to shareholders.

The biggest headwind has been the relentless rise in rates which makes these stocks’ dividend streams less attractive and ups their financing costs. Higher rates also impact demand for housing by making it less attractive. Finally, there is a crisis in the commercial real estate (CRE) space due to low occupancy rates for offices given the increase in remote work.

While there have been an array of macro and cyclical factors negatively affecting REITs, there are some reasons for optimism that the worst may be over. For one, the odds of a soft landing continue to rise. This is due to recent economic and labor market data which clearly show that the job market is cooling, and wage growth is falling. However, job losses have not been materially rising, indicating a period of slower growth rather than a recession.

This should lead longer-term rates to drift lower which would be a catalyst for REIT stocks to start moving higher. Lower rates should help housing demand. Additionally, a weaker job market could also give employers more leverage to force workers to return to the office. 

Overall, many of the negative trends which were impacting REITs are now reversing.

Finsum: Recent economic data is strengthening the odds of a soft landing. Here are why REITs would be a big winner in this scenario.