Economy
Model portfolios, of course, are designed for investors. They abet their ability to outsource investmentmanagement; that way, they can drill down on firming their relationships with clients by way of otherfinancial planning services, according to mornngstar.com. Those include, for example, developingstrategies evolving around estate and taxes.
It seems they’re on something of a roll. More than 2,400 models were reported to Morningstar’sdatabase as of May. Since 2019, 30% of them were launched, according to the site.
Now, even if investing’s in your wheelhouse, it might not be a bad idea to lean in on a pro for someadditional guidance, according to broadridge.com. It might be logical to see an advisor associated with aburgeoning trend blending model portfolios into the process of financial planning, the site continued.
In the simplest form, Broadridge explained, model portfolios are a series of predefined asset allocationpie charts in which a recommended mix of different asset classes are proposed based on a client’s risktolerance.”
For the industry, the implications are substantial as more advisors adopt and rely on the portfolios,which enables them to build a scalable business that simultaneously provides clients with additionalattention, the site reported.
Where there’s market volatility coupled with an unpredictable economy, there’s likely clients coping with cold sweats. Like underdog, their advisors can come to the rescue.
In cases like these, of course, communication can be all that and more and go a long way toward engaging and holding onto clients, according to forbes.com.
Further, advisors rated their own performance 15% to 36% higher than their client did in all categories, according to a 2021 study, reported RIA Intel. Categories included how well they kept clients informed about investment performance in down markets.
Meantime, keep in your back pocket that stepping up your level of communication can abet advisors as they strive to fortify and maintain relationships with clients, not to mention generate greater rapport in the industry, the site continued.
Also key to keeping customers in the loop and doubling down on their degree of confidence: communications. It can go a long way toward engaging and hanging onto them. More than one in four clients report their advisor touches base with then “very frequently,” according to a 2019 YCharts report. And more frequent contact would hit paydirt, spawning greater confidence in the financial plan.
Keep in mind that there’s a 20% market correction approximately every seven years, on top of a major “crash” around every decade, according to meanswealth.com.
Congress has put forth a new bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, which will put lots of measures in place in order to limit inflation. Manchin (West Virginia D.) finally came to an agreement with Check Schumer in order to move forward. Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody’s, said that this will move both the economy and inflation toward the long-term goals. The bill will primarily be paid for with higher corporate and income tax rates on the wealthy and will fund lower drug costs, clean energy projects, and debt reduction. Others say the tax ‘hikes’ are really just loopholes being closed, and this is just a mini Build Back Better Bill. Moody’s expects the impact on inflation to be modest at best tapering inflation by only a third of a percentage point by 2031 and boosting growth by 0.2% in the same time period. The act hasn’t been put forth into law, but it could be close with Manchin.
Finsum: A coordinated monetary/fiscal effort will be needed to cure inflation without a recession, but these reductions aren’t nearly enough.
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Volatility has spiked in 2022 in response to rising rates and international turmoil, but that could be good news for financial advisors according to Cerulli. The latest Edge publication demonstrated that Advisors are being leaned on to deliver critical advice in response to high inflation, economic sluggishness, and deteriorating equity prices. For existing clients, they advise advisors to concentrate on tax loss harvesting and long-term planning. Advisor’s who capitalize on providing these while rebalancing risk in portfolios are putting their clients in the best position to hit a rally coming out of the turmoil. Advisors should lean into their attributes during high volatility.
Finsum: Research shows financial advisors provide critical value when it comes to relating to clients and helping them understand economic circumstances, volatility can provide a chance to capitalize.
Firms are buying up custom indexing solutions rapidly as possible in order to meet the excess demand coming from consumers, but also to prepare for the future. Investment experts and advisors believe there is a strong possibility that custom indexing will shake up the investment products space, the way ETFs redefined the early oughts. Olive Wyman expects custom solutions will capture $1.5 trillion of assets by 2025, over a 300% growth from the 2020 levels. Custom solutions are more flexible to address clients' desires, and they can be implemented to cater to ESG criteria more stringently than ETFs. However, the greatest advantage is their tax efficiency where stocks can be dropped for tax loss harvesting.
Finsum: Direct indexing has benefited from the rapid growth in fintech solutions, which have lowered minimums across the board.
According to the Index Industry Association’s annual ESG survey, 76% of respondents integrate ESG when running both passive and active fixed income mandates. This is a large jump from 42% in 2021. The survey, which was conducted with 300 asset managers, also found that 87% of passive asset managers are integrating ESG into their bond allocations. 85% of asset managers stated that ESG had become a higher priority over the past 12 months. Out of this figure, 43% said the concern around climate and corporate governance was the driving force behind that decision. Other reasons were a need for more diversified returns, regulatory and reputation risk, high energy prices, and geopolitical events. Almost a third cited a desire for increased returns. The biggest driver was their client’s knowledge of ESG, with 53% stating they were “very confident” in their clients' ESG knowledge.
Finsum: Asset managers are implementing ESG into fixed income allocations at a higher rate due to climate and corporate governance, diversified returns, higher energy prices, and client knowledge.