Displaying items by tag: advisors

Wednesday, 04 December 2019 10:36

Most Advisors Have No Regrets About Going Independent

(New York)

If you are considering going independent, Charles Schwab has an interesting new survey for you. Thousands of advisors have been flowing out of wirehouses and large regional brokerages over the last few years. They have either gone completely independent or joined independent broker-dealers. In either case, a new survey from Charles Schwab shows that such advisors are very happy. In fact, 90% of advisors who have gone independent report that they have no regrets about their choice to go it alone.


FINSUM: The reality is that most advisors say that whether you become an RIA or go to an IBD, you can serve clients better and make more money at the same time. The general opinion is that with an RIA you lose a lot of structural support, but you keep everything for yourself; while with an IBD you keep more structural support and still get much higher payouts than at a wire.

Published in Wealth Management
Wednesday, 23 October 2019 09:58

The Big Expenses Retirees Forget

(New York)

Retirement takes a lot of planning, which every financial advisor knows intimately. Yet, retirees themselves often forget some of the big things that can derail their financial plans. Accordingly, here is a list of several important high expense items that retirees forget to account for. Firstly, one-time big ticket things, like new furnaces, air conditioning units, repainting the house etc. This big expenses can catch retirees off-guard. Relatives in need are often another big commitment that retirees don’t see coming. Additionally, many don’t realize that as their Social Security distributions rise, they can be moved into a higher tax bracket and may also see their Medicare premiums rise.


FINSUM: This is a just a good reminder piece of some of the pitfalls of retirement.

Published in Wealth Management
Wednesday, 07 August 2019 09:44

A New Best Interest Rule for Annuities

(Washington)

While it has largely gone unnoticed by the wealth management media, New York state has just enacted a new best interest rule for annuities. As of August 1st, advisors must now consider the best interests of clients before selling annuities. Additionally, annuities sellers cannot call themselves advisors unless they are licensed to do so. The rule came about to try to fill a gap after the defeat of the DOL’s fiduciary rule last year. New York follows Connecticut and Nevada in making their own best interest rules governing certain products.


FINSUM: Annuities have been cleaning up their act in the last few years, and this will be another step in the process. Best interest rules notwithstanding, we do think the improving business climate for annuities is a good thing because they make sense for many clients.

Published in Wealth Management
Monday, 06 May 2019 12:40

How the Best Advisors Use ETFs

(New York)

Barron’s has interviewed some of the top financial advisors in the country to figure out how they incorporate ETFs into their portfolios. We thought our readers might be curious. Raj Sharma, from ML, said that he thinks ETFs are just a tool and that active management still has a big role to play, especially in emerging markets and small caps. One top advisor, for whom ETFs comprise 50% of their business, says they use options bets against ETFs, something you can’t do with active funds. Another top advisor from ML, Peter Rohr, summarized ETFs nicely, saying: “ETFs allow us to control the controllable. We can control fees, we can control taxes, and we can control risk level”.


FINSUM: ETFs are a very flexible, and largely inexpensive product, facts which explain their explosive growth. However, that flexibility also means it takes strategy to put them to their best use.

Published in Wealth Management
Tuesday, 09 April 2019 13:11

Annuities Come Roaring Back

(New York)

A year ago, annuities looked like a product that had outlived its regulatory life cycle. The pending DOL fiduciary rule seemed completely incompatible with the product and its selling practices, so annuities appeared likely to take a big hit. Then the rule got shot down in court, and the whole picture changed. Data is now in on 2018 annuity sales and it looks strong—sales smashed all previous records. In virtually every category of annuities, sales were up considerably, in many case 20% or more.


FINSUM: The annuity sales outlook has completely changed. The next five years—as the number of people 65 or older hits 60 million—looks to be very strong.

Published in Wealth Management
Page 94 of 100

Contact Us

Newsletter

Subscribe

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

Top
We use cookies to improve our website. By continuing to use this website, you are giving consent to cookies being used. More details…