Goldman Sachs Asset Management recently launched the Goldman Sachs Community Municipal Bond ETF (GMUN). The ETF, which trades on the NYSE Arca, seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Community Municipal Index, a rules-based index designed to track the municipal securities market with remaining maturities between one and 15 years. The ETF also has screens that consider certain social or environmental factors. By focusing on 1-to-15-year maturities within the investment grade municipal bond universe, the portfolio will seek to deliver diversified market exposure with lower duration and higher credit quality than the broader municipal market. The ETF is managed by Goldman’s Municipal Fixed Income team which brings decades of experience with an active and disciplined approach to investing in a market that is vast and fragmented. The fund has an expense ratio of 0.25%. According to Goldman, targeted allocation into municipalities and projects with positive impact will provide the opportunity to invest in education, healthcare, clean energy, and more community-related initiatives.

Finsum:Goldman recently launched its first muni ETF, the Goldman Sachs Community Municipal Bond ETF (GMUN), which provides exposure to tax-exempt municipal securities with remaining maturities between one and 15 years.

According to analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence, U.S. equity REITs have little direct exposure to Silicon Valley Bank, which had the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Office REIT Cousins Properties Inc. reported Silicon Valley Bank as its ninth-largest tenant by annualized rent as of 2022 year-end at just over $8.4 million, or roughly 1.2% of the REIT's total rental portfolio. The REIT leases 204,751 square feet of office space to the bank at its Hayden Ferry property in Tempe, Arizona. Boston Properties Inc. houses Silicon Valley Bank's Seattle office in its recently acquired Madison Centre property. In addition, Paramount Group Inc. leases office space to SVB Securities LLC, an entity under the SVB Financial Group umbrella, at 1301 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan, N.Y. Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. reported in a March 13th news release that it has one lease with an affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank in the Greater Boston area market totaling 32,152 rentable square feet. The lease's annual rental revenue as of Dec. 31st, 2022, was $1.7 million, or 0.08% of the REIT's total annual rental revenue.

Finsum:According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, U.S. REITs had limited exposure to Silicon Valley Bank, with some REITS reporting that SVB made up a small percentage of their rental portfolios.

Concerns over the banking sector are currently making things rough in the $8 trillion agency mortgage bond market. Agency mortgage bonds are widely held by banks, bond funds, and insurers as they are backed by mortgage loans from government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They are far less likely to default than most debt. They are also easy to buy and sell quickly, which is why they were Silicon Valley Bank’s biggest investment before its troubles. However, agency mortgage bonds are vulnerable to rising interest rates like all long-term bonds. This pushed their prices down last year and also saddled banks such as Silicon Valley Bank. In fact, the risk premium on a widely followed Bloomberg index of agency MBS hit its highest level since October last week, as climbing interest rates led to volatile global markets. According to bond fund managers, this certainly reflected fears that other regional banks might have to sell their holdings. When benchmark interest rates rise, bonds that were sold at times of lower rates lose value. For instance, prices of low-coupon agency mortgage bonds started dropping about a year ago, when the Fed raised interest rates to tame inflation and also indicated that it might start selling the mortgage bonds that it owned.

Finsum:With faltering banks such as Silicon Valley Bank holding large amounts of agency mortgage bonds, the turmoil in the banking industry is roiling the $8 trillion agency mortgage bond market.

There are numerous ways for an advisor to expand his or her client list, but approaching people you know might be one of the lowest-hanging fruit. However, approaching them in the wrong way will only end up in rejection. Bryce Sanders, President of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. recently wrote an article for ThinkAdvisor on how best to approach people you know for business. According to Sanders, the first step is to identify their need and research the issue. For instance, if you’re talking with someone, listen carefully when they speak. You may realize they have a problem on their mind. The next step is to discuss the issue and demonstrate an understanding of it. You know there is something on their mind and as a friend, you are concerned. Try to “tactfully” draw it out. Next, assess their level of comfort or unease. They might be thrilled you spoke up or ask you to back off. The fourth step is to view the situation as a third party. Make a list of all the potential solutions or approaches to their issue. Then offer to do something for free. You could say it’s not the first time you heard about the problem and then connect your friend with a specialist at your firm. After you meet with the specialist, present your friend with a turnkey solution. If they say no, gently follow up.

Finsum:Bryce Sanders, President of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. recently wrote an article for ThinkAdvisor on the best steps for approaching your friends for business, including identifying their needs, demonstrating an understanding, offering them free advice, and gently following up.

A financial advisor succession plan? It’s a component, of course, of a strategy to pass the baton of a practice to another advisor. Long and short term planning’s typically is part of the plan, according to assetmark.com.

It could be that one component of the plan is the outright sale – internally or externally -- of the business. Or you might add a junior advisor as your successor down the road or pass it to a family member.

Face it: a retirement plan’s a big time consideration for independent financial professionals and, often, comes down to them establishing a succession plan for their business. 

A trio of benefits stemming from proactive succession planning include: 

Peace of Mind

A succession plan to add to the value of your business and enhance its marketability and:

Provide you an opportunity to prepare next generation advisors

Organizations; yes, they get it. Succession planning’s nothing to poo poo at. That said, when it comes to pulling it off well, it’s a different story, according to delotitte.com.

It takes having the right leaders doing the right jobs at, you’ve got it, the right time, as most organizations recognized years ago. Even so, not many of those very companies have managed to be  proactive, not to mention, disciplined, about carrying out succession planning processes that strike gold, the site continued.