Outsourced chief investment officers got a huge boost from the pandemic, and that trend may be here to stay. According to a study by Cerulli Associates OCIO will grow at a rate of 5% annual for the next 5 years. In the year after the pandemic started the AlphaNasdaq OCIO index grew by 30.69%. OCIO's multi-asset class strategy combines everything from traditional stocks and bonds to sectors like real estate, and this multi asset strategy improves efficiency and tailor risk tolerances. In house investment teams have a harder time competing against OCIO’s in a low rate environment as they can’t seem to identify the returns and lack the connection OCIO’s have.

FINSUM: Specialty skill sets are the predominant employment trend in the 21st century and OCIO brings an expertise that will solidify their part of the financial industry in the years to come.

The DOL took a very important and surprising step today. Many advisors and the industry more generally has been calling for the DOL to delay their implementation of the Fiduciary Rule, and somewhat amazingly, that is exactly what the agency just did. Referring specifically to the rule that was passed in the final few weeks of the Trump administration, the DOL is delaying implementation until the end of January 2022. Further, it will not enforce several parts of the rule, including the rollover aspect, until June 2022.

FINSUM: So the month extension isn’t that big, but will give some firms more time to get their matters in order. The bigger question is when the new Biden era DOL rule be implemented.

President Biden told CNN in a town hall this week that he just doesn’t have the votes to hike corporate taxes. Driving the divide is a substantial share of progressives who won’t allow topline taxes and higher spending bills, who are at odds with Democrats in swing states who are lobbying for the opposite. In order to pass the bill, the President would need 60 senate votes so they can bypass filibustering. They need every Democrat on board for that to happen. The White House has made clear that this is only a compromise on corporate taxes, other tax hikes are still in place. Markets are rejoicing because all the stimulus grease may be good for the economy, and now higher taxes will not eat at all the corporate profits.

FINSUM: This might avoid a lot of unneeded volatility, but other income tax and GAAP earnings taxes could be still be enough to disrupt markets.