Investment Advisor April 2010
Cover Story
Cover Story: The Upside of Irrationality
"We are all far less rational in our decision-making than standard economic theory assumes. Our irrational behaviors are neither random nor senseless: they are systematic...
Features
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Clear Thinkers
"The value of due diligence is greater now than it ever has been," says J. Gibson Watson III, president of Prima Capital Holding, and the...
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A Beacon in the Firmament
Advisors like to know that the money managers with whom they entrust their clients' assets have some significant part of their own money in the...
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Navigator
Dan Skiles has been working with advisors since 1994, when he joined what was then a privately held Jack White & Co. in San Diego....
Beginnings
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Asset Allocation
Behind the Numbers, with Sam Stovall Employment and consumer spending are no longer keeping Standard & Poors' chief investment strategist up at night. "Every time we...
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Venture Populist: The Venture Investor's Put Option
Private venture investors embrace the notion of swapping liquidity and safety of principal in the pursuit of positive asymmetrical outcomes and the higher risk premium...
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The ETF Advisor: Prospects for Healthcare ETFs Better Than Those for Reform
Powered by Standard & Poor's MarketScope Advisor While the inability of Congress to form a consensus on how to change the current healthcare system seems to...
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Aguilar Suggests Ways Forward on Reform
Nearly 18 months after the economic crisis erupted, SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar, in a speech before the 2010 Mutual Funds and Investment Management Conference on...
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Ibbotson Says Asset Allocation and Diversification Held Up
While many investors and advisors believe that asset allocation and diversification failed during the markets and economic crisis of 2008-2009, Roger Ibbotson begs to differ....
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Folio(k) Retirement Platform Includes ETFs
Folio Institutional, a division of online brokerage FOLIOfn Investments Inc., is furthering its foothold in the retirement planning space with the recent launch of Folio(k)--a...
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Economy Alters Buys of LTC Insurance
As the economic picture remained clouded and investors remained nervous, the age of purchasers of long-term care insurance in 2009 increased for the 55-and-older group...
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Catching Up With...
On March 15, Fidelity Investments announced the creation of a new "client experience" organization designed to meet the evolving demands of Fidelity's advisor clients across...
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Group Think
? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that Chief Economist James A. Overdahl will leave the agency to rejoin the private sector after...
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Changes
The board of Raymond James Financial confirmed February 19 that Paul Reilly will succeed Tom James as CEO on May 1, as announced by the...
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Upgrades
In a economic commentary published March 12, Liz Ann Sonders, senior VP and chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab Corp., and Brad Sorensen, director of...
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The Roth Wave
Tax advisors believe a Roth IRA conversion would benefit 43% of their clients this year, a big increase from 13% last year, according to a...
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Washington Watch: The Shape of Reform Begins to Sharpen
[Editor's Note: Since the April issue of Investment Advisor went to press, Senator Chris Dodd's financial services reform bill has advanced in the Senate. Visit...
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Gaps, the SEC, and CPAs
Kristina Fausti of Fi360 says that Senator Herb Kohl's amendment calling for a new board to oversee all advice givers, "would create gaps by pulling...
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Editor's Note: Beyond the Headlines
One of the more enjoyable aspects of my job is the opportunity I have to speak to smart people about the business of independent advice...
Columns
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The Affluentialist: The Challenges of Advising the Affluent
Advisors to very wealthy clients like the complexity of their work, but they find technical knowledge of their discipline isn't enough to do the job...
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The Green Advisor: Earth Day Revisited
April 2010 will mark the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day. In the first installment of this column in June 2008, I wrote about...
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Formulas for Success: What Are You Known For?
On a recent trip to Dubai to visit with Pershing clients, I took time to explore the souks in search of gifts to bring home....
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Clark at Large: Venus Rising
Do women make better financial advisors? I've long suspected that they do. An affinity for listening and teaching, usually light on ego and strong on...
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The Fast Track: Command Decisions
I'm not really big on war movies, but my (new) husband Drew is. So I've seen my share of combat flicks, from the "Sands of...
Conclusions
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Demystifying Referrals
Advisors' desire to grow their businesses has never been greater. From peak to trough, advisors saw assets and revenues decline 20% to 40% during the...
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Retirement Planning: New Advice Rules Favor RIAs
New rules proposed by the Department of Labor appear to give registered investment advisors (RIAs) a competitive advantage over brokers and those advisors who are...
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Retirement News
Bank of America Merrill Lynch introduced in early March a new tool for use by its 401(k) plan sponsor clients designed to monitor and score...
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Broker/Dealer Briefing: Cetera Ready to Grow
If there's one thing that advisors cannot stand, it's uncertainty. So imagine that you were a representative affiliated with one of the ING broker/dealers over...
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Annuity Sales Increase
Two reports released in late February by the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) found that the sales of both fixed and variable annuities continued to recover...
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B/D News
The House passed in early March legislation creating a uniform licensing system for insurance agents and brokers. The National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers...
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Insurance Update: Implementing Healthcare
As arguments rage about healthcare, we spoke with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) about the effects of reform. Sandy Praeger, Kansas insurance commissioner and...
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The Cost Issue
Any healthcare reform has to take into account costs and insurance company profits. Sandy Praeger, Kansas insurance commissioner and chair of the Health Insurance and...
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Expert's Corner: Putting It in Neutral
With every bear market the discussion as to whether "buy and hold" works invariably resurfaces. It will be analyzed in journals, opined over in the...
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Soapbox: Solo or Ensemble? What's Best for You?
Time. Money. Ego. These factors present a choice--and often a conundrum--for every solo advisor who considers joining an ensemble practice. Partnerships are often born out of...
Sidebar Stories
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Stuck in the Status Quo?
In his late teens, behavioral scientist Dan Ariely was badly burned by a magnesium flare and spent a long time in the hospital. Changing his...
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Slow Down, Pardner!
Here's one of the things I've learned after 10 years of helping advisors better run their businesses. To slow down my clients' inclination to do...
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Advisor, Understand Thyself
The emotional challenges faced by advisors during this time have taken their toll. Over the last couple of years, advisors needed to address their own...
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Climate Change and Asset Allocation
For the most part it is widely acknowledged that climate change will have a broad-ranging impact on global economies and financial markets. The recently issued...
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Why Women Should Take the Wheel
Because women live an average of six years longer than their male counterparts, they are much more likely to get to control the money eventually...
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Ariely on Retirement Planning
The conventional wisdom is that after retiring, clients will need 75% to 80% of their final monthly salary to maintain their lifestyles. Based on some...
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The Risk of Parental Laissez-Faire
In comparing U.S. parenting styles with those of other countries, American-Israeli behavioral scientist Dan Ariely told me we pay a lot for our belief in...
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Professor Ariely's Insights, In Brief:
Some of the headline findings of Duke Professor Dan Ariely's research into investor--and just plain human--behavior: Cheating is a lot more prevalent when it's a step...
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Adding a Super Bowl Quarterback
A lot of advisory firms will use sports language to talk about their businesses, using phrases like "teammate," or "playing the game," or "acting as...
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About the Firm
Constellation Wealth Advisors, LLC 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, 8th floor New York, New York 10017 Phone: 212-697-2500 3000 Sand Hill Road Building 2, Suite 160 Menlo Park, California 94025 Phone: 650-352-9300 Web site: ConstellationWA.com e-mail:...
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Joining a New Club
Dan Skiles spent years working for large companies, typified by eight years at Charles Schwab Institutional. Now that he's an executive VP at the much...
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Why Can't A Woman Be More Like A Man--Or Vice Versa?
This is not the first time that Investment Advisor has addressed gender-based differences when it comes to money. Below are a few excerpts from Olivia...
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