Investment Advisor November 2011
Cover Story
Let Go to Grow
The trick to creating a successful independent advisory firm is exactly the opposite of what is taught by business schools and business gurus.
Beginnings
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The Kids Are Alright
We’ve got a problem.
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Retention and Recruiting in the RIA Space: Mike Di Girolamo
If you want a handle on what’s happening in the RIA space (mergers, acquisitions, recruiting, retention), there are few better people to turn to than Michael Di Girolamo.
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Not All Angels Are From Heaven
An article by Financial Times journalist Jonathan Moules recently caught my attention.
Features
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Profiting from Morality
Brian Payne, vice president of investments at Wells Fargo Advisors in Dallas, has had a close association with the Muslim community in the Dallas/Forth Worth area for about five years.
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Never Satisfied
Industrial age publisher and philanthropist Frederick Bonfils said there is no hope for the satisfied man. If that’s the case, Karl Frank is full of hope.
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Arrow Funds' Alternative Plan
Joe Barrato is frustrated with the use (or rather, lack) of alternative investments and hedging strategies in the mutual fund and ETF space.
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Pull the Trigger
A GDP trigger is something that has an effect on the rate of GDP.
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The 2011 IA/Cerulli Retirement Income Study
This is it—the year baby boomers officially hit their “traditional” retirement age.
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Breakaway 401(k)s
Next spring, 72 million Americans will open their quarterly 401(k) statements and, for the first time, they will see the true cost of their retirement investments spelled out in new fee disclosures.
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Your Best Investment Ever?
As adults, we feel best about ourselves when we grow, change and become more whole over the course of our lifetime.
Columns
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The Touch of a Blacksmith
Elite advisory firms manage staff with the same degree of care used in managing assets.
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Unfinished Business: Advisors Debate Fiduciary Standard, SRO
As we near the end of 2011, two of the top issues for the advisory industry remain unresolved: a fiduciary mandate for brokers and a SRO for advisors.
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Not Your Father’s Commodity Investments
As a rule, I don’t write about the companies that I work with as consulting clients (or their products) due to the obvious conflicts of interest.
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The Best and the Brightest
My duties as a part-time faculty member of Kansas State University’s CFP-registered financial planning program included taking a group of students to this year’s FPA “Experience” Conference in San Diego.
Conclusions
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Answering the Public Pension Question
Funding gaps. Benefit cuts. Fiscal reform. Budget repair. No matter where you live today, it’s hard to ignore the challenges that many state and municipal pension systems are facing.
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Business Resumption Planning: It’s The Little Things
In September, my office was hit with a power outage.
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The Long Arm of Dodd-Frank
The long reach of Dodd-Frank is about to extend to private investment funds.
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Social Media—The Do’s and Don’ts
It might be difficult to see the value in a medium used incessantly by 13-year-old girls—but if that’s the way you think of social media, you may be critically misjudging its importance.
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Domestic, Emerging Market Debt Diverge
As in most downturns, the middle and lower classes are taking the brunt of this less-than-stellar economic environment.
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The Decline of Insurance-Owned Broker-Dealers
From 1990 up until a few years ago, insurance companies dominated broker-dealer acquisitions in order to gain greater control over insurance product distribution.
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Integration Key to Tech Advantage
Technology is a pervasive part of any industry and one that is constantly changing.
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Sticker Shock: Insurance Rates Expected to Rise
Advisors already know that 2011 has been a tough year for insurers.
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Change What You Can, Bear What You Can’t
A funny thing happened one day in early August when the markets hit panic mode.
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A Tipping Point?
It’s always easier to discern a trend with the use of hindsight. But I believe that the business of independent advice-giving has finally reached a turning point.
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Event Spotlight
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October 10-11, 2013
Hyatt Regency, Boston, MA
The symposium provides practical, innovative solutions to current industry challenges and provides advisors clear, actionable strategies that they can utilize to address their clients' needs.
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