Investment Advisor October 2011
Cover Story
Building Trust With Tech
Frank Maiorano’s vision for clearing and custodial firm Trust Company of America includes a cutting-edge push into tablet technology.
Features
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Recession Imminent?
The U.S. economy is a highly-complex, multifaceted mechanism.
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As Good as it Gets
At some point, we all need a John Gagliardi in our lives.
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Floating Over Volatility
Smooth out the volatility. Give up the full return potential for downside protection. Clients won’t experience the high-highs, but they won’t fall victim to the low-lows either.
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Through the Roof
When the Internet boom hit Ireland in the early 1990s, one of the first sectors of the economy to benefit from the creation of new jobs and the spike in wages was the real estate market.
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POINT: Rising Dividends for Retirement Income
The topic of retirement income is on the top of most advisors’ minds these days.
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COUNTERPOINT: Building a Personal Pension Portfolio
Baby boomers continue to impact our nation.
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Want a More Efficient Practice? Examine Your Core Processes
If you’re intent on increasing your firm’s efficiency, you’re no doubt aware of the importance of documenting your processes and procedures.
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Perfecting the Business of Advice
What are the characteristics of the most successful advisor firms?
Beginnings
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Your Silver Bullet
At a gathering of the Young Turks of technology, the excitement over integration (yes, integration) was palpable.
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SRO Bill May Arrive This Fall
Lawmakers and industry officials debated the merits in mid-September of whether there should be a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for advisors, and at least one industry official says to expect SRO legislation from the House this fall.
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The Alternative Wave Theory—Catching Up With Stephen Todd Walker
Record volatility in recent weeks means more clients are looking for downside protection, and non-correlated assets are a major way to go.
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Managing Wealth in a Post-9/11 World
I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to be a financial advisor still clinging to the old axioms of wealth management in our post-9/11 world.
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Use Country ETFs for Targeted Sector Exposure
In recent years, investors have used ETF sector funds to achieve enhanced return potential based on fundamental and technical factors.
Columns
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Succession Fears: Working Past the Cult of Personality
Current events in the news illustrate the difficulty of effective succession planning.
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The Mixed State of the Advisor Market
Recent snapshots of the advisory industry’s mergers and acquisition activity, along with new data on the growth and decline in advisory channels, show that as wirehouse advisors are slowly shrinking, the business model of choice has become being dually registered advisors.
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Separate but Equal?
To hear Duane Thompson tell it, now that the Republicans have control of the House of Representatives, a bill authorizing a self-regulatory organization for investment advisors any time soon is unlikely.
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Stumbling on Happiness
One of the more interesting aspects of consulting with independent advisory firms is that if you work with enough firms for a long enough time, you’ll see some results that you not only didn’t expect, but you couldn’t have predicted.
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When a Client Is of Two Minds on Risk
Client risk tolerance is probably the single most difficult factor for a financial professional to measure and address.
Conclusions
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How Scalable Is Your Firm’s Technology?
Whenever we experience significant market volatility—specifically to the downside—the pressure on advisors to respond efficiently and effectively can increase dramatically.
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SEC Adopts Family Office Rule
Tom Giachetti interviews Stark & Stark colleague Matt Jacobs on the key provisions of the SEC's family office rule and what it means for wealth managers.
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The Gold Buying Guide
With so much interest in the gold and silver market, most financial professionals are getting flooded with questions about how best to gain exposure to precious metals.
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Top 5 Reasons Advisors Change Broker-Dealers
Five years ago I wrote about what motivates advisors to change their broker-dealer; many things have changed today.
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The Long and Winding Road
Natural disasters are growing more frequent and severe, their collective losses taking an ever greater toll on insurers and reinsurers—$23.5 billion from tornadoes and other severe weather in the United States in the first half of 2011 alone, according to Munich Re.
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Gold Standard
Aug. 15, 2011, marked the 40th anniversary of the U.S. default on the dollar’s convertibility into gold.
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Lifestyle and Growth
When people I’ve just met learn what I do for a living, their first question inevitably is “Where should I invest?”
Sidebar Stories
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The Faces of Risk
People often think of risk as a negative, but risk tolerance is a balance point between too much risk and not enough risk.
Advisor Tools
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