Investment Advisor October 2012
Cover Story
What’s Jeff Gundlach Thinking?
Call him eccentric if you like, but you’d have to follow it with another accompanying superlative (Hint: It rhymes with “zenius”).
Features
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4 Ways for Advisors to Better Engage Clients
Seemingly innocuous assumptions about client satisfaction can be misleading for advisors. Focus instead on what really engages clients. Your referrals will thank you for it.
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Madame Ex: Advising ‘Gray Divorcees’
We all know the cliché of the older divorcing couple: The husband, in the throes of a midlife crisis, dumps his aging wife for a younger cutie. But Boomers are turning this cliché on its head.
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Action Plan: Strategic Planning With Schwab Advisor Services
On a hot, sticky August afternoon in northern Virginia, three Washington-area advisors created their own cool heat inside as they discussed what they learned about themselves and their firms from participating in Schwab Advisor Services’ “Insights to Action” program.
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Striving for Sustainability: 2012 Growth by Design Study
Growth is the lifeblood of the independent advisory industry.
Beginnings
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Through the Looking Glass
DoubleLine’s Jeff Gundlach hosted a Web seminar in mid-September titled, “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall,” a theme he’s trumpeted in a number of venues recently.
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Fight to Reform Money Market Funds Continues
Regulators’ fight to reform money market funds continues.
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The Future of Actively Managed ETFs
In the months leading up to the launch of the first actively managed ETFs a few years ago, ETF industry commentators were generally divided into two camps.
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Alternatives Go Mainstream
The 2008 financial crisis accomplished in 12 months what I have been trying to do most of my 26-year career: educate investors about the benefits of allocating some of their portfolio to alternative investments.
Columns
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Where There’s a Wall, There’s a Way
Many topics can create excited and hopeful conversations among financial advisors. Process improvement is not one of them.
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SEC Fiduciary Rule Stalled—But for How Long?
A fiduciary rule from the SEC looks to be years away.
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The Cost of Management: Making More From Less
In advisory businesses, traditional hands-on management often creates more problems than it solves.
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Simplicity Itself
As I’ve noted before, I don’t usually write about the people or the companies that I consult with, due to the obvious conflicts of interest.
Conclusions
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Guaranteed Income: A Missed Opportunity for Your Clients?
The appeal and practicality of guaranteed income investments is rising.
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Why Are You Waiting to Upgrade?
If I were to keep track of every conversation I have with advisors, a majority of the topics would revolve around why they are waiting to do something with their technology.
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4 Causes of Advisory Firm Breakups—and How to Prevent Them
Over the past 20 years, I have been involved in countless disputes and litigations adversely affecting the owners of small, closely held advisory firms.
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Finding Sustainable Growth in a Fragmented World
The global investment environment is increasingly fragmented. Although it has become the norm to say we live in a globalized world, we are also witnessing growing schisms within the “global village.”
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Time to Consider Alternatives to Money-Market Funds
They’ve been go-to funds for decades, but in recent years just about everything in the investment world has changed and money funds are no exception.
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Nothing Personal: Insurance for Protecting Your Assets
Personal guarantee insurance (PGI) provides business owners the opportunity to protect a percentage of personal assets even if they are signing a personal guarantee for a business loan.
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Advisor-in-Chief
This is the fourth presidential election campaign I’ve experienced, or shall I say, been subjected to, since I joined Investment Advisor in 1999.
Sidebar Stories
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What Divorcing Wives Fear Most
More older people--the boomers--are divorcing, and increasingly it's women initiating proceedings. Tips for advisors working with divorcees or those contemplating divorce.
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Seeking Wealthy Divorcées as New Clients
If you’re looking for an attractive source of new business, you might consider high-net-worth divorcées who aren’t being well-served by their current advisor.
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Divorce + Recession + Retirement = Oh, My!
“Markets go up and markets go down” is the philosophical view of a financial advisor who participates in attorney Linda Gross’ “collaborative divorce” study group.
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Why More Wives Are Calling It Quits
Dr. Susan Brown she suggests that women tend to be more attuned to changes in marital quality.
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‘Harmonizing’ DOL, SEC Fiduciary Rules Is Too Tough: fi360
Fi360 told members of Congress recently that asking the DOL and the SEC to “harmonize” their fiduciary rules would create “significant challenges.”
Sponsor
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Actionable insights to help you make better global investment decisions.
Event Spotlight
Think Retirement Income
October 10-11, 2013
Hyatt Regency, Boston, MA
The Retirement Income Symposium has a fresh, new look…welcome to the new and improved RIA Think Retirement Conference. We’re offering the same top-notch educational and networking opportunities to all RIAs, while still paying special attention to the challenges, and opportunities, of offering retirement incomes advice.
For more information, visit www.thinkretirementincome.com.
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