4 skills financial advisors need to master if they want to advance their careers
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Financial advisors need to master 4 skill domains if they want to advance their careers (Nerd's Eye View)
In his latest article, Michael Kitces outlined the four skill domains that financial advisors should strive to improve if they want to advance in their careers: competency (technical), empathy (relationships), sales (business development), and management (business execution).
"Progressing through the entire financial advisor career track requires mastery in a number of different skill domains," he explained. "For firms looking to develop talent, they would be well suited to consider how they are helping to develop their employees in each of these domains. And for financial advisors looking to advance their own careers, recognize that if you want to eventually move to the next tier, you will likely have to push your limits by trying to master a 'new' skill domain!"
Signals from the bond market are "mixed and confusing" (Charles Schwab)
"Over the past few months, it has hardly mattered how you were positioned in the fixed income market. Returns have been good across the board," writes Kathy A. Jones. "However, positioning is likely to be important in driving returns going forward. The most vulnerable investors are those who have been chasing yield with a combination of low-credit-quality and/or long-duration bonds."
"We think those who have stuck with core bonds for the majority of their portfolios and limited duration to the intermediate term may experience some volatility, but should be better positioned to ride out a realignment of the trends," she argued.
"If you've done well recently by investing in both high-yield and long-term bonds, take heed: It's unusual for both to outperform at the same time."
Colombia's future could be really bright (Advisor Perspectives)
"Similar to our experiences visiting Brazil and other countries in Latin America, we learned that misguided government regulation was considered one of the biggest risks or concerns expressed by businesses in Colombia, but we also learned how companies were overcoming challenges and finding new areas of growth," wrote Mark Mobius of Franklin Templeton Investments.
"Over the many years that we have been investing in Colombia, we have seen great improvements. The government's reform path is clear, and if it is able to resolve issues regarding FARC and other groups, we believe conditions for investors will likely further improve. More importantly, if Colombia's government is able to resolve its budget issues without resorting to burdensome taxation, while moving privatization forward to fund infrastructure developments, we think the future could be very bright for this beautiful nation," he added.
The 4 types of clients to target if you want more referrals (InvestmentNews)
Clients who are retired or near retirement, business owners, philanthropists, and those involved in many organizations are the best folks to target if advisors want more referrals, reports Liz Skinner.
Rob Martin, a practice management leader with turnkey asset management firm Symmetry Partners, noted that retirees "have the focus and the time. ... They are phasing out of their careers and are looking for more opportunities to be engaged in their communities."
Raymond James scooped up an ex-Deutsche Bank executive (Think Advisor)
Raymond James announced on Monday that the former CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas, Seth Waugh, will be appointed the non-executive chairman of Alex. Brown, reports Janet Levaux.
Raymond James is acquiring Alex. Brown; the deal is expected to close in September.