Chasing After High Net Worth Clients Isn't Always The Best Idea
Why Chasing After High Net Worth Clients Isn't Always The Best Idea (Reuters)
High-net-worth clients, those with $30 million or more, need services that are different from less affluent clients, writes Ed McCarthy at Reuters. This is because these clients require services like "income- and estate-tax strategies that are more complex than the adviser can deliver." This can end up hurting smaller practices not equipped to deal with such services. Chasing after big clients also leaves practices vulnerable and can "disrupt cash flow" in the event that they decide to jump ship.
The Top 5 Female RIAs (WealthManagement.com)
Megan Loeonhardt at WealthManagement.com has put together a list of the top ten woman registered independent advisors (RIAs) for 2014. These women also own at least 25% of some of the biggest RIAs. We highlighted the top five on the list.
1. M. Julie McKinley, president and CEO of Fiduciary Counselling Inc. with $4.96 billion in AUM.
2. Anne B. Shumadine, founder and chairman of Signature Financial Management with $3.13 billion in AUM.
3. Katherine B. Lintz, founder and CEO of Matter Family Office with $2.45 billion in AUM.
4. Jeanie Wyatt, CEO and CIO of South Texas Money Management with $2.17 billion in AUM.
5. Jana Shoulders, co-founder and CEO of Adams Hall Wealth Advisors with $1.99 billion in AUM.
What People Becoming Financial Planners In Middle Age Need To Consider (The Wall Street Journal)
Joe Birkofer of Legacy Asset Management also teaches as part of Rice University's Certified Financial Planning program. In his class he frequently comes across people that have decided on a career change in middle age. "The conflict comes when these new planners can't get a salaried planning position, because there aren't enough of these jobs to go around," he writes in a new WSJ column.
"I encourage career changers to use their prior career as an area of focus and build a niche practice around it. I've had students who were NASA engineers cater to the aerospace industry once they've become a CFP. Clients like to work with advisers with whom they have something in common. That's basic human nature.
"It can also be ethnic based. I know a former student who started a robust practice serving Houston's growing Indian and south Asian communities. He speaks a cultural language that I don't."
Why You Should Delay Benefits In One Slide (JP Morgan Asset Management)
It is often recommended that people wait before taking Social Security benefits. JP Morgan Asset Management's 2014 "Guide to Retirement shows that the longer you wait, the more money they will have to spend later.
If You're Bullish About Stocks, You Should Ponder This Quote From One Of The Smartest Investors Ever (Business Insider)
In a recent letter to clients, Baupost Group's Seth Klarman writes that what's happening in the stock market now is in large part because of the Fed's easy-money policy. He suggests caution on the part of investors that are bullish on stocks.
"Six years ago, many investors were way out over their skis. Giant financial institutions were brought to their knees... The survivors pledged to themselves that they would forever be more careful, less greedy, less short-term oriented.
"But here we are again, mired in a euphoric environment in which some securities have risen in price beyond all reason, where leverage is returning to rainy markets and asset classes, and where caution seems radical and risk-taking the prudent course. Not surprisingly, lessons learned in 2008 were only learned temporarily. These are the inevitable cycles of greed and fear, of peaks and troughs.
"Can we say when it will end? No. Can we say that it will end? Yes. And when it ends and the trend reverses, here is what we can say for sure. Few will be ready. Few will be prepared."