Financial lessons from Game of Thrones (Reuters)
With "Game of Thrones" season five scheduled to debut on April 12, Reuters spoke to money managers about financial lessons learned from the hit series.
According to Gavin Baker, the head of Fidelity's $13 billion OTC Portfolio fund, investors should "be open to evidence that suggests that your view of the world is wrong." In the series this can be compared to those who don't believe in the existence of dragons and white walkers.
Bitcoin is attracting interest from stock exchanges (Bloomberg)
Bitcoin trading platform Noble Markets has entered an agreement to license NASDAQ's X-stream technology. The announcement comes roughly two months after the New York Stock Exchange announced it would invest in digital currency platform Coinbase.
"It is a vote of confidence in bitcoin the technology," says Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group. "Now that you are seeing big organizations providing technology, there's a feeling that bitcoin is here to stay."
Wells Fargo Advisors eases restrictions for advisors on social media (Wealth Management)
Wells Fargo Advisors has announced it will allow 1,000 advisors to use social media by the end of the year. The announcement comes after a pilot program allowing 100 advisors on Twitter proved a success. The new program will allow between 120 and 150 advisors per month to join LinkedIn or Twitter, with an ultimate goal of having 5,000 members signed up by the end of 2016.
Advisors are teaming up to build succession plans (Financial Advisor)
Cirrus Wealth Management is welcoming advisors nearing retirement with open arms. Financial Advisor says the firm, "aims to provide a glide path for advisors looking to slowly transition into retirement." Once an advisor decides to call it a career his or her clients will be serviced by other advisors at the firm. As for compensation, Financial Advisor notes, "Those continuing to operate under their own name and in their own space will receive a modest down payment-typically 10 percent of gross revenues-on their practice. Once they retire, Cirrus will generally look to pay them 20 percent a year for the next 10 years."
Five reasons interest rates will remain low (Advisor Perspectives)
Jerry Wagner of Flexible Plan Investments spoke with Advisor Perspectives about Fed policy and why he believes interest rates are likely to remain low. First, "the rate of inflation is moving down not up." Next, the weakness in oil prices is likely to keep inflation in check. Third, the strong dollar will make exports more expensive and imports cheaper, pushing against both aspects of the dual mandate which targets unemployment and inflation. Wagner also suggests a Fed rate hike will make the dollar even stronger when a weaker currency is what is needed. Finally, recent economic data has disappointed, and the Fed will not want to hike rates into a slowing economy.