Tue.Jan 07, 2025

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Trade Deficit increased to $78.2 Billion in November

Calculated Risk

The Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported : The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $78.2 billion in November , up $4.6 billion from $73.6 billion in October, revised. November exports were $273.4 billion, $7.1 billion more than October exports. November imports were $351.6 billion, $11.6 billion more than October imports. emphasis added Click on graph for larger image.

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#FASuccess Ep 419: Attracting Clients Who Want To Align Their Investments With Their Values With A Sustainable Investing Approach, With Peter Krull

Nerd's Eye View

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 419th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast ! My guest on today's podcast is Peter Krull. Pete is the Director of Sustainable Investing of Earth Equity Advisors, an RIA based in Asheville, North Carolina, that oversees approximately $200 million in assets under management for 250 client households. What's unique about Pete, though, is how he has grown his firm by exploring with clients how they can align their portfolios with their own personal values,

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CoreLogic: US Home Prices Increased 3.4% Year-over-year in November

Calculated Risk

Notes: This CoreLogic House Price Index report is for November. The recent Case-Shiller index release was for October. The CoreLogic HPI is a three-month weighted average and is not seasonally adjusted (NSA). From CoreLogic: CoreLogic: Northeastern, New England States Continue to Lead US for Annual Home Price Growth in November The national home price gain was 3.4% year over year in November 2024, down from the 5.2% growth recorded in the same month of 2023.

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Validea’s Top Ten Shareholder Yield Stocks – January 2025

Validea

Shareholder yield is a comprehensive measure that shows how much value a company returns to its investors relative to its market value. Think of it as a three-part equation: First, there’s the traditional dividend yield the cash payments shareholders receive directly from company profits. Second comes the buyback yield, which creates value when companies repurchase their own shares, effectively making each remaining share more valuable.

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8 Ways to Torture Your CFO

The office of the CFO is rapidly evolving, with more and more demands being placed upon the finance and accounting team each year. Join us in this webinar, where we share 8 things to NOT do when it comes to helping the CFO office advance in supporting the business. Learning Objectives: This course objective is to understand how best to support an organization's finance leadership.

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Asking Rents Mostly Unchanged Year-over-year

Calculated Risk

Today, in the Real Estate Newsletter: Asking Rents Mostly Unchanged Year-over-year Brief excerpt: Another monthly update on rents. Tracking rents is important for understanding the dynamics of the housing market. Slower household formation and increased supply (more multi-family completions) has kept asking rents under pressure. Welcome to the January 2025 Apartment List National Rent Report.

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Updating My Favorite Performance Chart For 2024

A Wealth of Common Sense

The first asset allocation quilt I created for this site covered the ten-year period from 2005-2014. Those returns look nothing like the last 10 years which is the whole point of this exercise. Here’s the latest quilt: Some observations: Inflation outperformed TIPS.The average inflation rate over the past 10 years was around 2.9% annually. Treasury-inflation protected securities were up 2.1% annually over the sam.

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How a Billion-Dollar Firm Can Achieve 15-20% Annual Organic Growth: A Case Study with David Newson

Steve Sanduski

Guest: David Newson, Founder at XNW Digital. In a nutshell: Did you achieve your organic growth goals for 2024? If not, there’s a good chance that you’re not drawing some crucial distinctions between the tools that successful firms use to achieve consistent growth and the holistic strategies those tools should be in service of. Getting crystal clear on what those parts are and how they work together is essential to creating an actionable annual plan and executing on it.

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Global Factor Performance: January 2025

Alpha Architect

The following factor performance modules have been updated on ourIndex website.[ref]free access for financial professionals[/ref] Factor Performance Factor Premiums Factor Data Downloads Global Factor Performance: January 2025 was originally published at Alpha Architect. Please read the Alpha Architect disclosures at your convenience.

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The Challenges of Running an Independent RIA

Wealth Management

Far too many advisors attempt to control every aspect of their practice in a vain effort somehow to deliver a better client experience.

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Wednesday: ADP Employment

Calculated Risk

Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com and are for top tier scenarios. Wednesday: At 7:00 AM ET, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index. At 8:15 AM, The ADP Employment Report for December. This report is for private payrolls only (no government). The consensus is for 143,000, down from 146,000 jobs added in November.

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How to Streamline Payment Applications & Lien Waivers Through Innovative Construction Technology

Speaker: Dylan Secrest, Founder of Alamo Innovation and Construction Digital Transformation Consultant

Construction payment workflows are notoriously complex when you consider juggling multiple stakeholders, compliance requirements, and evolving project scopes. Delays in approvals or misaligned data between budgets, lien waivers, and pay applications can grind progress to a halt. The good news? It doesn't have to be this way! Join expert Dylan Secrest to discover how leading contractors are turning payment chaos into clarity using digital workflows, integrated systems, and automation strategies.

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Carson Group Fully Acquires $1B Iowa Firm

Wealth Management

The firm has locations in Cedar Rapids and a second spot in Las Vegas, Nev. The firms head said the decision was our way of ensuring our legacy.

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The Magic Phrase to Never Lose The Sale

Advisor Perspectives

In the rush to secure a new client, many advisors instinctively push for momentum during the sales conversation, often feeling the pressure to keep things moving forward.

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Merit Financial Acquires $739M Firm, Boosting Pennsylvania Footprint

Wealth Management

The deal to acquire Zimmerman Investment Management & Planning is Georgia-based Merits third deal in recent weeks.

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Why Technology Makes Modern Financial Planning More Human Than Ever

Advisor Perspectives

Thanks to technology and the rise of passive investing, putting together a sophisticated, diversified portfolio has never been easier.

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You upgrade everything else. Why not your close process?

You wouldn’t keep using a 2009 flip phone - so why settle for outdated close processes? It’s time for an upgrade. SkyStem's Guide to Month-End Close Software walks you through what today’s best tools can do (and what your team shouldn’t have to deal with anymore). Get smart, fast, and a whole lot less stressed when it’s time to close the books.

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Campus Private Wealth Joins Kestra Private Wealth Platform

Wealth Management

Campus founders, Bill Milby and Jason Lindner, wanted to transition to an independent model.

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It Was a Very Good Year

Advisor Perspectives

Stocks are coming off another banner year, but strength has bred a frothy sentiment environment, which continues to loom as a risk for likely coming volatility.

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UBS Loses Advisors to Procyon Partners, Raymond James

Wealth Management

Mark Sullivan manages $800 million in client assets and is joining Procyon, while St. Petersburg, Fla.-based advisor Mary Lauritano (managing about $525 million in assets) is joining Raymond James employee advisor channel.

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The Rules Of Bob Farrell – An Updated Illustrated Guide

Advisor Perspectives

In a recent discussion on TheRealInvestmentShow , Bob Farrell and his 10 investment rules were discussed, which elicited several email questions asking, “Who is Bob Farrell, and where are these rules?

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Your Accounting Expertise Will Only Get You So Far: What Really Matters

Speaker: Victor C. Barnes, CPA, MBA

In the climb from contributor to leader, the rules quietly change. If you’re aiming for the summit, the air gets thinner—and what got you here won’t be enough to get you to the top (a concept first popularized by Marshall Goldsmith in his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There ). What made you successful early in your finance career—technical accuracy, sharp analysis, flawless execution—won’t be what carries you to the next level.

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Orion Hires COO From Rival Envestnet

Wealth Management

Arun most recently served as COO of Envestnet's Yodlee unit, where he had spent more than 16 years.

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Job Openings Unexpectedly Rise in November

Advisor Perspectives

The latest job openings and labor turnover summary (JOLTS) report showed that job openings unexpectedly rose in November, while hiring and quits slowed. Vacancies increased to 8.098 million in November from October's upwardly revised level of 7.839 million. The latest reading was more than the expected 7.730 million vacancies and is the highest level of job openings since May.

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SEI Launches Depositary Services in Luxembourg

SEI

Launch Strengthens Comprehensive Global Offering and Operational Footprint

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Gasoline Prices Rise to Kick Off 2025

Advisor Perspectives

Gas prices kicked off 2025 by rising to their highest level in almost two months. As of January 6th, the price of regular and premium gas increased 4 and 3 cents from the previous week, respectively. The WTIC end-of-day spot price for crude oil closed at $73.56, up 3.6% from last week.

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Live Demo - Supercharge your Month End Close

Automation generally supercharges any process and brings its value to the forefront. See how infusing automation such as ART (our month-end close solution), into your close can get you to the next level of closing. We will share a live demo of SkyStem's solution, ART and share the key elements of month-end close automation. Through ART, we'll take a look at: What month-end close automation entails Which process steps can and should be automated Benefits of achieving process automation, and Why i

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Nine Investment Must Reads for This Week (Jan. 7, 2025)

Wealth Management

Private equity industry execs are preparing to lobby the second Trump administration to allow 401Ks to include private assets, reports the Financial Times. Private wealth investors have provided a lifeline to VCs as institutions have pulled back, according to PitchBook. These are among the investment must reads we found this week for wealth advisors.

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Trade Balance Jumps 6.2% in November

Advisor Perspectives

The U.S. international trade in goods and services is published monthly by the Bureau of Economic Analysis with data going back to 1992 and details U.S. exports and imports of goods and services. In November, the trade deficit expanded 6.2% to -$78.19B. The latest reading was better than the forecast of -$78.30B.

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BLS: Job Openings "Little Unchanged" at 8.1 million in November

Calculated Risk

From the BLS: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary The number of job openings was little changed at 8.1 million on the last business day of November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, hires and total separations were little changed at 5.3 million and 5.1 million, respectively. Within separations, quits (3.1 million) decreased, but layoffs and discharges (1.8 million) changed little. emphasis added The following graph shows job openings (black line), hires (da

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S&P Global Services PMI: Reaches 33-Month High in December

Advisor Perspectives

The December U.S. services purchasing managers' index (PMI) conducted by S&P Global came in at 56.8, the highest level since March 2022. The latest reading came in below the forecast of 58.5 but keeps the index in expansion territory for the 23rd straight month.

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How To Overcome Change Fatigue In Finance With Neuroscience-Backed Strategies

Speaker: Kim Beynon, CPA, CGMA, PMP

The most overlooked, yet most critical, element of transformation is preparing people for change. Automation and AI aren't just technical upgrades, they’re cultural shifts which can challenge identities. That’s why change management isn’t a side project—it’s the foundation. In finance, where precision and process rule, navigating change can feel especially disruptive.

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Tuesday links: the existence of experts

Abnormal Returns

Markets The U.S. stock market has never been this concentrated. (on.ft.com) A credit-based measure that indicates the stock market is overvalued. (finance.yahoo.com) Strategy Large cap stocks have dominated the past decade of asset class returns. (awealthofcommonsense.com) What the past 20 years of stock market performance tell you about the next decade.

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ISM Services PMI Expanded for Sixth Straight Month in December

Advisor Perspectives

The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) has released its December services purchasing managers' index (PMI). The headline composite index is at 54.1, better than the forecast of 53.5. The latest reading keeps the index in expansion territory for the sixth straight month.

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Research links: a simple algorithm

Abnormal Returns

Indexing The index effect has faded over time. (alphaarchitect.com) Mike Green is warning about the risks from passive investing. (institutionalinvestor.com) Fees matter, redux. (jeffreyptak.substack.com) Research A different kind of ten-year asset class performance exercise. (aqr.com) Can simple formulas still distinguish better performing stocks? (alphaarchitect.com) Portfolio constraints can lead to unintended bets.

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Fed’s Cook Says Officials Can Be More Cautious With Rate Cuts

Advisor Perspectives

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said policymakers can proceed more cautiously with additional rate cuts, citing a sturdy labor market and recent bumpiness in inflation data.

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2025 Industry Index: How Top Advisors Are Scaling Smarter (and Faster) This Year

Where are top advisors focusing in 2025? AcquireUp’s 2025 Industry Index reveals it all. Based on insights from 200+ financial professionals nationwide, discover why 74% say seminars and referrals deliver the best ROI, how automation is helping advisors scale faster, and why only 8% are tapping into niche marketing (a major growth opportunity!). Whether you're refining your client acquisition strategy or scaling your practice, this report gives you the real-world data, benchmarks, and action ste