Calculated Risk

JANUARY 10, 2025

The headline jobs number in the December employment report was well above expectations, however, October and November payrolls were revised down by 8,000 combined. The participation rate was unchanged, the employment population ratio increased, and the unemployment rate decreased to 4.1%. Earlier: December Employment Report: 256 thousand Jobs, 4.1% Unemployment Rate Prime (25 to 54 Years Old) Participation Since the overall participation rate is impacted by both cyclical (recession) and demograp

Numbers 278

Numbers Economics 278

Nerd's Eye View

JANUARY 10, 2025

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the news that the "Social Security Fairness Act" was signed into law this week, eliminating the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provisions, which previously reduced the Social Security benefits of individuals who worked in both "covered" (jobs for which they paid into the Social Security system) and "non-covered" (those in which they didn't,

Financial Planner 189

Financial Planner Clients Financial Advice Numbers 189

Calculated Risk

JANUARY 10, 2025

A few excerpts from a Goldman Sachs research note: Nonfarm payrolls rose 256k in December, well above consensus expectations. The household survey was also strong. The unemployment rate fell 0.15pp to 4.09%, reflecting a 478k gain in household employment and an unchanged labor force participation rate, at 62.5%. Following this mornings data, we now expect the FOMC to deliver two 25bp cuts this year (vs. three previously) at its June and December meetings, followed by another cut in June 2026, to

Marketing 266

Marketing Marketing 266

Wealth Management

JANUARY 10, 2025

BofA announced it hired Ed Riley and Jessica Mullin several days after unveiling its new advisory group for ultra-high-net-worth clients based out of its Merrill Wealth division.

Banking 356

Banking Clients 356

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Accounting

Calculated Risk

JANUARY 10, 2025

From the BLS: Employment Situation Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 256,000 in December, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.1 percent , the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment trended up in health care, government, and social assistance. Retail trade added jobs in December, following a job loss in November.

Retail 147

Retail Government 147

Abnormal Returns

JANUARY 10, 2025

Markets The equity risk premium is negative. (bloomberg.com) The seven pillars of market bubbles. (acadian-asset.com) Crypto Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund ($FBTC) how has $21.4 billion one year in. (etf.com) More companies are adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets. (nytimes.com) Did you know Bhutan has a strategic allocation to cryptocurrencies?

Economy 162

Economy Media Economics Sales 162

Wealth Management

JANUARY 10, 2025

A survey conducted in October by Ocorian found higher-for-longer rates are impacting investment hold period expectations.

Wealth Management 278

Wealth Management Management Planning Investing 278

Clever Girl Finance

JANUARY 10, 2025

If someone asked what your money values were, would you know how to answer? Or would you find yourself searching for a response and coming up blank? Our values are a key part of who we are, yet we often don’t take the time to intentionally think about, define, and understand themespecially when it comes to money. For anyone looking to transform their relationship with finances, figuring out your money principles is a great first step.

Ethics 98

Ethics Budgeting Retirement Accounting 98

Wealth Management

JANUARY 10, 2025

A survey of DC recordkeepers found a large majority expect to see more financial advisors selling 401(k) plans with less than $5 million in assets.

Financial Advisor 264

Financial Advisor Retirement Planning Planning Retirement 264

MainStreet Financial Planning

JANUARY 10, 2025

A quote from one of my favorite books, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery says, A goal without a plan is just a wish. As we enter 2025, its the perfect moment to take stock of your financial journey and map out your path for the year ahead. Whether you’re focused on building a retirement fund, saving for a big purchase, or simply improving your financial habits, setting clear, realistic goals and crafting a solid plan are the keys to success.

Budgeting 89

Budgeting Planning Retirement Financial Planning 89

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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

Clients

Wealth Management

JANUARY 10, 2025

Two-thirds of the firm is now owned by remaining shareholders, including advisors and employees.

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The Better Letter

JANUARY 10, 2025

In July 1993, the Walt Disney Company issued $300 million 100-year “Sleeping Beauty bonds.” Those who were unenthused called them “Mickey Mouse bonds.” Or just plain goofy. They bore a 7.55 percent coupon with a July 15, 2093 maturity, callable in 2023 at $103.02, declining to 100 percent of face value after July 15, 2043. It was the first century-bond, at least in the U.S., since 1954, and beat Coca-Cola’s issuance of 100-year, no-call bonds by a day.

Retail 96

Retail Numbers Pharmaceutical Government 96

Wealth Management

JANUARY 10, 2025

Wealth Covenant Group, a Houston-based firm with three employees and nearly $300 million in client assets.

Assets 263

Assets Clients 263

Alpha Architect

JANUARY 10, 2025

Given the similar net returns that UMM and LMM loans have delivered, allocators should consider diversifying across borrower size cohorts. Since LLM loans are somewhat riskier, careful due diligence should be performed in terms of a lenders credit loss history, fees/expenses, and use of leverage. Private Credit: Upper Versus Lower Middle Market Lending was originally published at Alpha Architect.

Marketing 67

Marketing Marketing 67

Speaker: Claire Grosjean, Global Finance & Operations Executive

Finance teams are drowning in data—but is it actually helping them spend smarter? Without the right approach, excess spending, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities continue to drain profitability. While analytics offers powerful insights, financial intelligence requires more than just numbers—it takes the right blend of automation, strategy, and human expertise.

Management

Wealth Management

JANUARY 10, 2025

Thursday, February 20, 2025 | 1:00 PM ET

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217

Harness Wealth

JANUARY 10, 2025

Tax advice is a common topic on social media platforms like TikTok. Influencers promise easy ways to secure tax deductions, simplifying complex ideas into bite-sized claims that gloss over important details in the process. In this article, well separate the facts from the fiction regarding these social media claims, highlighting the difference between popular and professional tax advicea difference that can have profound consequences when dealing with the Internal Revenue Service.

Taxes 52

Taxes Assets Media Education 52

Validea

JANUARY 10, 2025

The S&P 500 has had a big run in recent years, led by the biggest tech stocks. But investors often forget that there are many other companies in the index besides the biggest name. And many of those names offer significant value based on their fundamentals. Using a screening system that incorporates 22 different investment strategies – modeled after legendary investors like Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch, as well as proven academic research – Validea has identified ten S&P 50

Investing 52

Investing Investments 52

Truemind Capital

JANUARY 10, 2025

In the recent market correction, I observed many finfluencers and mutual fund distributors cajoling their over-concerned audience & customers by giving them reasons regarding why the markets will bounce back soon and why they should think of the long term and not worry too much. And this is when the markets didn’t even correct much – just around 10%.

Marketing 52

Marketing Marketing Asset Allocation Portfolio 52

Speaker: David Worrell, CFO, Author & Speaker

Your financial statements hold powerful insights—but are you truly paying attention? Many finance professionals focus on the income statement while overlooking key signals hidden in the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Understanding these numbers can unlock smarter decision-making, uncover risks, and drive long-term success. Join David Worrell, accomplished CFO, finance expert, and author, for an engaging, nontraditional take on reading financial statements.

Numbers

Mullooly Asset Management

JANUARY 10, 2025

Crystal Ball Challenge Here are some key takeaways: – Even with advance knowledge of news headlines, predicting market movements is extremely difficult. In a study where participants were given Wall Street Journal headlines a day in advance, about half lost money and one in six went bust.

Investing 52

Investing Investments Marketing Marketing 52

Random Roger's Retirement Planning

JANUARY 10, 2025

Our conversation here might be getting some mainstream traction from Barron's with the article The 60/40 Portfolio Isnt Doing Its Job. It May Be Time to Ditch Bonds. That would have been a more timely prognosis in 2018 or so but that's ok. While anyone having meaningful exposure to bond duration up to this point has suffered, what is likely to happen going forward?

Engineering 52

Engineering Banking Portfolio Management 52

Advisor Perspectives

JANUARY 10, 2025

Official recession calls are the responsibility of the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee, which is understandably vague about the specific indicators on which they base their decisions. There is, however, a general belief that there are four big indicators that the committee weighs heavily in their cycle identification process.

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104

SEI

JANUARY 10, 2025

Within the equity markets, corporate earnings have surprised to the upside and have shown strength outside of big tech.

Marketing 52

Marketing Marketing 52

Speaker: Erroll Amacker

Automation is transforming finance but without strong financial oversight it can introduce more risk than reward. From missed discrepancies to strained vendor relationships, accounts payable automation needs a human touch to deliver lasting value. This session is your playbook to get automation right. We’ll explore how to balance speed with control, boost decision-making through human-machine collaboration, and unlock ROI with fewer errors, stronger fraud prevention, and smoother operations.

Accounting

Advisor Perspectives

JANUARY 10, 2025

The yield on the 10-year note ended January 10, 2025 at 4.77%, its highest level since November 2023. Meanwhile, the 2-year note ended at 4.40%, its highest level since July 2024.

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The Big Picture

JANUARY 10, 2025

This week, we speak with Brian Hurst , the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of ClearAlpha. Prior to founding ClearAlpha, Brian spent 21 years at AQR Capital Management as a portfolio manager, researcher, head of trading, and the firm’s first non-founding Partner. He was also Cliff Asness’ first hire at GSAM. Hurst was instrumental in designing and implementing AQR’s trading platform.

Portfolio Management 147

Portfolio Management Risk Management Education Portfolio 147

Advisor Perspectives

JANUARY 10, 2025

There is a general belief that there are four big indicators that the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee weighs heavily in their cycle identification process. This commentary focuses on one of those indicators, nonfarm employment. December saw a 256,000 increase in total nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment ticked down to 4.1%.

59

59

Abnormal Returns

JANUARY 10, 2025

Finance Derek Thompson talks with Michael Cembalest chairman of market and investment strategy for JPMorgan Asset Management about the state of the economy headed into 2025. (podcasts.apple.com) Barry Ritholtz talks with Brian Hurst, the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of ClearAlpha. (ritholtz.com) David Senra on lessons learned from the life of Hetty Green, once the 'richest woman in America.

Economy 162

Economy Assets Investing Investments 162

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Accounting

Advisor Perspectives

JANUARY 10, 2025

Stock investors have been watching the runup in US Treasury yields with considerable alarm of late.

59

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Clever Girl Finance

JANUARY 10, 2025

Bringing home one baby is a life-changing event, but bringing home two? Its double the love, double the joy, andlets be honestdouble the expenses. When I found out I was having twins, I wasnt sure what to expect financially. I knew that babies were expensive, but two at once? That felt overwhelming. However, through trial and error, I found ways to make budgeting for twins manageable without sacrificing what my babies needed.

Budgeting 98

Budgeting Management Medical Insurance 98

Advisor Perspectives

JANUARY 10, 2025

Many people these days are on heightened alert for bubbles, and I’m often asked whether there’s a bubble surrounding the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the handful of stocks that have been leading it.

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Discipline Funds

JANUARY 10, 2025

Here are some things I think I am thinking about. 1) Book update. Please excuse the radio silence in recent weeks. I wrapped up my new book this week and I am just putting the finishing touches on it, but I’ve been burning the midnight oil every night for the last two months. I am very excited about this one. It’s been ten years since I published Pragmatic Capitalism and I have to laugh looking back at that one because this new book is infinitely better in my opinion.

Economy 52

Economy Education Government Marketing 52

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Like being inches from the end zone, many advisors are frustratingly close to their next level of success. You work hard. You put in the hours. But if your closing rate is stuck or your pipeline feels like a revolving door… something has to change. Most advisors are just one small shift away from dramatically increasing their revenue. The difference?

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