The Big Picture
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
We are four weeks out from the publication of “ How Not To Invest: The ideas, numbers, and behaviors that destroy wealth – and how to avoid them.” Audio, ebook, and hard copies are all scheduled to drop on the same day, March 18, 2025. I am very excited about this,my first book in 15 years. I stopped writing my column and blog posts (mostly) to focus on this from December 2023 right up until January 2025.
Calculated Risk
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: The "Neutral" Rate and Implications for 30-year Mortgage Rates A brief excerpt: Housing economist Tom Lawler has written extensively on the neutral rate. He has argued that the neutral rate has increased back to pre-financial crisis levels and that it seems like that the current stance of monetary policy is not meaningfully restrictive .
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Nerd's Eye View
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 425th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast ! My guest on today's podcast is Sebastian Guerra. Sebastian is the President of Guerra Wealth Advisors, a hybrid advisory firm based in Miami, Florida, with nearly $15M of revenue and almost 60 team members, supporting over 1,700 client households. What's unique about Sebastian, though, is how his firm has implemented a financial planning quality control system, where a dedicated team member touches base wit
Calculated Risk
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
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 mortgage purchase applications index. At 8:30 AM, Housing Starts for January. The consensus is for 1.394 million SAAR, down from 1.499 million SAAR. During the day, The AIA's Architecture Billings Index for January (a leading indicator for commercial real estate).
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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
Abnormal Returns
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Quant stuff Some financial-focused AI tools worth checking out. (herbgreenberg.com) A round-up of recent research papers on asset allocation including 'Asset Allocation Mandates and Price Reactions to New Information.' (capitalspectator.com) Some recent academic papers including 'The Cross-Section of Corporate Bond Returns.' (alphainacademia.substack.com) Behavior Gender differences in corrupt behavior.
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Ameriprise sued the IBD and several former employees last week, claiming the reps who left solicited clients and took confidential information, violating the Protocol for Broker Recruiting.
Financial Advisor Source brings together the best content for financial advisor professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
New York-based advisor Francis Smith wants a temporary restraining order to stop FINRA from alleging requiring on-the-record testimony without the protection of the Fifth Amendment.
Validea
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
In this episode of Excess Returns, Matt and Jack explore key lessons from one of our most popular guests, Cem Karsan. Through selected clips from multiple interviews, they unpack Karsan’s unique insights on markets, investing, and risk management. The discussion covers critical concepts including: The fundamental importance of supply, demand, and liquidity in markets Why thinking probabilistically is essential for both investing and life How different time frames affect investment decision
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
How to handle the emergence of unexpected relatives.
Meb Faber Research
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
On the podcast with Research Affiliates’ Jim Masturzo, I said that the biggest head scratcher across the investing landscape for me is the fixed income space (the segment starts here). I really don’t get why people are investing in risky and volatile fixed income markets like corporate bonds and junk when they don’t provide much, […] The post No Juice appeared first on Meb Faber Research - Stock Market and Investing Blog.
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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
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
The deal with Pleasanton, Calif.-based Maxwell Wealth Strategies represents Creative Planning's first deal of 2025 and 12th in the last two years.
Advisor Perspectives
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Many boomers are business owners who are selling their businesses. This article provides guidance for these retiring business owners, their heirs and their advisors. This article also discusses opportunities for investors to capitalize on this once-in-a-lifetime mass exodus of baby boomer business owners.
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
The most pressing tax law developments of the past month.
Advisor Perspectives
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Manufacturing activity edged higher in New York State, according to the Empire State Manufacturing February survey. The diffusion index for General Business Conditions climbed 18.3 points to 5.7. The latest reading was better than the forecast of -1.9.
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.
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Craig R. Hersch explores the risks artificial intelligence poses to confidentiality and outlines the ethical obligations attorneys must uphold.
Advisor Perspectives
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
While it seems unlikely that digital solutions or the internet will ever fully supplement human advisors, the ecosystem of financial advice and information is likely to continue to evolve and increasingly be online in the future.
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Al W. King III explains why families are turning to modern trust states that provide privacy, asset protection and assurances that family wishes are honored.
Darrow Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Don’t stress out about every headline, stress test your retirement plan instead.Markets move every day and the news cycle is 24-7. Unfortunately, headlines often leave investors wondering what the news means for their portfolio and financial outlook. We can’t predict the future, but we can control how we prepare a range of possible outcomes.
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.
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Legal Editor Anna Sulkin Stern discusses this month's cover art.
Advisor Perspectives
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
I have – painfully – learned one thing, in particular. Even if you can see what’s happening and could find the words to share your insights, if you have a leader that only wants to listen to an echo chamber, you aren’t going to get heard, no matter what you do.
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
The fund is built off the newly created Morningstar PitchBook Buyout Replication Index.
Advisor Perspectives
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Seven of the nine indexes on our world watch list have posted gains through February 18, 2025. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is in the top spot with a year to date gain of 17.09%. Germany's DAXK is in second with a year to date gain of 13.80% while France's CAC 40 is in third with a year to date gain of 10.99%.
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.
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Editor in Chief Susan R. Lipp weighs in on the contents of this month's issue.
Covisum
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of financial regulation, staying informed is crucial for financial advisors looking to provide the best guidance to their clients. Last month, I had the privilege of being interviewed on Impact Partnership's podcast, " Impactful Conversations ," where we dove deep into a topic that is set to reshape the retirement landscape for many: the Social Security Fairness Act.
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Despite its reputation for low fees, Vanguard is still the leader in fee revenue because of its massive book of business, according to a Morningstar analysis. After 19 consecutive weeks of positive inflows, Bitcoin investment products saw net outflows last week. These are among the investment must reads we found this week for wealth advisors.
Investment Writing
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Hyphen, shmyphen, who cares whether you use hyphens? A Facebook ad drove home the lesson that hyphens’ role as connectors is important. “Imagine life pain free,” said the ad. This hyphenless sentence could be interpreted as “Imagine getting ‘life pain’ at no cost.” No, thanks, I’ll pass on that offer. The advertiser should have written, “Imagine life pain-free.” This makes it clear that “pain” relates to “free,”
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Based off SkyStem's popular e-Book, the book of secrets to the month-end close will be revealed in this one-hour webinar. Learn leading practices when it comes to building a strong and sustainable month-end close that has room to grow and evolve. Learn about the power of precise estimates, why reconciliations are critical to closing the books, how and when to automate, and how the chart of accounts play into your close process.
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Common mistakes and important elections.
Advisor Perspectives
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
The Hang Seng Tech Index has soared 23% this year, far outpacing the Nasdaq 100’s 5.3% gain. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s shares are back to their 2022 levels, while EV makers BYD Co. and Xiaomi Corp. hit new record highs.
Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Create new opportunities with a charitable limited liability company.
Advisor Perspectives
FEBRUARY 18, 2025
Builder confidence fell sharply in February due to concerns on tariffs, elevated mortgage rates, and high housing costs. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI) dropped to 42 this month, down five points from January. The latest reading was below the 46 forecast.
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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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