The Big Picture
APRIL 28, 2025
We have no idea how good we had it. Lets consider the returns data from the period post-Great Financial Crisis (GFC), and then unpack what it might mean. Starting January 1, 2010, the S&P 500 generated a total return (with dividends reinvested) of 566.8% , or 13.3% per year from the start of 2010 through the end of Q1 2025. The Nasdaq 100 has nearly doubled that.
Calculated Risk
APRIL 28, 2025
The Census Bureau released the Residential Vacancies and Homeownership report for Q1 2025 today. The results of this survey were significantly distorted by the pandemic in 2020. This report is frequently mentioned by analysts and the media to track household formation, the homeownership rate, and the homeowner and rental vacancy rates. However, there are serious questions about the accuracy of this survey.
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Nerd's Eye View
APRIL 28, 2025
An advisory firm's website often serves as the hub for attracting new clients, with various forms of content acting as 'spokes' that attract prospective clients to the firm. But for many advisors, the hardest part of creating a content marketing strategy is knowing where to start. Without a structured approach, content creation can cost the advisor valuable time without leading to meaningful leads.
Calculated Risk
APRIL 28, 2025
Altos reports that active single-family inventory was up 1.3% week-over-week. Inventory is now up 16.7% from the seasonal bottom in January and is increasing. Usually, inventory is up about 9% from the seasonal low by this week in the year. So, 2025 is seeing a larger than normal pickup in inventory. The first graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015.
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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
Wealth Management
APRIL 28, 2025
A deep dive into Bob Marleys estate planning challenges, featuring CPA Noah Rosenfarb discussing trusts, wealth preservation strategie, and the importance of family communication.
Calculated Risk
APRIL 28, 2025
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Final Look at Local Housing Markets in March and a Look Ahead to April Sales A brief excerpt: After the National Association of Realtors (NAR) releases the monthly existing home sales report , I pick up additional local market data that is reported after the NAR. This is the final look at local markets in March.
Financial Advisor Source brings together the best content for financial advisor professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Wealth Management
APRIL 28, 2025
In a brief submitted to the nations highest court, FINRA called Alpine Securities arguments legally meritless and said the Court should deny the request.
Abnormal Returns
APRIL 28, 2025
Markets Over the past 15 years, investors have become comfortable with stocks going up. (ritholtz.com) Retail investors just keep buying. (sherwood.news) Fund management Why bother with active management, when there's an ETF that does it cheaper (and better). (bloomberg.com) Cliffwater is a standout in the interval fund space. (morningstar.com) When you start buying gold mines you have been gold-pilled.
Wealth Management
APRIL 28, 2025
Yardley, Penn.-based RIA Ventura Wealth went on its own in April, adding to Osaic's attrition.
XY Planning Network
APRIL 28, 2025
If you're a financial advisor ready to grow your firm without increasing your workloador youre tired of feeling like everything depends on youits time to get serious about your systems. After years of building my multi-six-figure practice and coaching advisors nationwide, I created a framework that takes the chaos out of scaling. I call it Systems to Scaledesigned to help you build a business that runs smoothly, efficiently, and without your constant involvement.
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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
APRIL 28, 2025
The financial services industry has the second-longest workday and highest percentage of employees working weekends, according to a new report by ActivTrak.
MainStreet Financial Planning
APRIL 28, 2025
Retirement marks a significant transition in life, especially after nearly three decades of military service. For our family, my husbands upcoming retirement after 29 years in the military was not just about financial planning for the futureit was also about making his long-held dream a reality. One of his biggest goals? Hiking a portion of the Appalachian Trail (AT) as a way to disconnect, reflect, and prepare for his next chapter after service.
Wealth Management
APRIL 28, 2025
Nicole Pullen Ross takes on an expanded role in Goldman Sachs' private wealth management division, as the firm combines its New York and Mid-Atlantic regions.
Harness Wealth
APRIL 28, 2025
Private equity and alternative investments create unique tax reporting complexities that demand attention. Inside these investment structures, K-1 and 1099 forms represent fundamentally different approaches to reporting income and losses, each with its own set of rules and implications. This article explores the distinctions between K-1 and 1099 reporting, explaining their impact on tax planning, basis calculations, filing deadlines, and strategies to optimize your after-tax returns from alterna
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
APRIL 28, 2025
NAPA Summit marks 25 years as DC plans evolve from niche to mainstream, highlighting industry transformation through wealth management integration and workplace benefits convergence.
Investment Writing
APRIL 28, 2025
Can you spot whats wrong in the image below? Please post your answer as a comment. Once again, here’s an error in a major newspaper. I suspect that text, such as headlines and captions, that isn’t written by the reporter may be particularly prone to becoming fodder for Mistake Monday. Do YOU have a theory explaining these errors? I post these challenges to raise awareness of the importance of proofreading.
Wealth Management
APRIL 28, 2025
Ryan Nauman and CAZ Investments' Christopher Zook highlight the advantages of diversifying portfolios with private assets, such as lower correlation and reduced volatility, which can enhance long-term returns and client retention.
Validea
APRIL 28, 2025
Validea’s systematic investment framework draws inspiration from Peter Lynch, the legendary manager who propelled Fidelity’s Magellan Fund to extraordinary heights. This methodical approach embodies the Growth At a Reasonable Price (GARP) philosophy, identifying companies with robust growth trajectories that remain attractively valued. Central to this strategy is the PEG ratio calculation, which evaluates a company’s price-to-earnings ratio relative to its earnings growth rate.
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
APRIL 28, 2025
Fidelity Contrafund's Will Danoff faces a new challenge: beating index funds that replicate his stock-picking strategy.
Alpha Architect
APRIL 28, 2025
This article explains how researchers studied small investors' trading habits by looking at tiny price differences, called subpennies, in stock trades. They found that the current method to identify these trades isn't very accurate. By using a new approach, they improved the accuracy, helping to better understand how small investors buy and sell stocks.
Wealth Management
APRIL 28, 2025
Ryan Nauman and Michael Mack delve into the significance of free cash flow as a factor in investment management, the importance of sector adaptability, the contrast between value and growth investments, and the relevance of quality in portfolio construction.
A Wealth of Common Sense
APRIL 28, 2025
Today’s Talk Your Book is brought to you by Invesco: See here for more information on the RSP Equal Weight ETF On today’s show, we discuss: How the equal weight is constructed How equal weighting affects factor exposure Concentration within the market cap weighted S&P 500 Looking at flows in this environment Revenue weighted S&P 500 ETFs Thoughts around the selloff in 2025 QQQ vs QQQM Low Volatility a.
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.
Don Connelly & Associates
APRIL 28, 2025
Did you know that by 2050, 70% of the global population will live in urban areas? What does this mean for your clients? Successful advisors go beyond reacting to short-term events such as market volatility and its impact on client portfolios. Instead, they proactively address long-term economic trends that shape their financial futures. As a financial advisor, you are tasked with helping clients navigate complex and ever-changing economic landscapes.
Advisor Perspectives
APRIL 28, 2025
In this article, I will discuss another advantage of using the actuarial approach for retirement planning — helping your clients determine when they can afford to make big-ticket item purchases.
WiserAdvisor
APRIL 28, 2025
Even a modest rise in inflation can stretch your budget thin in retirement. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation spiked between 2021 and 2022, hitting a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022. While the January 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI) report shows inflation cooling to around 3%, the damage from previous years still lingers, especially for retirees relying on a limited pool of savings.
Advisor Perspectives
APRIL 28, 2025
The Dallas Fed released its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey (TMOS) for April. The general business activity index came in at -35.8, its lowest level since 2020. This marks a 19.5 point decline from the previous month and the third straight monthly decline.
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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.
YouSet Insurance
APRIL 28, 2025
Find out where and how to get a drivers abstract by province or territory, along with the cost in this article.
Advisor Perspectives
APRIL 28, 2025
We have good and bad news for investors who want to know whether the stock market will soar, stall, or plummet. First, the good news. This article presents a market path for what lies ahead. Unfortunately, the “right” path lies among three likely scenarios.
Financial Symmetry
APRIL 28, 2025
When it comes to estate planning, there are many pieces to ensure that your heirs and loved ones are taken care of and have a clear understanding of your wishes. Any estate planning professional would tell you that the more you do while you are still living, the better. One of those items on the estate planning to-do list is making sure your investment accounts and life insurance policies have their beneficiary designations filled out.
Advisor Perspectives
APRIL 28, 2025
Are you a “speculator” or an “investor”? This is an essential question that every individual deploying capital into the financial markets must answer. The reason is that how you answer that question determines how you should behave during market cycles.
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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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