Mon.Apr 21, 2025

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Housing April 21st Weekly Update: Inventory up 2.4% Week-over-week, Up 33.4% Year-over-year

Calculated Risk

Altos reports that active single-family inventory was up 2.4% week-over-week. Inventory is now up 15.2% from the seasonal bottom in January and is increasing. Usually, inventory is up about 6% or 7% 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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Transcript: Martín Escobari, General Atlantic

The Big Picture

The transcript from this weeks, MiB: Martn Escobari, General Atlantic , is below. You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube , and Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here. ~~~ XXXXX insert transcript here XXXXX ~~~ The post Transcript: Martn Escobari, General Atlantic appeared first on The Big Picture.

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California Home Sales Up 4.9% YoY in March; 4th Look at Local Housing Markets

Calculated Risk

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: California Home Sales Up 4.9% YoY in March; 4th Look at Local Housing Markets A brief excerpt: From the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.): Elevated interest rates and economic uncertainty ease March home sales, C.A.R. reports Marchs sales pace fell 2.3 percent from the 284,540 homes sold in February and was up 4.9 percent from a year ago, when a revised 264,200 homes were sold on an annualized basis.

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Optimizing The Planning Process To Address Challenges For Clients Who Are 1 Year Away From Retirement

Nerd's Eye View

When onboarding new clients, financial advisors often use a three-meeting cadence: a Discovery Meeting to gather information, a Presentation Meeting to discuss the plan, and an Implementation Meeting to finalize it. While this approach works for many clients, individuals who are 12 months away from retirement face a range of complex financial and emotional considerations.

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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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Tuesday: Richmond Fed Mfg

Calculated Risk

From Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: Mortgage Rates Jump Back Toward 7% The latest headlines involve heavy criticism of Fed Chair Powell on the part of The President. Without any comment on whether that criticism is justified, we can still observe that markets find it unsettling. Traders are expressing that sentiment by pushing stocks lower and rates higher.

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Optimizing The Planning Process To Address Challenges For Clients Who Are One Year Away From Retirement

Nerd's Eye View

When onboarding new clients, financial advisors often use a three-meeting cadence: a Discovery Meeting to gather information, a Presentation Meeting to discuss the plan, and an Implementation Meeting to finalize it. While this approach works for many clients, individuals who are 12 months away from retirement face a range of complex financial and emotional considerations.

More Trending

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Will Pooled Employer Plans Transform the 401(k) Industry?

Wealth Management

Or will they just serve a niche market like cash balance and non-qualified plans?

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Market Commentary: Sentiment Remains Extreme as Fed Warns of Risks

Carson Wealth

Some Giveback After the S&P 500 gained nearly 6% two weeks ago, there was some well-deserved giveback last week, as stocks fell 1.5%, mainly thanks to a huge drop on Wednesday after hawkish comments from Jerome Powell (more on that below). As we noted last week, stocks are trying to carve out a potential low, but risks are clearly still high over the trade war and a Federal Reserve (Fed) in a tough spot.

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Interval Fund Stalwart Cliffwater Receives Backing from TPG, Temasek

Wealth Management

TPG, Temasek are taking a minority stake alongside TA in Cliffwater, which operates the single largest U.S. interval fund.

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An Autopsy of American Exceptionalism

Pragmatic Capitalism

I’m writing this in a Parisian cafe in the year 2050.

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The Hidden Science Behind Why Finance Teams Resist Change—And How to Fix It

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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Seven Things to Know as You Plot Your Exit Strategy

Wealth Management

Hard-earned insight from an advisor who just completed the process.

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Making Factor Strategies Work for Everyone

Alpha Architect

This article explores the difference between tradable and on-paper (theoretical) risk factors in investing. Risk factors are strategies that help explain stock market returns, but many work only in theory and not in real life. Making Factor Strategies Work for Everyone was originally published at Alpha Architect. Please read the Alpha Architect disclosures at your convenience.

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Vanguard Unveils Fixed Income Model Portfolios

Wealth Management

The two fixed-income model portfolios come at a time when advisors continue to gravitate to model portfolios.

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When is the Best Time for a Roth Conversion?

Darrow Wealth Management

Is there an optimal time to convert a traditional IRA or old 401(k) to a Roth IRA? While a Roth conversion may never make sense for some individuals, for others, early retirement years may be the best time to convert pre-tax accounts to tax-free Roth. Your current and projected future tax rate is often a main component of the decision, but there are other considerations and benefits as well.

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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

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Wealth Management Invest: CAIS’s Brad Walker on Making Alternative Investments Accessible

Wealth Management

Discover why independent wealth managers and RIAs increasingly incorporate alts into client portfolios and the innovative trends making this possible.

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Beyond Demographics: Finding Your Niche Through Psychographics and Client Values

Don Connelly & Associates

We've posted several times why advisors have a greater opportunity for success when they narrow their focus and concentrate on developing a niche. It has been proven that trying to grow your business by casting a wide net to find prospects is a waste of time, effort, and resources. The crowded advisory landscape demands that advisors differentiate themselves and become more specialized to be recognized as the best-of-breed for a specific type of clientele that can be served effectively and profi

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Ameriprise Disputes LPL Defamation Claim Regarding Data Breach Letter

Wealth Management

Ameriprise argues that a data breach notice it sent to current and former customers, some of whom are now with LPL, was an obligation and something LPL had agreed to under prior court orders.

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Running Your RIA Efficiently: Outsourcing Bookkeeping with XYPN Books

XY Planning Network

Ah, the early days of your RIA! Remember the feeling? Everything is finally coming together, processes are (mostly) sorted, and the occasional software hiccup? No biggie, Google's got your back. But then growth happens. And with it, those manageable tasks? They multiply. Suddenly, 'streamlined' feels like a distant memory, and that to-do list? It is officially a monster.

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Data Talks, CFOs Listen: Why Analytics Are Key To Better Spend Management

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.

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RIA Channel Continues to Attract FA Movers

Wealth Management

The past six months saw the RIA channel gain the most net new advisors, though wirehouse breakaways were most likely to take a half-step to hybrid models, according to the new data from AdvizorPro.

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The Essential Lesson: 50 Great Investors Share the One Thing They Would Teach You

Validea

When we started Excess Returns, we wanted to come up with one way to boil down the best advice from the experts we have interviewed into one simple question. That led us to create a standard closing question that we ask all of our guests, Based on your experience in the markets, if you could teach one lesson to your average investor, what would that be?.

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Talk Your Book: Interest Rates Go Kablooey

A Wealth of Common Sense

Today’s Talk Your Book is brought to you by Nasdaq: See here for more information on American Century funds and here for more info on Thornburg Investment Management strategies On today’s show, we discuss: American Century Investments: The construction of a short-term fixed income portfolio Thinking about risks within fixed income Thoughts on short-duration during and before a recession Opportunity surroundin.

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Risk is not about money

Norman Marks

I will start todays post with an assertion. Some will find it controversial. It flies in the face of traditional practices. Here it is: Measure risk in a way that enables informed and intelligent decisions.

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What Your Financial Statements Are Telling You—And How to Listen!

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.

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Did Anyone Get The License Plate.?

Random Roger's Retirement Planning

It makes no sense that a sitting President would want the stock market to go down but I'm not sure how to reconcile the rhetoric that appears to have been driving markets lower. At one point, the focus was the yield on the ten year US treasury and sure enough the yield was drifting lower alright but in a little over two weeks, the yield ran from 4.00% up to 4.40% at Monday's close which is a big move.

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Market Drama

Zoe Financial

Market Drama Featuring Zoe CEO & Founder, Andres Garcia-Amaya, CFA April 21st, 2025 Watch Time: 2 min. Welcome to this week’s Market Drama! Stock Market Update: S&P 500: Down 1.5% for the week; now down 14% from its Feb 19th high. Nasdaq: Down 2.6% for the week. Selloff Drivers: New U.S. export restrictions on semiconductors to China pressured major chip stocks like Nvidia.

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Investors Want to Know What Firms Are Spending More Than Earning

Advisor Perspectives

Wall Street is already looking past what’s expected to be Corporate America’s slowest gain in quarterly earnings in a year, instead focusing on a number that rarely captures the limelight: capital expenditures.

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The Power of Branding: The Silent Salesman Effect

Midstream Marketing

Key Highlights First Impressions Matter: Your brand is the first interaction customers have with your business. It’s essential to make it count. The Power of Visuals: A strong visual identity, including a memorable logo and consistent color palette, significantly impacts brand recognition. Target Audience Focus: Understanding your ideal customer is crucial for tailoring your branding elements to resonate with them.

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How to Avoid Pitfalls In Automation: Keep Humans In the Loop

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.

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The Evolution of Active Management: From Stock Picking to Active Asset Allocation

Advisor Perspectives

Active management has not disappeared — it has simply evolved. Rather than focusing on outdated stock selection methodologies, today’s most effective active strategies center on active portfolio construction and dynamic asset allocation.

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How to Create a High-Engagement Email Sequence for Advisors

Midstream Marketing

Key Highlights Unlocking Engagement: Discover the power of email sequences to engage prospects and clients in the financial advisor y world. Building Relationships: Craft compelling email content that resonates with your target audience and fosters trust. Optimizing for Success: Learn essential tips for personalization, timing, and frequency to maximize open and click-through rates.

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The Uncertainty World

Advisor Perspectives

Markets don’t like uncertainty. It is a cliché, but for a very good reason. It is more than a truism.

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Does Insurance Cover Basement Flooding? Yes, But…

YouSet Insurance

Standard home insurance policies may cover basement flooding, but overland and sewer backup coverage is often required.

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Book of Secrets on the Month-End Close

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.