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Welcome back to the 346th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast ! My guest on today's podcast is Jim Ludwick. Jim is the founder of MainStreet Financial Planning, an hourly, fee-only financial planning firm, and also created Procrastination Junction, a coaching program for fee-only financial advisors looking to improve their sales skills.
The financial advisor job is more than just crunching numbers. It’s about understanding individual goals and needs, building a relationship based on values, and offering sound advice tailored to each client’s unique circumstances.
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: The "New Normal" Mortgage Rate Range A brief excerpt: In early June, I wrote: Could 6% to 7% 30-Year Mortgage Rates be the "New Normal"? This is an update to that post with some additional research. In the previous post I noted that a key pitch, by real estate agents for home buyers right now, is that they will likely be able to refinance at a lower mortgage rate in a few years.
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
Rates Rising bond yields continue to boost future returns. (awealthofcommonsense.com) Companies are not betting on lower rates any time soon. (ft.com) How higher interest rates are going to pinch corporate profits. (klementoninvesting.substack.com) Finance Blackstone ($BX) is not backing away from the growth equity business. (bloomberg.com) Is there a structural imbalance in the secondary market for private equity fund stakes?
In a world on the cusp of historic wealth transfer, hyper-personalization emerges as a pivotal strategy for financial advisors to attract, retain, and deeply engage clients.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported the housing market index (HMI) was at 50, down from 56 last month. Any number above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor. From the NAHB: Builder Confidence Falls on Rising Mortgage Rates After steadily rising for seven consecutive months, builder confidence retreated in August as rising mortgage rates nearing 7% (per Freddie Mac) and stubbornly high shelter inflation have further eroded housing affordabi
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported the housing market index (HMI) was at 50, down from 56 last month. Any number above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor. From the NAHB: Builder Confidence Falls on Rising Mortgage Rates After steadily rising for seven consecutive months, builder confidence retreated in August as rising mortgage rates nearing 7% (per Freddie Mac) and stubbornly high shelter inflation have further eroded housing affordabi
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 8:30 AM, Housing Starts for July. The consensus is for 1.440 million SAAR, up from 1.434 million SAAR in June. • At 9:15 AM, The Fed will release Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for July.
Join Downtown Josh Brown and Michael Batnick for another round of What Are Your Thoughts? On this week’s episode, Josh and Michael discuss the biggest topics in investing and finance, including: ►Retail Earnings – Consumers are still spending. ►Stock Picker’s Delight – Sector correlation and valuation disparities are providing value opportunities.
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.
China’s stimulus actions are not enough, says Ritholtz Wealth’s Josh Brown from CNBC Bank of America downgrades Valero and four other refiners from CNBC Final Trades: Fortinet & Marriot from CNBC
Investment management firms are raising funds to purchase distressed commercial real estate, reports The Wall Street Journal. A new report from CBRE found that lending remained sluggish in the second quarter of the year. These are among today’s must reads from around the commercial real estate industry.
On a monthly basis, retail sales were up 0.7% from June to July (seasonally adjusted), and sales were up 3.2 percent from June 2022. From the Census Bureau report : Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for July 2023, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $696.4 billion, up 0.7 percent from the previous month , and up 3.2 percent above July 2022.
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.
The transcript from this week’s, MiB: Ted Seides, Capital Allocators , is below. You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on iTunes , Spotify , Stitcher , Google , YouTube , and Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here. ~~~ ANNOUNCER: This is Masters in Business with Barry Ritholtz on Bloomberg Radio.
In the 1970s overnight interest rates went from a low of 3% to a high of 20%. This was an especially tough time to be a bond investor as the surge in interest rates caused short-term principal losses and prolonged real losses. But there’s also an interesting and important lesson from the 1970s – higher bond yields create a sort of escape velocity at some point where the interest payments offset the interest rate risk.
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.
A court’s approval of an AMC's stock conversion plan last week ended a long legal tug-of-war between the movie theater chain and a small army of retail investors.
The Economist says by one measure stocks are the most expensive they’ve been in 5 decades: This chart shows the equity risk premium which simply takes the forward earnings yield (the inverse of the price-to-earnings ratio) and subtracts the 10 year treasury yield. I asked last week if valuations still matter anymore for the stock market but this one makes sense intuitively.
Investors are essentially betting against swings in share prices, with demand so hot that funds like JEPI and QYLD keep drawing in money despite subpar returns.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI) is a gauge of builder opinion on the relative level of current and future single-family home sales. The latest reading fell 6 points from last month to 50, the index's first monthly decline in the past eight months. Builder confidence retreated in August largely as a result from rising mortgage rates nearing 7% (per Freddie Mac) and high shelter inflation.
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.
Condo insurance is designed to cover what your condo association’s master policy won’t. Here are 5 things to consider when buying insurance for your condo. 1. Find out what the Homeowner Association’s (HOA) policy covers. As a condo owner, your HOA collects monthly dues that include insurance for the condo’s building exteriors and common areas.
Today’s Animal Spirits is brought to you by Franklin Templeton ETFs: See here for more information on Franklin Templetons Low Volatility, High Dividend ETF Strategy. On today’s show, we discuss: American stocks are at their most expensive in decades Traders are not pricing in a policy of benign neglect on US inflation Credit card markets head back to normal after pandemic pause US housing market recovers the nea.
What are Triangle Chart Patterns : As a part of technical analysis tools chart patterns play an important role in understanding the price movement of the securities with better views. Chart patterns are the lines drawn on price movements to help traders understand and identify potential breakouts, trend directions and price reversals to find entry or exit opportunities.
The nominal recovery in GDP since the pandemic recession has surprised almost everyone. We just experienced the strongest economic recovery since the end of World War II. Last October when the stock market bottomed, 60% of economists expected a recession in the next twelve months. They were following the standard playbook of inflation up, rates up, asset prices down, and economic activity down.
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?
Professional growth and development of our employees is very important to us, which is why we are thrilled to announce that Melanie Leal Ramirez has been promoted to Client Service Manager! Since joining our firm in March 2022, Melanie has been an invaluable asset to our team, demonstrating unwavering dedication and passion for excellence in everything she does.
NAIFA is proud to announce Joseph W. Jordan , inspirational speaker, behavioral finance expert, best-selling author, and one of the founders of the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), is the recipient of the 82nd annual John Newton Russell Memorial Award. The award is the highest honor accorded by the insurance industry to a living individual who has rendered outstanding services to the institution of life insurance.
Unfiltered, fresh, candid, and honest feedback straight from your Edward Jones peers who transitioned to another firm or model within the past 18 months. Our recent Update for Edward Jones Advisors noted that 371 experienced advisors left Edward Jones in 2022. But in many ways, leaving was the easy part. The heavy lifting comes next: transitioning client accounts, learning systems and platforms at a new firm, and prospecting for business under a different flag.
Is your finance team bogged down by endless data requests and disorganized spreadsheets during the month-end close? It’s time to consider a better option – automate with ART! SkyStem’s solution works alongside your ERP to transform the close and account reconciliation process and speed up month-end work. Explore SkyStem’s ART - the award-winning account reconciliation automation platform - and receive a $100 Amazon gift card as a thank you for your time.
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