Mon.Feb 10, 2025

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How To Determine The ‘Best’ CFP Education Program (For You): 2025 Update

Nerd's Eye View

To earn the CFP marks, candidates must fulfill four key requirements: Education (holding a bachelor's degree and completing the required coursework through a CFP Board registered program), Exam (passing the 170-question CFP exam), Experience (gaining hands-on experience providing financial advice to the public), and Ethics (acting as a fiduciary). Among these, the Education component offers the greatest flexibility in how it can be completed.

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Part 1: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-February 2025

Calculated Risk

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Part 1: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-February 2025 A brief excerpt: This 2-part overview for mid-February provides a snapshot of the current housing market. I always focus first on inventory, since inventory usually tells the tale ! Im watching months-of-supply closely. New home inventory, as a percentage of total inventory, is still very high.

Marketing 214
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Monday links: a cult of personality

Abnormal Returns

Markets Too many people confusing speculating for investing. (ritholtz.com) The end of ZIRP did not kill off speculation. (ft.com) Big tech Callie Cox, "History is littered with the tombstones of once-dominant companies who couldnt pivot to the next big thing." (optimisticallie.com) The scale of capital expenditures by the Mag Seven is unprecedented.

Media 173
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Tuesday: Fed Chair Powell's Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress

Calculated Risk

From Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: Mortgage Rates Microscopically Lower to Start New Week Mortgage rates have been on a vacation from volatility since January 16th when they fell back toward 7% after hitting the highest levels since May 2024. Top tier 30yr fixed rates have operated inside a 0.13% range since then and a narrower 0.08% range for the past 2 weeks. on Wednesday, volatility potential increases significantly with the release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is the fir

Banking 147
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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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Adviser links: different needs

Abnormal Returns

Investing How the model portfolio business is evolving. (morningstar.com) Robinhood's ($HOOD) proposed robo-advisor offering seems plain vanilla. (riabiz.com) Health The case against HSAs. (kitces.com) People seem to underestimate the chances of needing long term care. (crr.bc.edu) Advisers Certifications are important, but connecting with clients is paramount.

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Housing Feb 10th Weekly Update: Inventory Down 0.4% Week-over-week, Up 27.8% Year-over-year

Calculated Risk

Altos reports that active single-family inventory was down 0.4% week-over-week. Inventory always declines seasonally in the Winter and usually bottoms in late January or February. Inventory is now up 1.3% from the bottom four weeks ago. Inventory has been little changed over the last 4 weeks. The first graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015.

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Coaching for Client Retention: Turning Existing Clients into Raving Fans for Organic Growth

XY Planning Network

Happy clients are pure gold for growing your financial planning practice. The XYPN benchmarking survey repeatedly confirms that satisfied clients are one of your most valuable sources for high-quality referrals. If you haven't started cultivating a referral culture in your firm yet, there's no better time than now.

Clients 69
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Broker Uses Recent Supreme Court Decisions In Case Against FINRA

Wealth Management

An attorney representing Frank Black in his case against FINRA believes the issue of whether the self-regulatory organizations enforcement proceedings are constitutional could hit the Supreme Court within the next several years.

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Lessons from a Garage Fire: Reviewing Your Insurance Coverage

MainStreet Financial Planning

Recently, a fire broke out in my condo complex just after midnight. Most of us only woke up because we heard a loud boom. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but three detached garages burned completely down, along with the cars inside. Five other vehicles parked nearby sustained body damage from the heat. My building had minor damage to the siding and windows facing the fire.

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Three Strategies for Engaging a Client's Whole Family

Wealth Management

It begins with a deep understanding of the familys values, goalsand priorities.

Clients 255
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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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The Power of Open-Ended Questions for Financial Advisors

Don Connelly & Associates

Effective communication is the cornerstone of enduring and trusting relationships. For financial advisors, its the key to meaningful client engagement that fosters deeper discussions and stronger connections. At the core of meaningful engagement is asking the right questions. Open-ended questions, in particular, can transform a conversation, moving it beyond stunted yes or no answers to delve more deeply into what matters to a clientto understand the why behind their thinking.

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Q&A: Public REITs Can Weather Higher Interest Rates

Wealth Management

A new analysis from Nariet shows REITs have performed well in both high and low interest rate environments.

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Talk Your Book: How to Eliminate Negative Alpha

A Wealth of Common Sense

Today’s Talk Your Book is brought to you by Longboard Asset Management: See here for more information on their trend-following strategy LONGX On today’s show, we discuss: What alternative investments are The S&P 500 is the World’s Largest Momentum Strategy Does Trend-Following Still Work on Stocks? How Longboard builds its trend following strategy Setting expectations around trend following How to p.

Assets 55
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Editor’s Note: A Website Refresh

Wealth Management

Weve made the website easier to navigate, with a cleaner design and a revised architecture to help you find the information most useful to you.

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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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Practical Lessons from Jim Paulsen

Validea

In this episode, Matt and Jack break down key insights from our interview with market strategist Jim Paulsen. Paulsen offers unique perspectives on how markets have evolved over his 40-year career, from the days when investors checked bank signs for daily Dow quotes to today’s high-speed algorithmic trading environment. Key topics covered: Why traditional market valuation metrics may need updating for the modern era A novel way to measure productivity through “profit per job” a

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$200M Advisor Leaves UBS to Go Independent with Sanctuary

Wealth Management

Kristen Larson has launched Minneapolis-based NewSpring Wealth Partners after nine years at UBS.

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Serious Side Effects

Advisor Perspectives

Today we’ll talk about side effects, and whether the cure is worse than the disease.

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Prime Capital Gains Foothold in Atlanta with $1B RIA

Wealth Management

The RIAs first deal of the year grows its Southeast presence.

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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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Celebrating good risk management advice

Norman Marks

Two new pieces are well worth reading. Raising your game from the Risk Coalition[1] has a subtitle that I really like: Pursue opportunities. Navigate risks.

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Forfeiture Lawsuits Set to Upend 401(k) Plans

Wealth Management

A recent lawsuit filed by Schlichter against Charter Communications DC plan with over $7 billion and 100,000 participants, is one of many.

Planning 196
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Unemployment Claims and the CLF as a Recession Indicator: January 2025

Advisor Perspectives

What does the ratio of unemployment claims to the civilian labor force tell us about where we are in the business cycle and recession risk?

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Three Strategies for Engaging a Client's Whole Family

Wealth Management

It begins with a deep understanding of the familys values, goalsand priorities.

Clients 162
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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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What If It Blows Up?

Random Roger's Retirement Planning

Like we were saying the other day, bonds should be boring. I used this chart to ask what do you want your fixed income holdings to look like. To the Kelly quote, which lines look boring to you? Simplify put out a paper that digs into the Simplify Currency Strategy ETF (FOXY) that we touched on the other day. If you have curiosity about it, the paper is worth reading.

Math 52
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Mariner to Add 250 Senior Wealth Advisors in Major Recruiting Push

Wealth Management

Mariner Wealth Advisors CEO Marty Bicknell says growing the mega-RIAs senior wealth advisor pool is a key priority.

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Here We Go Again: Merton Share and Why I Don’t Use Retirement Calculators

Advisor Perspectives

While Merton is one of the most brilliant financial economists who ever lived, high-level quantitative chops do not guarantee financial success.

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$200M Advisor Leaves UBS to Go Independent with Sanctuary

Wealth Management

Kristen Larson has launched Minneapolis-based NewSpring Wealth Partners after nine years at UBS.

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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.

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Multiple Jobholders Account for 5.3% of Workers in January 2025

Advisor Perspectives

Multiple jobholders account for 5.3% of civilian employment. The survey captures data for four subcategories of the multi-job workforce, the relative sizes of which we've illustrated in a pie chart.

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Q&A: Dave Breslin Ushers General Catalyst Into the Wealth Business

Wealth Management

Former First Republic executive Dave Breslin has been quietly building General Catalysts wealth business over the last year and change. Heres a look inside the vision, approach and growth thus far.

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RecessionAlert Weekly Leading Economic Index

Advisor Perspectives

The weekly leading economic index (WLEI) is a composite for the U.S economy that draws from over 20 time-series and groups them into the following six broad categories which are then used to construct an equally weighted average. As of January 31st, the index was at 22.070, down 1.180 from the previous week, with 4 of the 6 components in expansion territory.

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Mariner Aims to Add 250 Senior Wealth Advisors in Major Recruiting Push

Wealth Management

Mariner Wealth Advisors CEO Marty Bicknell says growing the mega-RIAs senior wealth advisor pool is a key priority.

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Stop Falling Short When It Matters Most—The Elite Advisor’s Playbook to Success

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?