The Big Picture

MARCH 18, 2025

It is March 18th! Publication day is finally here! The challenge in writing How NOT to Invest was organizing a large number of ideas, many of which were only loosely connected, into something coherent, understandable, and, most importantly, readable. It took a while of playing around with the concepts, but eventually, I hit on a structure that I found enormously useful: I organized our biggest impediments to investing success into three broad categories: Bad Ideas , Bad Numbers , and Bad Be

Investing 318

Investing Investments Math Media 318

Calculated Risk

MARCH 18, 2025

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Housing Starts Increased to 1.501 million Annual Rate in February A brief excerpt: Total housing starts in February were above expectations; however, starts in December and January were revised down slightly, combined. The third graph shows the month-to-month comparison for total starts between 2024 (blue) and 2025 (red).

221

221

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

Morningstar profiled the 15 funds that have lost the most value for shareholders over the past decade. Recent market volatility has perked new interest among investors and advisors in buffer ETFs. These are among the investment must reads we found this week for wealth advisors.

Wealth Advisor 289

Wealth Advisor Investing Investments Marketing 289

Calculated Risk

MARCH 18, 2025

From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions Housing Starts: Privately-owned housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,501,000. This is 11.2 percent above the revised January estimate of 1,350,000, but is 2.9 percent below the February 2024 rate of 1,546,000. Single-family housing starts in February were at a rate of 1,108,000; this is 11.4 percent above the revised January figure of 995,000.

226

226

Advertisement

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

Clients

Abnormal Returns

MARCH 18, 2025

Tune Out the Noise You can now watch the Errol Morris documentary 'Tune Out the Noise.' (youtube.com) Why DFA helped make the movie. (institutionalinvestor.com) Quant stuff Almost all quants owe a debt to the late Barr Rosenberg. (on.ft.com) Some recent academic research including 'Wikipedia Page Views and Stock Performance.' (alphainacademia.substack.com) The case against chartists.

Banking 147

Banking Economy Economics Investing 147

Calculated Risk

MARCH 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 results for the mortgage purchase applications index. During the day: The AIA's Architecture Billings Index for February (a leading indicator for commercial real estate). At 2:00 PM: FOMC Meeting Announcement.

Economics 165

Economics Marketing Marketing 165

Calculated Risk

MARCH 18, 2025

From the Fed: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Industrial production (IP) increased 0.7 percent in February after moving up 0.3 percent in January. Manufacturing output rose 0.9 percent, boosted by a jump of 8.5 percent in the index for motor vehicles and parts. The output of manufacturing excluding motor vehicles and parts increased 0.4 percent.

Manufacturing 147

Manufacturing 147

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

Bleakley Financial Group, which became Rise Growths first RIA investment last year, has also acquired two firms with about $1 billion in assets in the first quarter of 2025.

Assets 264

Assets Investing Investments 264

Abnormal Returns

MARCH 18, 2025

Markets Credit spreads are not screaming recession. (ft.com) Earnings estimates are coming down. (sherwood.news) Long Europe, short US is the consensus trade. (on.ft.com) How Not to Invest Ten insights from Barry Ritholtz's new book "How Not to Invest: The Ideas, Numbers, and Behaviors That Destroy Wealth - and How to Avoid Them." (ritholtz.com) Everybody makes financial mistakes, even the most accomplished.

Media 147

Media Economy Numbers Management 147

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

The CEOs of Savvy and startup FINNY AI told advisors at an industry conference that marketing, administrative tasks and tailored client communication are all rife for AI disruption.

Startup 263

Startup Communication Clients Marketing 263

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.

Management

Nerd's Eye View

MARCH 18, 2025

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 429th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast ! My guest on today's podcast is Ali Nasser. Ali is the Founder of the Wealth Integration System for Entrepreneurs, an education and coaching company based in Houston, Texas, that works with entrepreneurs facing a liquidity event and trying to figure out what's next… and financial advisors who serve them.

Financial Advisor 130

Financial Advisor Clients Financial Planning Taxes 130

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

Merits Financial Advisors' second deal of 2025 is for Idaho-based Sanctuary Wealth Management and its affiliate that brings employee stock ownership plan services.

Wealth Management 252

Wealth Management Financial Advisor Planning Management 252

A Wealth of Common Sense

MARCH 18, 2025

On December 17, 1954,The Chicago Tribuneran the following headline: DOCTOR WARNS OF DISASTERS IN WORLD TUESDAY The paper interviewed Dr. Charles Laughead at the home of Dorothy Martin. Dr. Laughead informed the paper that Martin received communications “from outer space.” He told reporters these communications from outer space revealed to Martin that the world would be ravaged by a great flood that.

Communication 110

Communication 110

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

The asset manager has formed a joint venture led by a former Blackstone exec to create a distribution platform focused on RIAs, IBDs and family offices.

Distribution 247

Distribution Assets Management 247

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.

Numbers

Investment Writing

MARCH 18, 2025

Style guidelines for financial services firms can help you to make your written communications more consistent and thus easier to read. Why create style guidelines for your financial services firm? It can be distracting if writing styles are inconsistent within and across documents published by your firm. For example, is it “counterparty” in the first paragraph and “counter party” in paragraphs two and three?

Financial Services 103

Financial Services Healthcare CFP Numbers 103

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

CIO Greg Warner says his evidence-based approach, borrowed from DFA and Avantis, may not be the sexiest, but it creates the highest probability of success.

Investing 247

Investing Investments 247

Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT)

MARCH 18, 2025

By Anthony Castro As financial advisors, we need clients. We all face the issue of finding new clients, though, especially clients who are a good fit for us. I recently tried an idea to address this challenge that I wasnt sure would work, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did. For me, that idea is my sneaker raffle, which quickly opened some unexpected doors.

Clients 80

Clients Financial Advisor Marketing Marketing 80

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

Considerations for different industries and how they affect legal documentation.

246

246

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.

Accounting

The Better Letter

MARCH 18, 2025

I love March Madness 1. All of it. Upsets. Buzzer-beaters (I was in the stands for this one, in 1990). One Shining Moment. Controversy ( innocent and not-so-innocent ). Even the hype. Oh, and brackets, I love me some brackets, the subject of this edition of TBL. If you like The Better Letter , please subscribe, share it, and forward it widely. Share The Better Letter Subscribe now Get more from Bob Seawright in the Substack app Available for iOS and Android Get the app If you’re new here,

Numbers 74

Numbers Marketing Marketing Medicine 74

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

The rule may face opposition from Republican leaders at the SEC who could view it as an example of regulators overreach, according to one industry compliance leader.

Compliance 246

Compliance 246

Random Roger's Retirement Planning

MARCH 18, 2025

Bill Hester from Hussman Funds had a lengthy write up on diversifiers that track what he called Bear Market Cumulative Returns (BMCR). This wasn't a discussion about alternative strategies but there were a couple of fantastic charts. This is helpful for creating some understanding of tendencies of factors. One very interesting tidbit from the table is that small caps are all over the place.

Marketing 52

Marketing Marketing Math Portfolio 52

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

Martin M. Shenkman and Joy Matak discuss misconceptions about the reciprocal trust doctrine and different views surrounding it.

245

245

Advertisement

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.

Accounting

Alpha Architect

MARCH 18, 2025

Dividends are the comfort food of investing. Who wouldnt love feeling like theyre getting a seemingly free payout just for holding onto a stock?As with all good things, there's a little moreperhaps a whole lot moreto the story. Heres why: even in a tax-free setting, selling stocks before dividend payouts can lead to abnormal returns. Anti-Dividend Investing: Yield MattersBut Not How You Think!

Investing 60

Investing Investments Food Taxes 60

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

A guide to help advisors navigate the options.

245

245

Validea

MARCH 18, 2025

The Twin Momentum strategy combines price momentum with improving fundamentals to deliver enhanced market returns. This approach integrates traditional price analysis with fundamental evaluation to create a powerful stock selection framework. By targeting only companies in the top 20% for both price and fundamental momentum, this method focuses on truly exceptional investment candidates.

Food 52

Food Assets Sales Investing 52

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

A life settlement may be an overlooked option.

Insurance 242

Insurance 242

Advertisement

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?

Sales

Validea

MARCH 18, 2025

In this episode, we break down key lessons from our conversation with Liz Ann Sonders, Chief Investment Strategist at Charles Schwab, exploring timeless investment principles and market dynamics that remain relevant regardless of current market conditions. From the end of the “Great Moderation” era to practical insights about market timing and portfolio management, Liz Ann’s wisdom offers valuable perspective for investors of all levels.

Portfolio Management 52

Portfolio Management Valuation Portfolio Economy 52

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

It must be done carefully to sidestep any tax and fiduciary landmines.

Taxes 238

Taxes 238

Advisor Perspectives

MARCH 18, 2025

Gas prices were down for a fourth straight week, hitting their lowest level in two months. As of March 17th, the price of regular and premium gas were down 1 and 2 cents from the previous week, respectively. The WTIC end-of-day spot price for crude oil closed at $67.373, up 2.0% from last week.

95

95

Wealth Management

MARCH 18, 2025

How to avoid mistakes and maximize deductions.

238

238

Advertisement

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.

Accounting