Wed.Jan 29, 2025

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Inflation Adjusted House Prices 1.1% Below 2022 Peak; Price-to-rent index is 7.8% below 2022 peak

Calculated Risk

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Inflation Adjusted House Prices 1.1% Below 2022 Peak Excerpt: It has been over 18 years since the housing bubble peak. In the November Case-Shiller house price index released yesterday, the seasonally adjusted National Index (SA), was reported as being 77% above the bubble peak in 2006. However, in real terms, the National index (SA) is about 12% above the bubble peak (and historically there has been an upward slope to real house prices).

Numbers 265
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Personal finance links: household economics

Abnormal Returns

Podcasts Christine Benz and Dan Lefkovitz talk with John Rekenthaler about his long career writing about investing. (morningstar.com) Peter Lazaroff on how much money you need to retire. (peterlazaroff.com) Family Every decision we make has trade-offs: the case for staying home to care for small children. (readthejointaccount.com) When are you children mature enough to discuss estate issues?

Economics 167
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FOMC Statement: No Change to Fed Funds Rate

Calculated Risk

Fed Chair Powell press conference video here or on YouTube here , starting at 2:30 PM ET. FOMC Statement: Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. The unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level in recent months, and labor market conditions remain solid. Inflation remains somewhat elevated. The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run.

Economics 162
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The Value of Client Communication

Wealth Management

Clearly explaining the technical aspects of the planners proposals aids in the successful implementation of estate plans.

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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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MBA: Mortgage Applications Decreased in Weekly Survey

Calculated Risk

From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications decreased 2.0 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Associations (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 24, 2025. This weeks results include an adjustment for the Martin Luther King holiday.

Sales 147
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The Daily Show: Wage Against the Machine

The Big Picture

LOL Me in a suit and tie! About a decade ago, one of my Bloomberg columns helped kick off a debate about minimum wages and large, for-profit companies using the taxpayer to subsidize their payrolls. This led to much debate, including some embarrassing revelations for Wal-Mart and especially McDonald’s. Ultimately, it led to an appearance on The Daily Show, where I got to spend the better part of the day shooting a remote segment with the delightful Samantha Bee.

Media 113

More Trending

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Hub International Acquires $2B Commonwealth Practice

Wealth Management

Pennsylvania-based Legacy Planning Partners represents the latest addition to Hub Retirement and Private Wealth, a Hub division servicing about $172 billion in total assets.

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Member Spotlight: Jesus Lopez Soto - Empowering Families, Building Futures

NAIFA Advisor Today

Jesus U. Lopez Sotos journey into the financial services industry began with a simple goal: to find a work-from-home opportunity for his pregnant wife. Initially, he saw it as a way for her to earn extra income. However, after being introduced to the industry by a coworker and friend, Jesus realized that this was not just a job for his wifeit was an opportunity for him to build a meaningful career as well.

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$1B California Team Jumps From Osaic to LPL

Wealth Management

Salient Wealth Planning Group is the latest advisory team to leave Osaic for LPL after the integration of its broker/dealer entities.

Planning 208
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The Ultimate Guide to Tax-Loss Harvesting

Harness Wealth

Tax-loss harvesting is a powerful strategy that investors can use to reduce their taxable income. This type of strategy typically involves selling underperforming investments at a loss to offset capital gains (or ordinary income) to optimize portfolio returns. As effective as tax-loss harvesting can be, there are a number of important details that investors need to be aware of in order to implement the strategy successfully while following regulations.

Taxes 52
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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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CIOs Wrestle with DeepSeek Fallout

Wealth Management

The potential disruption of the AI market is shaking up some investment theses. But many are waiting for the dust to settle before making any allocation tweaks.

Investing 185
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How to Maximize Tax Deductions for the 2025 Filing Season

Harness Wealth

April 15 marks the IRS tax return filing deadline for 2025. Although this is the traditional tax filing deadline, given the spate of recent natural disasters (such as the California wildfires and Hurricane Milton), the IRS is granting certain filing and payment extensions beyond this date. A full list of tax provisions for states affected by natural disasters can be found here.

Taxes 52
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Sequoia Pens Deal to Acquire $3.8B Minneapolis-St. Paul RIA

Wealth Management

The deal with Carlson Capital Management is Sequoias largest by number of employees and wealth advisors. It also allows the firm to offer internal tax planning and preparation services.

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Animal Spirits: Your Budget Sucks

A Wealth of Common Sense

Today’s Animal Spirits is brought to you by KraneShares: See here to learn more about $KWEB and KraneShare’s full suite of China exposures Come see us in Naples this February! See here for more information on FutureProof Citywide and here if you are interested in the emerging manager showcase Get a random Animal Spirits chart here On today’s show, we discuss: Why Oaktree’s Howard Marks Is on the.

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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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NAIFA Partners With American Senior Benefits, a Leading Distributor of Senior Market Insurance Products, to Bolster ASB’s Leadership Team

NAIFA Advisor Today

NAIFA and the Dallas-based American Senior Benefits (ASB) have entered a partnership under which NAIFA recognizes ASB as a NAIFA Financial Security Champion and at least 75 ASB regional sales managers will become new NAIFA members.

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Leadership Perspectives: Managing a Successful Firm

Advisor Perspectives

There is a lot that goes into getting someone to trust you with their entire life savings. You must honor that trust and know it has value.

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These Times Are A Changin

Leading Advisor

Financial advisors and their clients are going to experience the effects of change one thousandfold. No matter what side of the aisle or the border… The post These Times Are A Changin appeared first on Leading Advisor - Simon Reilly.

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The Fed’s Latest Rate Decision: January 29, 2025

Advisor Perspectives

The Federal Reserve concluded its first meeting of 2025 by keeping the federal funds rate (FFR) at 4.25-4.50%, marking the first time in four meetings that the Fed has not cut interest rates.

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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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The excessive cost of most internal audits

Norman Marks

Richard Chambers and I go back many decades, first as colleagues and then as friends, and we have great mutual respect. While we often appear to disagree, that is more often than not in our choice of words rather than in underlying principles.

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Treasuries Slip as Traders Scrutinize Powell’s Inflation Remarks

Advisor Perspectives

US Treasuries were lower as traders parsed tweaks to the Federal Reserve’s policy statement regarding progress on the fight against inflation.

52
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Does Insurance Cover Stolen Cars in Canada?

YouSet Insurance

Car insurance does cover stolen cars, but only if you have comprehensive coverage. If you dont, youll bear the full financial burden.

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Powell Says Fed Doesn’t Need to Be in a Hurry to Lower Rates

Advisor Perspectives

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said officials are not in a hurry to lower interest rates, adding the central bank is pausing to see further progress on inflation following a string of rate reductions last year.

Banking 52
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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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How RIAs Can Craft An Effective Operating Agreement That Aligns Owners’ Interests And Mitigates Risks

Nerd's Eye View

As a foundational document, the operating agreement is essential for RIA firms. When thoughtfully drafted, it aligns the interests of the firm's owners, sets clear expectations for operations, and establishes how profits will be distributed. While some RIA owners might be tempted to prioritize moving quickly to the more enjoyable work of providing financial advice, neglecting to thoughtfully draft and update an operating agreement can lead to mismatched expectations, legal risks, and costly disp

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Balancing Yield & Total Return

Advisor Perspectives

In this article, we will demonstrate how the use of daily options within a covered call strategy has the potential to generate substantial income while also targeting the total return of equities.

52
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How RIAs Can Craft An Effective Operating Agreement That Aligns Owners’ Interests And Mitigate Risks

Nerd's Eye View

As a foundational document, the operating agreement is essential for RIA firms. When thoughtfully drafted, it aligns the interests of the firm's owners, sets clear expectations for operations, and establishes how profits will be distributed. While some RIA owners might be tempted to prioritize moving quickly to the more enjoyable work of providing financial advice, neglecting to thoughtfully draft and update an operating agreement can lead to mismatched expectations, legal risks, and costly disp

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How to Say No to Unmanageable Workloads

Advisor Perspectives

There are times in life when factors conspire to make it very difficult to be as productive as we need to – and want to – be. But even in the midst of these times it’s important to feel like you have some control and do the things that will keep you on track. Control the controllable.

52
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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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Trump’s Media Firm Makes Finance Push in Crypto, ETFs

Wealth Management

The new brand will offer investments based on America-First principles, with brokerage Charles Schwab Corp. advising on products and strategy.

Media 194
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If Wall Street Wants to Buy More Houses, Let It

Advisor Perspectives

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has proposed restrictions on large financial firms buying homes, and state legislators in Virginia and Nebraska have similar ideas.

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Wednesday links: an increasingly valuable skill

Abnormal Returns

Markets Nvidia ($NVDA) traded nearly 800 million shares on Monday. (axios.com) Nvidia ($NVDA) on Monday lost more market cap than Mastercard ($MA) is worth. (downtownjoshbrown.com) Why narratives can move a stock like Nvidia's ($NVDA) so much. (scheplick.com) Crypto The uproar over Trump Coin has nearly been forgotten. (theatlantic.com) Trump Media and Technology Group ($DJT) is expanding into crypto and financial services.

Media 144
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Fed’s Balance-Sheet Plans Mystify Wall Street as Officials Meet

Advisor Perspectives

Buried in a rote US Treasury survey released on the eve of the latest holiday weekend was a question that all of Wall Street wants the answer to: What’s the Federal Reserve’s plan once it’s done drawing down its crisis-era bond holdings?

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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.