Sat.Apr 30, 2022 - Fri.May 06, 2022

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The Latest Report on Fraud

Norman Marks

Every year, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) publishes a report on fraud. The latest is the 12th in the series, Occupational Fraud 2022: A Report to the nations. My congratulations and thanks go to the ACFE for an excellent report. I remember how early reports included the employees’ use of company assets like […].

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No Pain, No Gain

Investing Caffeine

L ong-term success is rarely achieved without some suffering. In other words, you are unlikely to enjoy gains without some pain. Last month was certainly painful for stock market investors. On the heels of concerns over the Russia-Ukraine war, Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, China-COVID lockdowns, inflation/supply chain disruptions, and a potential U.S. recession, the S&P 500 index declined -8.8% for the month, while the technology-heavy NASDAQ index fell -13.3%, and the Dow Jones Indus

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IRA Cross Loans – Don’t Even Think About It

Getting Your Financial Ducks In A Row

Photo credit: jb. Once again in the category of terrible things you can attempt to do with your IRA, there is the concept of a “cross loan” from your IRA to another, unrelated party. You know from previous articles that it’s not allowable to transact business with disqualified persons. Therefore, you can not take a loan from your IRA to finance your business, or your brother’s business (among others).

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Benefits of Pursuing a Certified Financial Planner Course

International College of Financial Planning

A Certified Financial Planner (CFP) is a professional designation awarded to individuals who have completed a rigorous course of study and passed a comprehensive exam. The CFP designation is recognized worldwide and marks excellence in the financial planning industry. Becoming a CFP requires dedication and hard work, but the rewards are well worth the effort.

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How to Streamline Payment Applications & Lien Waivers Through Innovative Construction Technology

Speaker: Dylan Secrest, Founder of Alamo Innovation and Construction Digital Transformation Consultant

Construction payment workflows are notoriously complex when you consider juggling multiple stakeholders, compliance requirements, and evolving project scopes. Delays in approvals or misaligned data between budgets, lien waivers, and pay applications can grind progress to a halt. The good news? It doesn't have to be this way! Join expert Dylan Secrest to discover how leading contractors are turning payment chaos into clarity using digital workflows, integrated systems, and automation strategies.

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April 2022: What’s new in Harness Wealth?

Harness Wealth

The post April 2022: What’s new in Harness Wealth? appeared first on Harness Wealth - Advice for Equity Owners.

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FinPlan Friday: Retirement Planning Strategies that Account for the Earnings Test

Covisum

One of the most frequent questions for those on the edge of retirement is, "How much can I make and still collect my full Social Security?". There's a simple answer, but often it misses some nuance that will allow you to develop better claiming strategies for your clients. Taking a closer look at both the annual earnings test and the lesser-known monthly earning tests can sometimes present exciting planning opportunities.

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This is Where Dragons Lurk

The Irrelevant Investor

Bad things happen in bad markets. You're probably thinking, "thanks captain obvious." I know, but it's worth spending a minute on how and why this happens. The investor's mentality over the past decade can be summed up in three words: buy the dip. This behavior was rewarded innumerable times, so this was ingrained in our psychology. Buy dip, make money.

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The Fed’s Interest Rate Challenge: Know When to Hold ‘Em

Bell Investment Advisors

Forrest Bell, CFP®. April saw a continuation of this year’s volatility. Last month, we wrote about the dramatic mid-March rally in stocks. That recovery, however, proved short-lived and did not continue into April. Shortly after the month began, the global stock market trended downward, and U.S. markets followed. Later in the month, after several days of positive or negative swings of over 2%, U.S. and global stocks had declined between 8% and 9%, pushing those stock markets back into correction

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What are NTF's (non-fungible tokens) and How Can They be Used?

The Richer Geek

Today’s guest, Jesse Krieger, is the co-founder and Chief Content Officer of PowerFan.io where their mission is to empower authors, creators, and fans to connect and conduct commerce in valuable new ways! Jesse brings a great deal of experience with content creation to his role at PowerFan, having signed two publishing deals on two different continents and navigated the world of becoming a bestselling author twice.

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How to Save and Plan During Inflation

Integrity Financial Planning

Are you set up well to face all of the inflation we’ve been experiencing? What’s to come? With inflation soaring, the Fed is planning to make aggressive moves to slow the economy with rate hikes. If the Fed is being aggressive, how aggressive should the retirement saver be with their plan? Brian says to be aggressive about saving and conservative about your assumptions.

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You upgrade everything else. Why not your close process?

You wouldn’t keep using a 2009 flip phone - so why settle for outdated close processes? It’s time for an upgrade. SkyStem's Guide to Month-End Close Software walks you through what today’s best tools can do (and what your team shouldn’t have to deal with anymore). Get smart, fast, and a whole lot less stressed when it’s time to close the books.

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Testimonial Program

Indigo Marketing Agency

The new testimonial rule has officially gone into effect as of May 4, 2021! This completely revolutionizes the way financial advisors can market their services. But as an advisor, how do you effectively use the new testimonial rule in your marketing without running into compliance issues? That’s where we come in. We’re excited to announce that Indigo is now offering a Testimonial Program to help advisors get glowing client reviews online—all while remaining compliant.

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Animal Spirits: Is This a Bear Market?

The Irrelevant Investor

Today’s Animal Spirits is brought to you by Composer and Masterworks See here for the new 60/40 portfolio by Composer Go to Masterworks.io/animal to learn more about investing in contemporary art. On today’s show we discuss: This is an average drawdown More worried about the bond market than the stock market Home equity created by the pandemic housing market Adjustable-rate mortgage demand hit's highest demand since 2009 Microsoft earnings Spotify earnings Chipotle earnings Amazon earnings Ap

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Private Bankers Considering Change: What You Need to Know

Diamond Consultants

By Mindy Diamond & Louis Diamond. There’s been an interesting shift in movement amongst one sector of wealth management: private bankers. Transitions by this constituency have risen dramatically over the last two years attributed in large part to the increased appetite of firms like UBS, Morgan Stanley, Merrill, and First Republic. By our count in 2021 alone some 19 teams managing over $88B in assets transitioned from private banks.

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Financial Advisor Marketing Innovator Snappy Kraken Acquires Advisor Websites

Advisor Websites

With this acquisition, Snappy Kraken will significantly grow market share while simultaneously expanding its capabilities for serving advisors with websites, branding, and other creative services.

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Your Accounting Expertise Will Only Get You So Far: What Really Matters

Speaker: Victor C. Barnes, CPA, MBA

In the climb from contributor to leader, the rules quietly change. If you’re aiming for the summit, the air gets thinner—and what got you here won’t be enough to get you to the top (a concept first popularized by Marshall Goldsmith in his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There ). What made you successful early in your finance career—technical accuracy, sharp analysis, flawless execution—won’t be what carries you to the next level.

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Financial Well-being As A Woman Of Color: Why It’s Critical

Clever Girl Finance

Your financial well-being as a woman of color is critical. Compared to your white counterparts, you face unique challenges impacting your ability to build long-term wealth. Women of color are often left behind in the fight for women’s rights. As a result, the stats around wealth-building for women of color are staggering. For instance, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a single black woman has a medium wealth of $1700.

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Comparing Two Blowups

The Irrelevant Investor

I keep coming back to this theme that things feel a lot worse than what's revealed by looking at how far the S&P 500 is from its all-time high. One of the primary reasons, and there are several, is the number of stocks absolutely blowing up. The names coming undone were the darlings of the pandemic, and so we're particularly sensitive to their unraveling.

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Get To Know Ramesh Narine

Tobias Financial

Like most young kids, Ramesh went searching for an opportunity to make new friends. To his surprise and trepidation, he discovered the track team. Admittedly not an avid runner and needing practice, during most meets, Ramesh cheered on his teammates from the sidelines, enjoying some delicious snacks. This was until one faithful day, he was needed. With a member of the relay team experiencing an injury, Ramesh was called in as a replacement.

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5 Effective Ways To Reach New Clients

Elevating Your Business

One of the ways to gather topics for an article you write, are by answering questions or reading questions on social networking sites. That's how this article started. I was on Alignment.com and someone asked, "What's The Most Effective Way To Reach New Clients". I started writing and it took a while for me to. The post 5 Effective Ways To Reach New Clients appeared first on Women Financial Advisor Coach Consultant.

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How To Overcome Change Fatigue In Finance With Neuroscience-Backed Strategies

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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You Passed Roth IRA Income Limits, Where Should Your Next Dollar Go?

Gen Y Planning

Roth IRAs are incredible tools for long-term saving, and in the finance world, they epitomize the concept of delayed gratification. Your contributions are after-tax , meaning you don’t get any sort of “reward” upfront. However, those contributions grow tax-free and qualified distributions remain tax-free. This could be incredibly helpful in retirement if you’re trying to stay in a low tax bracket and can pull funds from this tax bucket.

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It Feels Worse

The Irrelevant Investor

It's hard to believe that the S&P 500 is down just ~13.5% from its high. This was a common response to my post yesterday. It feels a lot worse. The average stock in the S&P 500 is in a 21.8% drawdown, so it's understandable why the first number feels off. The thing is, the index is market cap-weighted, so the average decline and the index decline rarely line up.

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What should the Audit Committee ask the head of Internal Audit?

Norman Marks

In an April blog post on his new company’s web site, Richard Chambers writes about: 5 Questions the Audit Committee Should Ask Internal Audit – But Doesn’t. It always surprises me, but perhaps it shouldn’t, that my friend and I (and we have known each other for a very, very long time) often have different […].

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How To Thrive In A Recession

Leading Advisor

A financial advisor association called me the last week of April and asked if I could do a May 2022 presentation on; How To Thrive… The post How To Thrive In A Recession appeared first on Leading Advisor - Simon Reilly.

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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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Blog #220: Testing Financial Tolerance™for Zero Estate TaxUsing InsMark’s Premium Financing and Wealthy and Wise

Robert B. Ritter Jr.

(Click here for Blog Archive)(Click here for Blog Index) (Presentations in this blog were created using the Premium Financing System and Wealthy and Wise® ) This Blog describes combining our Premium Financing and Wealthy and Wise® Systems to produce a powerful wealth planning concept called “Zero Estate Tax,” Most clients prefer comparing their current plan to […].

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Talk Your Book: Rethinking the 4% Rule

The Irrelevant Investor

Today’s Talk Your Book is brought to you by DPL Financial Partners We had Wade Pfau, Professor of Retirement Income at The American College, and CEO and C0-Founder of DPL Financial Partners, David Lau on the show to talk about retirement spending, retirement income, and the 4% rule. On today’s show we discuss: The updated 4% rule Spending retirement savings How to think about spending habits in retirement Annuities in high-interest rate environments Strategies for retirement income When annuitie

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The Better Letter: A Bit of Hope

The Better Letter

An extremely robust “Totally Worth It” section put this issue of TBL close to the maximum length (really, bandwidth via Substack) before anything else went in. So, the rest of the issue is shorter than usual. I have a much more involved main piece in the works for next week. I trust you will appreciate both. If you like The Better Letter, please subscribe, share it, and forward it widely.

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How to Teach Your Children About Investing

Leading Advisor

Stocks 101 isn’t typically scheduled after science or art class in your child’s school curriculum. Unless they’ve taken a personal interest in finance during their… The post How to Teach Your Children About Investing appeared first on Leading Advisor - Simon Reilly.

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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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This is Average

The Irrelevant Investor

The S&P 500 is experiencing its worst January through April going all the way back to 1970. It's hard to believe then, that part of an unusual year is exactly average, at least so far. Going back to 1950, the S&P 500 has had a positive annual return 56 out of 71 years, or 79% of the time. But as we know all too well, stocks don't go up in a straight line.

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These Are the Goods

The Irrelevant Investor

Articles The arc of innovation bends upward. (By Kai Wu) For the longest time it felt like tech stocks were the only ones worth owning. That dynamic has now completely shifted. (By Ben Carlson) People are spending about 4 percent more than you might have expected them to spend if pre-pandemic trends continued. (By Alan Cole) Jack Bogle was hardcore.

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It Gets Harder from Here

The Irrelevant Investor

The 60/40 portfolio has been declared dead a million times over the last decade. Despite such claims, it's continued to defy the grim reaper. Before we get into that, just a few things on today. With Powell's comments that a 75 basis point rate hike was not in their plans, risk assets shot up. It's not a huge surprise given the damage we've seen in recent weeks.