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Welcome to the January 2023 issue of the Latest News in Financial #AdvisorTech – where we look at the big news, announcements, and underlying trends and developments that are emerging in the world of technology solutions for financial advisors! This month's edition kicks off with the news that Envestnet has decided to enter the RIA custodial business through a partnership with Australian bank FNZ to white-label what was once the State Street RIA custodial platform of many years ago –
From the BLS : Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 223,000 in December, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5 percent , the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, health care, construction, and social assistance. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised down by 21,000, from +284,000 to +263,000, and the change for November was revised down by 7,000, from +263,000 to +256,000.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all the rest of the seasonal glad tidings for you and yours in 2023. Before we roll up our sleeves and start to engage in the serious business of managing risk in the capital markets, I wanted to share a story that is more in keeping with the spirits of the season. I ran track in high school. My father’s advice when I joined the team was: Find the fastest guy on the team and keep up with him.
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
If you’re a financial advisor or a fund manager and you weren’t down 20% last year, you won, basically. The S&P fell into a 20% bear market while the Nasdaq crashed almost 40%. Bonds were down double digits as an asset class. International stocks, while outperforming the US and not down as much, were still down a lot. Except for Turkey, which inexplicably doubled last year – here’s the TUR ETF, The post Think you have it bad?
With 4.50 million jobs added, 2022 was the 2nd best year for job growth in US history behind only 2021 with 6.74 million. The headline jobs number in the December employment report was above expectations, however employment for the previous two months was revised down by 28,000, combined. The participation rate increased, and the unemployment rate decreased to 3.5%.
Welcome to 2023! Let’s jump into the new year with some fresh observations, some of which are quite surprising: • Astronomical Measures of Time Are Unrelated to Investing : 2023 – a new year! It is natural to hope the flipping of the calendar brings something new and different. But why? It takes the Earth 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 9.76 seconds to complete one orbit – to return to its exact same place in space relative to our star, the sun.
Welcome to 2023! Let’s jump into the new year with some fresh observations, some of which are quite surprising: • Astronomical Measures of Time Are Unrelated to Investing : 2023 – a new year! It is natural to hope the flipping of the calendar brings something new and different. But why? It takes the Earth 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 9.76 seconds to complete one orbit – to return to its exact same place in space relative to our star, the sun.
Markets Global stocks and bonds lost more than $30 trillion for 2022. (ft.com) The 60/40 portfolio had a historically bad year. (finance.yahoo.com) Apple ($AAPL) lost $846 billion in market cap in 2022. (marketwatch.com) 2022 was a big year for ETFs, except for a spot Bitcoin ETF. (theetfeducator.com) IPO proceeds fell off the table in 2022. (cnbc.com) Strategy Average annual stock market returns are not-so average.
Here is another monthly update on framing lumber prices. This graph shows CME random length framing futures through January 3rd. Lumber was at $374 per 1000 board feet this morning. This is down from the peak of $1,733, and down 67% from $1,148 a year ago. Prices are slightly below the pre-pandemic levels of around $400. Click on graph for larger image.
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.
Books An excerpt from Sheila Liming’s forthcoming book, "Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time." (theatlantic.com) An excerpt from Dacher Keltner’s new book, "Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life." (theatlantic.com) Society Americans are spending more time and money on pets. (washingtonpost.com) There seems to be a marked shift in attitudes toward work for younger generations.
From Moody’s Analytics Senior Economist Lu Chen and economist Xiaodi Li: Apartment struck a balance, Office demand plummeted, and Retail remains flat Corporate profits squeezed under macroeconomic uncertainties and flexible work arrangements weakened office demand and continued to transform the sector’s fundamental. Moreover, new office demand isn’t always reflected through direct leases.
Source : Bloomberg Billionaires Index. I was in the midst of my analysis of how the Fed would react to softening wage gains in the NFP data, when the markets exploded 2.5% higher. The Fed is very concerned that the perennially underpaid median worker has been seeing wage increases. The past few years follows 3 decades of lagging income. It kinda killed my motivation to write yet another pierce discussing Fed actions.
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.
While cryptocurrencies have experienced recent collapses, the underlying blockchain technology still has immense potential to propel the modern innovation of finance.
Financial advisors have a wide range of strategies at their disposal to create financial plans for their clients. And when it comes to retirement planning, one popular technique is the use of ‘guardrails’, which set an initial monthly withdrawal rate that can be later adjusted as the size of the client’s portfolio changes. This strategy is valuable because it generally allows for higher initial withdrawal rates than more static approaches that don’t accommodate clients wi
From the BLS: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary The number of job openings was little changed at 10.5 million on the last business day of November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, the number of hires and total separations changed little at 6.1 million and 5.9 million, respectively. Within separations, quits (4.2 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.4 million) changed little. emphasis added The following graph shows job openings (black line), hires (dar
The Philly Fed’s November State Coincident Indicators snuck out while I was away (1/28/22). There are increasing signs of local distress revealed in the midwest, and lots of softness elsewhere. As detailed here , over the past month, the SCI indicies increased in 30 states, decreased in 13 states, and remained stable in seven, for a one-month diffusion index of 34.
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.
Enjoy the current installment of “Weekend Reading For Financial Planners” - this week’s edition kicks off with the news that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received significant pushback from investment adviser and financial industry trade groups to the regulator’s recent proposal that would establish formalized due diligence and monitoring obligations for investment advisers that outsource certain advisory functions.
Altos reports inventory is down 3.4% week-over-week and down 15.0% from the peak on October 28, 2022. Click on graph for larger image. This inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of December 30th, inventory was at 491 thousand (7-day average), compared to 508 thousand the prior week. Inventory has declined sharply over the holidays. The second graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015.
My early morning train WFH reads: • Get Ready for the Richcession : Well-off Americans could get hurt more than usual in the next downturn ( Wall Street Journal ). • Why Markets Were Down in 2022 : there was also an Occum’s razor answer for the losses in financial markets in 2022. Sometimes the reason asset prices fall is because they went up too much in the first place. ( Wealth of Common Sense ) see also Observations to Start 2023 : From 2010 through 2021, The S&P500 Index gained 330% — a
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.
New research from WealthManagement.com's WMIQ suggests firms are inhibiting growth by minimizing, and in many cases mishandling, marketing and client communications.
Research How do bonds perform after a 2-10 yield curve inversion? (simplify.us) What accounts for the difference between brown and green stocks? (alphaarchitect.com) A look at how various factors performed during different market cycles. (quantpedia.com) How is geopolitical risk measured? (alphaarchitect.com) Contrary to the life-cycle hypothesis, the elderly don't uniformly engage in decumulation of assets.
From the Department of Commerce reported : The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $61.5 billion in November , down $16.3 billion from $77.8 billion in October, revised. November exports were $251.9 billion, $5.1 billion less than October exports. November imports were $313.4 billion, $21.5 billion less than October imports emphasis added Click on graph for larger image.
Happy perihelion day! Kick off the day where the Earth’s orbit is nearest to the Sun with our morning train reads: • Rookie Traders Are Calling It Quits, and Their Families Are Thrilled : Many who picked up investing during the pandemic are cooling on the hobby ( Wall Street Journal ). • Eyeliner Out of Stock? Blame TikTok : Items going viral on social media sites are selling out, posing new supply-chain challenges. ( Wall Street Journal ) see also How TikTok Became a Diplomatic Crisis :
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?
Retirement Why you need a diversified life portfolio in retirement. (wsj.com) Why you want to have options in retirement. (kiplinger.com) Everybody wants the FI in FIRE. (bestinterest.blog) Giving up How to de-prioritize activities that don't serve you. (genyplanning.com) Why you should choose simplicity over complexity: the case against FSAs. (abnormalreturns.com) This startup site is designed to provide people with information about divorce.
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: 1st Look at Local Housing Markets in December A brief excerpt: This is the first look at local markets in December. I’m tracking about 40 local housing markets in the US. Some of the 40 markets are states, and some are metropolitan areas. I’ll update these tables throughout the month as additional data is released.
Managing spend is more than a cost cutting exercise – it's a pathway to smarter decisions that unlock efficiency and drive growth. By understanding and refining the spending process, financial leaders can empower their organizations to achieve more with less. Explore the art of balancing financial control with operational growth. From uncovering hidden inefficiencies to designing workflows that scale your business, we’ll share strategies to align your organization’s spending with its strategic g
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