Calculated Risk

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

Note: This index is a leading indicator primarily for new Commercial Real Estate (CRE) investment. From the AIA: Architecture firm billings remained sluggish in August, as the AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score declined to 45.7 It has now been nearly two years since firms saw sustained growth. However, clients are still expressing interest in new projects, as inquiries into work have continued to increase during that period.

Clients 323

Clients Numbers Economics Investments 323

Wealth Management

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

GV (formerly Google Ventures) led the funding round alongside Citi Ventures, Outpost Ventures, 53 Stations and Firebolt Ventures.

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The Big Picture

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

Marty’s Zweig’s Trading rules 1) The trend is your friend; don’t fight the tape hard return; 2) Let profits run take losses quickly; 3) If you buy for a reason and that reason if discounted or is no longer valid then sell 4) if the values don’t make sense then don’t participate (2 + 2 = 4) 5) The cheap get cheaper the deer get deer; 6) Don’t fight the Fed (less valid than #1); 7) Every indicator eventually bites the dust; 8) Adapt to change; 9) Don’t let your

Marketing 306

Marketing Marketing 306

Abnormal Returns

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

Podcasts Peter Lazaroff talks with Rubin Miller about the complexities of investing. (peterlazaroff.com) Bogumil Baranowski talks with Meir Statman author of "A Wealth of Well-Being: A Holistic Approach to Behavioral Finance." (talkingbillions.co) How to Retire A review of Christine Benz's new book “How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful and Wealthy Retirement.

Management 290

Management Retirement Taxes Planning 290

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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

Accounting

Calculated Risk

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications increased 14.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending September 13, 2024. Last week’s results included an adjustment for the Labor Day holiday. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 14.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.

Government 323

Government Marketing Marketing 323

Wealth Management

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

A new study finds that the younger demographic needs education on charitable giving tools.

Education 310

Education 310

Abnormal Returns

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

Apple How the new AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation work. (theverge.com) The FDA approved sleep apnea detection on the new Apple Watch. (cnbc.com) Apple has launched a standlone password app. (wired.com) Most hearing loss goes untreated. Apple Air Pod Pro 2s could change that. (wsj.com) Finance Can election prediction markets become a big thing in the U.S.?

Financial Advising 289

Financial Advising Media Economy Marketing 289

Calculated Risk

SEPTEMBER 15, 2024

Most analysts expect the FOMC will cut the federal funds rate at the meeting this week by 25bp lowering the target range to 5 to 5-1/4 percent. It is possible the FOMC will cut by 50bp. Currently market participants are split evenly between a 25bp and a 50bp cut this week. Market participants are also pricing in a total of 75bp in cuts by the November meeting, and between 100bp to 125bp in cuts by December.

Banking 312

Banking Economics Marketing Marketing 312

Wealth Management

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

Advisors have been instituting these strategies for months as the Fed's 50bps interest rate cut has been widely anticipated.

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Nerd's Eye View

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the news that the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) released the latest edition its annual survey outlining the state of state-registered RIAs, showing that the number of state-registered firms and their assets declined slightly in 2023 (perhaps due to many firms seeing their AUM hit the $100 million mark amidst strong market performance and organic grow

Financial Planner 246

Financial Planner Investment Advisor Financial Advisor Clients 246

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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

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

Strategy No matter how you spin the numbers, day trading is a losing proposition. (morningstar.com) Companies Tupperware ($TUP) has filed for Chapter 11. (alchemy.substack.com) 23andMe's ($ME) independent board members have resigned. (axios.com) Coffee Coffee prices just keep going up. (ft.com) Customized (coffee) drinks are all the rage. (nytimes.com) Substack Substack is adding a live video component to its newsletter service (engadget.com) Substack has become a home for fashion writers.

Investing 278

Investing Investments Financial Advising Media 278

Calculated Risk

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Housing Starts Increased to 1.356 million Annual Rate in August A brief excerpt: Total housing starts in August were above expectations and starts in June and July were revised slightly. A solid report. The third graph shows the month-to-month comparison for total starts between 2023 (blue) and 2024 (red).

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Wealth Management

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

Many advisors may view AI as a silver bullet, one that will replace their back-office staff. But panelists at the Future Proof Festival this week said it's more of an optimizer.

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Nerd's Eye View

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

In the nearly 2 years since the launch of ChatGPT, there has been an explosion of new technology solutions incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI). Today, AI is now almost ubiquitous across many of the tools that we use, from smartphone cameras to search engines to office productivity software. For financial advisors, too, a ballooning number of new advisor-focused AI tools has appeared over the last 24 months, purporting to save advisors' time and staffing needs by automatically performing p

Engineering 246

Engineering Clients Financial Advisor Financial Planning 246

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

Abnormal Returns

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

Podcasts Josh Brown and Michael Batnick talk advisor tech with fintech expert Jason Pereira. (youtube.com) Daniel Crosby talks with Cady North, Founder and CEO of North Financial Advisor, about planning for a sabbatical. (standarddeviationspod.com) Retirement Retirees go back to work for any number of reasons. (investmentnews.com) A checklist if a client gets laid off near retirement age.

Wealth Management 278

Wealth Management Startup CFP Retirement 278

Calculated Risk

SEPTEMBER 14, 2024

The key reports this week are August Retail Sales, Housing Starts and Existing Home sales. For manufacturing, August Industrial Production, and the September New York and Philly Fed surveys will be released this week. The FOMC meets this week and is expected to cut rates. -- Monday, September 16th -- 8:30 AM ET: The New York Fed Empire State manufacturing survey for September.

Retail 312

Retail Manufacturing Sales Food 312

Wealth Management

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

Inspire Investing will pay $300,000 to settle allegations that its process did not support its claims of using a “data-driven” approach to biblically responsible investing.

Investments 298

Investments Investing 298

Nerd's Eye View

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

The business model of many financial advisory firms revolves around serving clients who are able to pay a certain minimum in annual advisory fees, which reflects not only the value that the advisor can provide for the client, but also the amount that the advisor must charge in order to provide the level of deep planning and investment management that higher-net-worth clients expect (while also earning enough profit to make the venture worthwhile).

Clients 246

Clients Planning Tax Planning Management 246

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

Abnormal Returns

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Finance Investors are no longer enamored with Renaissance Technologies' public investment vehicles. (ft.com) Are rate cuts going to help boost startup exits? (tomtunguz.com) You can't spell private equity without dividend recap. (ft.com) Big Tech Three Mile Island is restarting to help power data centers. (wsj.com) What is really behind Amazon's ($AMZN) RTO policy?

Financial Advising 275

Financial Advising Startup Manufacturing Economy 275

Calculated Risk

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

From STR: U.S. hotel results for week ending 14 September The U.S. hotel industry reported mostly negative year-over-year comparisons, according to CoStar’s latest data through 14 September. 8-14 September 2024 (percentage change from comparable week in 2023): • Occupancy: 66.6% (-1.7%) • Average daily rate (ADR): US$162.05 (+0.2%) • Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$107.86 (-1.4%) emphasis added The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four-wee

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Wealth Management

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

The outcome of the final basis consistency regulations from the Treasury Department is worth the wait.

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298

Nerd's Eye View

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 403rd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast ! My guest on today's podcast is Eric Stein. Eric is a partner at East Bay Investment Solutions, a firm that provides fractional Chief Investment Officer services based in Charleston, South Carolina, that supports over $6 billion in assets under advisement across 26 advisory firms they serve.

Financial Advisor 243

Financial Advisor Investments Investing Financial Services 243

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

Abnormal Returns

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

Strategy Who are you going to bet on? Hedge funds or retail traders? (monevator.com) The case for focusing on fewer things. (collabfund.com) Crypto Stablecoin issuers have Tether envy. (sherwood.news) Another crypto-based prediction betting market is coming online. (sherwood.news) Trading Stocks and ETFs will soon be priced in half-cent increments. (fa-mag.com) Why Citadel Securities chose to not become a primary dealer.

Startup 275

Startup Financial Advising Retail Media 275

Calculated Risk

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

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. • At 8:30 AM, Housing Starts for August. The consensus is for 1.250 million SAAR, up from 1.238 million SAAR. • During the day, The AIA's Architecture Billings Index for August (a leading indicator for commercial real estate). • At 2:00 PM, FOMC Meeting Announcement.

Economics 298

Economics Marketing Marketing 298

Wealth Management

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

Moneytree’s financial planning tool features a new architecture, workflows and account aggregation capabilities.

Financial Planning 295

Financial Planning Planning Accounting 295

The Big Picture

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

Now THAT’S a financial conference! If you are reading this on the 19th, I may be still asleep. I am writing this on my flight home, scheduled to land at midnight Wednesday; I was alcohol-free all week (ok, one Mexican lager Tuesday afternoon at my RWM-crew pool swim after the Animal Spirits Live !), and while I feel pretty good, its been a long week.

Media 214

Media Management Marketing Marketing 214

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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

Abnormal Returns

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Listening How the Acquired podcast became a huge success with tech types. (esquire.com) Tim Ferriss is changing things up for his podcast. (tim.blog) Companies Tyler Cowen talks with Tobi Lütke who is the CEO and co-founder of Shopify ($SHOP). (conversationswithtyler.com) Patrick O'Shaughnessy talks with Ric Elias who is the CEO and co-founder of Red Ventures (joincolossus.com) Logan Bartlett talks with Will Gaybrick, President of Stripe.

Medicine 273

Medicine Media Assets Investments 273

Calculated Risk

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

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. Job gains have slowed, and the unemployment rate has moved up but remains low. Inflation has made further progress toward the Committee's 2 percent objective but remains somewhat elevated.

Economics 290

Economics Accounting Marketing Marketing 290

Wealth Management

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

The move into Raymond James’ independent advisor channel is one of several across the industry Monday, including an advisor with $600 million going to J.P. Morgan Wealth Management.

Wealth Management 292

Wealth Management Management 292

The Big Picture

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

 This week, we speak with Victor Khosla, Founder and CIO of Strategic Value Partners. Before establishing SVP in 2001, Victor served as President of Cerberus Capital. In the 1990s, he built and managed the distressed credit desk at both Citi and Merrill Lynch, establishing two of the top proprietary trading businesses. SVP has grown 5x in size over the past 10 years, now manages over $18B in AUM with 200 employees.

Economy 189

Economy Management Investments Investing 189

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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?

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