A Wealth of Common Sense
OCTOBER 15, 2024
The Great Financial Crisis decimated the balance sheets of most Americans. How could it not? Housing prices were down by nearly 30%. The stock market crashed almost 60%. The unemployment rate hit double-digits. It was the worst economic period most of us have ever lived through. The collective net worth of American households reached roughly $66 trillion by the end of 2007.
Calculated Risk
OCTOBER 16, 2024
From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications decreased 17.0 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending October 11, 2024. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 17.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
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Wealth Management
OCTOBER 16, 2024
The sale of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's jewerly, art and more was administered in accordance with her complex trust.
Abnormal Returns
OCTOBER 16, 2024
Podcasts Peter Lazaroff talks with Josh Brown, author of "You Weren’t Supposed to See That: Secrets Every Investors Should Know." (peterlazaroff.com) Justin Carbonneau and Matt Zeigler talk with Ben Carlson about major investing mistakes. (youtube.com) Dan Haylett talks with Bill Bengen about safe withdrawal rates. (humansvsretirement.com) Jim Dahle talks with Andrew Tobias author of "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need.
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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
Nerd's Eye View
OCTOBER 18, 2024
Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the news that Charles Schwab has revealed changes to its technology offerings in the wake of its merger with TD Ameritrade, bringing over several popular TD tools, including portfolio rebalancing tool iRebal, its Model Market Center model management service, and its trading platform thinkpipes, likely in an effort to keep former TD users (many of whom were accustomed to this software) o
Calculated Risk
OCTOBER 14, 2024
Altos reports that active single-family inventory was down 0.3% week-over-week. Inventory is now up 48.3% from the February seasonal bottom. The first graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015. Click on graph for larger image. The red line is for 2024. The black line is for 2019. Inventory was up 34.0% compared to the same week in 2023 (last week it was up 36.7%), and down 22/6% compared to the same week in 2019 (last week it was down 23.1%).
Financial Advisor Source brings together the best content for financial advisor professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Abnormal Returns
OCTOBER 15, 2024
Strategy Diversification is more than just owning a lot of stocks. (fortunefinancialadvisors.com) What defines a group that makes high quality decisions? (behaviouralinvestment.com) Alternatives Charles Schwab ($SCHW) views alternatives as a (big) opportunity. (riabiz.com) JP Morgan Asset Management is refocusing its alternatives business. (institutionalinvestor.com) Retail Walgreens ($WBA) is closing some 1,200 stores.
Nerd's Eye View
OCTOBER 16, 2024
Since the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TJCA) was passed in 2017, few households have been subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), which TCJA restructured so that it applied mainly to a select number of upper-income households. But with the anticipated sunset of TCJA in 2026 and the reversion to the pre-2018 AMT rules, a large subset of households will find themselves owing AMT – many of whom will do so for the first time.
Calculated Risk
OCTOBER 18, 2024
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Housing Starts Decreased to 1.354 million Annual Rate in September A brief excerpt: Total housing starts in September were slightly above expectations and starts in July and August were revised up. A solid report. The third graph shows the month-to-month comparison for total starts between 2023 (blue) and 2024 (red).
Wealth Management
OCTOBER 18, 2024
The Department of Education already announced that the rollout will be delayed for a second year in a row.
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Where are top advisors focusing in 2025? AcquireUp’s 2025 Industry Index reveals it all. Based on insights from 200+ financial professionals nationwide, discover why 74% say seminars and referrals deliver the best ROI, how automation is helping advisors scale faster, and why only 8% are tapping into niche marketing (a major growth opportunity!). Whether you're refining your client acquisition strategy or scaling your practice, this report gives you the real-world data, benchmarks, and action ste
Abnormal Returns
OCTOBER 18, 2024
Companies Marc Rubenstein, "PayPal Holdings Inc is not a bank and doesn’t enjoy any of the protections that are afforded to banks." (netinterest.co) Why CVS ($CVS) and Walgreen's ($WBA) are struggling. (msnbc.com) There's Netflix ($NFLX) and everyone else. (sherwood.news) Spirit Airlines kinda sucks, but you will miss it when it is gone. (slate.com) AI OpenAI's current cash isn't going to last long.
Nerd's Eye View
OCTOBER 14, 2024
Independent Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) often face significant challenges in attracting advisors who can proactively generate new business. Many employee advisors gravitate toward service-oriented roles; this preference often stems from their initial motivation for entering the profession – wanting to help clients or perform the more analytical aspects of investing and financial planning.
Calculated Risk
OCTOBER 15, 2024
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Lawler: Changes in Various Interest Rates Since the FOMC Cut Its Target Fed Funds Rate by 50 Basis Points A brief excerpt: From housing economist Tom Lawler: Below is a table showing changes in various interest rates from the day before the FOMC’s 50 basis point cut in its Fed Funds rate target and last Friday.
Wealth Management
OCTOBER 16, 2024
As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful, it will enable charities to focus their efforts on more long-term problems.
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.
Abnormal Returns
OCTOBER 17, 2024
Autonomous driving Austin Vernon, "Humans being awful drivers leads to a massive increase in vehicle costs and weight, makes cars more dangerous to people outside of them, and imposes significant costs on infrastructure like roads." (austinvernon.site) What's it going to take to reach full autonomous driving? (stratechery.com) Defense Europe isn't prepared to defend itself absent the U.S.
The Big Picture
OCTOBER 16, 2024
At The Money: Our Complicated Relationship With Cash with Dr. Daniel Crosby (October 16, 2024) How can we improve our relationship with money and earning, investing and spending? Full transcript below. ~~~ About this week’s guest: Dr. Daniel Crosby is the Chief Behavioral Officer at Orion Advisor Solutions, where he helps financial advisors apply behavioral science in their practice.
Calculated Risk
OCTOBER 17, 2024
The DOL reported : In the week ending October 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 241,000 , a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 258,000 to 260,000. The 4-week moving average was 236,250, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average.
Wealth Management
OCTOBER 18, 2024
Separate lawsuits have LPL Financial and Ameriprise Financial battling over advisors leaving, claiming breach of contract and misuse of confidential client information.
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.
Abnormal Returns
OCTOBER 15, 2024
Retail Just how profitable is to trade against retail order flow? (papers.ssrn.com) Zero commissions could obscure the true costs of trading. (papers.ssrn.com) Quant stuff How XTX Markets have generated huge profits using cutting edge quant models. (on.ft.com) A look at the companies behind the scenes setting odds at online sports books. (bloomberg.com) Jane Street interns make good coin.
The Big Picture
OCTOBER 18, 2024
This week, we speak with Brian Higgins , co-founder, managing partner and co-portfolio manager of King Street. Higgins focuses on handling distressed securities, real estate investments and credit. He is chair of the Management Committee, Global Investment Committee, Real Estate Investment Committee, and is a member of the Risk Committee and Operating Committee.
Calculated Risk
OCTOBER 18, 2024
From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions Housing Starts: Privately-owned housing starts in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,354,000. This is 0.5 percent below the revised August estimate of 1,361,000 and is 0.7 percent below the September 2023 rate of 1,363,000. Single-family housing starts in September were at a rate of 1,027,000; this is 2.7 percent above the revised August figure of 1,000,000.
Wealth Management
OCTOBER 17, 2024
Berta Aldrich will fill the newly created role, while David Robbins will become the director of enterprise RIA relationship management.
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.
Abnormal Returns
OCTOBER 14, 2024
Markets Checking in on the bull market, two years in. (optimisticallie.com) It's hard to find a losing asset class this year. (capitalspectator.com) olatility An explanation for why the VIX is seemingly elevated. (sherwood.news) In contrast, the MOVE index ain't doing much. (mrzepczynski.blogspot.com) Strategy Five lessons from five great investing books.
The Big Picture
OCTOBER 12, 2024
The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Los Brasiles coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads: • Mossad’s pager operation: Inside Israel’s penetration of Hezbollah : New details emerge of Israel’s elaborate plan to sabotage Hezbollah communications devices to kill or maim thousands of its operatives. ( Washington Post ) • How to win a Nobel prize : What subjects have past winners studied?
Calculated Risk
OCTOBER 17, 2024
On a monthly basis, retail sales increased 0.4% from August to September (seasonally adjusted), and sales were up 1.7 percent from September 2023. From the Census Bureau report : Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for September 2024, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $714.4 billion, an increase of 0.4 percent from the previous month , and up 1.7 percent from September 2023.
Wealth Management
OCTOBER 17, 2024
John Hardin will join the UBS in Miami with Integra Partners, a private wealth team with more than $7 billion AUM. Senior Wealth Strategy Associate Katelyn O’Hara will join him.
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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.
Abnormal Returns
OCTOBER 13, 2024
Markets Stock market returns are rarely average. (tker.co) Why you can't extrapolate market returns. (awealthofcommonsense.com) Markets aren't perfectly efficient, but that doesn't mean you can effectively take advantage. (humbledollar.com) Fund management Why personalization could be coming for target date funds. (riabiz.com) How short-term interest rates affect managed futures fund returns.
The Big Picture
OCTOBER 14, 2024
My back-to-work-because-Columbus-Day-is-no-longer-a-market-holiday morning reads: • If you think grocery prices take a big bite out of your paycheck in the US, check out the rest of the world : What’s more, it’s important to note that food prices in the U.S. — relatively speaking — are the cheapest in the world, and have been for a long time.
Calculated Risk
OCTOBER 18, 2024
From BofA: Since our last weekly publication, our 3Q GDP tracking estimate increased by four-tenths to 3.0% q/q saar. [Oct 18th estimate] emphasis added From Goldman: On net, we lowered our Q3 GDP tracking estimate by 0.1pp to +3.1% (quarter-over-quarter annualized). [Oct 17th estimate] And from the Atlanta Fed: GDPNow The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2024 is 3.4 percent on October 18, unchanged from October 17 after rounding
Wealth Management
OCTOBER 16, 2024
The principles of life insurance policies aren’t that complicated.
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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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