Investment Writing
APRIL 15, 2025
Investment commentary authors often know the markets well, but lack writing and editing expertise. After all, theyre earning big bucks to manage money, not to write. Ive learned some lessons about how to edit investment commentary that I share below with you. The lessons are based on my years of experience editing and writing commentary for a diverse group of clients.
The Big Picture
APRIL 15, 2025
I discussed much of this in my Q2 2025 RWM client quarterly call on April 5. I am sharing this now because so many questions have poured in. Best Worst Cases Last Monday, I discussed the consequences of chaos. While the purposes of the new tariff policy were not well explained some of the goals were muddled and unclear it seems a large part of the problem was the roll-out.
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Nerd's Eye View
APRIL 17, 2025
Hiring a contractor is an exciting step for many advisory firms. It represents a chance to delegate tasks, step away from day-to-day operations with more peace of mind, and pass a key milestone of (traditional) firm growth. However, hiring contractors isn’t without its complications. Even outsourced support requires some oversight, and delegation doesn’t always go as far as some might hope.
Calculated Risk
APRIL 16, 2025
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported the housing market index (HMI) was at 40, up from 39 last month. Any number below 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as poor than good. From the NAHB: Builder Confidence Levels Indicate Slow Start for Spring Housing Season Growing economic uncertainty stemming from tariff concerns and elevated building material costs kept builder sentiment in negative territory in April , despite a modest bump in confidence likely due t
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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
APRIL 17, 2025
Decision making Barry Ritholtz, "There is an endless assortment of ways to make mistakes that hurt your portfolio." (ritholtz.com) Not every problem can (or should) be solved by math. (timharford.com) ETFs Investors love CLO ETFs like the AAA CLO ETF ($JAAA). (on.ft.com) Still no sign that traders are giving up on leveraged ETFs. (bloomberg.com) Companies A second judge has ruled Google ($GOOGL) has acted as a monopolist.
The Big Picture
APRIL 17, 2025
Your Biggest, Most Avoidable, Unforced Investment Errors Adapted from How Not To Invest: The ideas, numbers, and behaviors that destroy wealth – and how to avoid them (Harriman House, March 18, 2025) By Barry Ritholtz Tariffs, inflation, war, debt ceiling, profit warnings, geopolitics, market volatility theres always something happening to fuel your urge to make a decision any decision!
Financial Advisor Source brings together the best content for financial advisor professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Calculated Risk
APRIL 17, 2025
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Housing Starts Decreased to 1.324 million Annual Rate in March A brief excerpt: First, from Reuters: D.R. Horton cuts 2025 revenue forecast on weak demand for homes U.S. homebuilder D.R. Horton lowered its full-year revenue forecast and missed second-quarter profit and revenue estimates on Thursday due to weak demand for homes.
Abnormal Returns
APRIL 17, 2025
Books An excerpt from "Everything is Tuberculosis" by John Green. (theatlantic.com) A Q&A with Eunji Kim author of "The American Mirage: How Reality TV Upholds the Myth of Meritocracy." (niemanlab.org) An excerpt from Sophie Gilberts new book, "Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves." (theatlantic.com) An excerpt from "Flight of the Godwit: Tracking Epic Shorebird Migrations" by Bruce M.
The Big Picture
APRIL 16, 2025
I had a fun and wide-ranging conversation with Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers to unpack all of the wildest tariff news. We discuss the “uniquely unpredictable situation” where markets are trading based on the whims of a single person. This mercurial unpredictability is having a huge effect on prices. I try to help the hosts understand investing in this environment with lessons and ideas from How NOT to Invest.
Nerd's Eye View
APRIL 14, 2025
Centers Of Influence (COIs) play a vital role in the growth and service capabilities of a financial advisory firm. When cultivated with care, these relationships can become valuable sources of client referrals and collaborative insight – especially because COIs and advisors often work with similar client profiles. However, establishing these relationships isn't always easy.
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.
Calculated Risk
APRIL 15, 2025
Eleven years ago, I wrote: Census Bureau: Largest 5-year Population Cohort is now the "20 to 24" Age Group. Those people are now in the 30 to 34 cohort. This month the Census Bureau released the population estimates for July 2024 by age, and I've updated the table from the previous posts. The table below shows the top 10 cohorts by size for 2010, 2024 (just released), and the most recent Census Bureau projections for 2030.
Abnormal Returns
APRIL 13, 2025
Top clicks this week Why this is different than the GFC. (morningstar.com) What is the basis trade? (apolloacademy.com) 'Sell America' includes selling Treasurys. (morningstar.com) How long does it take for the stock market to recover from a bear market? (ofdollarsanddata.com) How often do corrections turn into bear markets? (awealthofcommonsense.com) Markets are moving faster than ever before.
The Big Picture
APRIL 13, 2025
In the latest edition of more or me, I chat with my friend Eric Golden: I speak My guest today is Barry Ritholtz. As the founder & CIO of Ritholtz Wealth Management Barry manages assets of over $5B. He is also a famous author and commentator, fondly known as the ‘Prickly Prophet of Wall Street’ for his contrarian views. In this conversation, Barry shares the origin story and the ideas behind his latest book, “How Not to Invest.” We also talk about how hes remained a
Nerd's Eye View
APRIL 18, 2025
Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the news that as total household financial wealth grew to a record high of $90 trillion at the end of 2024, so too did the number of households advancing up the wealth ladder, with the High-Net-Worth (HNW) category of households with at least $5 million seeing a significant gain.
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.
Calculated Risk
APRIL 16, 2025
From Fed Chair Powell: Economic Outlook Excerpt: Looking forward, the new Administration is in the process of implementing substantial policy changes in four distinct areas: trade, immigration, fiscal policy, and regulation. Those policies are still evolving, and their effects on the economy remain highly uncertain. As we learn more, we will continue to update our assessment.
A Wealth of Common Sense
APRIL 15, 2025
At the worst point of this correction the S&P 500 closed down 18.9%. That was before the giant 10% gain the next day. I don’t know if that was the bottom or not but it’s possible we just had another near-bear market (for now): I don’t know why we’ve had so many close calls over the years but there have been a number of near bears over the years that were a hair from being down 20%.
Wealth Management
APRIL 14, 2025
RIAs and consultants discuss the opportunities and perils of furthering organic growth amid volatile markets.
Nerd's Eye View
APRIL 15, 2025
Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 433rd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast ! My guest on today's podcast is Cameron Passmore. Cameron is the CEO of PWL Capital, a wealth management firm based in Ottawa, Canada, that oversees just over $5 billion Canadian dollars (or approximately $3.5B U.S. dollars) in assets under management for 2,400 client households.
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.
Calculated Risk
APRIL 14, 2025
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Watch Inventory and Why Measures of Existing Home Inventory appear Different A brief excerpt: We are in a period of significant policy uncertainty and there isnt a good historical analog for the current period. However, for housing, the key will be to watch inventory. Existing home inventory will provide clues on house prices, and a combination of existing and new home inventory will indicate what will happen with housing starts.
Abnormal Returns
APRIL 16, 2025
Podcasts Christine Benz and Amy Arnott talk with Jean Chatzky about what women need to do different with their money. (morningstar.com) Barry Ritholtz talks with the Slate Money crew about "How NOT to Invest." (ritholtz.com) Adam Grant talks with Dan Gilbert about why we are often wrong about what will make us happy. (podcasts.apple.com) Investing If your portfolio is too risky, take less risk.
Wealth Management
APRIL 15, 2025
A drop in the market is a great time to help clients with wealth transfers.
A Wealth of Common Sense
APRIL 13, 2025
Volatility is heightened right now. We have volatility in markets, government policy, trade and supply chains, which translates into emotional volatility. Let’s look at some of the ways this manifests through a host of behavioral biases that impact us all in some way: Recency biasis when you give more weight or importance to recent events. Stocks are up.
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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.
Calculated Risk
APRIL 17, 2025
What this means: On a weekly basis, Realtor.com reports the year-over-year change in active inventory and new listings. On a monthly basis, they report total inventory. For March, Realtor.com reported inventory was up 28.5% YoY, but still down 20.2% compared to the 2017 to 2019 same month levels. Now - on a weekly basis - inventory is up 31.2% YoY. Realtor.com has monthly and weekly data on the existing home market.
The Big Picture
APRIL 14, 2025
The transcript from this weeks, MiB: Anthony Yoseloff, Davidson Kempner CIO , is below. You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube , and Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here. ~~~ XXXXX insert transcript here XXXXX ~~~ The post Transcript: Anthony Yoseloff, Davidson Kempner CIO appeared first on The Big Picture.
Wealth Management
APRIL 17, 2025
This marks Blackstones fifth so-called perpetual fund, which will launch under the ticker BMACX.
NAIFA Advisor Today
APRIL 17, 2025
Loan split dollar remains one of those advanced market strategies that engenders two distinct reactions among financial professionals. One reaction sees nearly unlimited opportunity in the executive business market, while another relegates this concept to the esoteric and inapplicable. Though the latter reaction may be natural for those still stuck in an early 2000s mindset, todays financial professionals would be remiss if they didnt seize this impactful strategy and place it in their executive
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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?
Calculated Risk
APRIL 17, 2025
The DOL reported : In the week ending April 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 215,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 223,000 to 224,000. The 4-week moving average was 220,750, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average.
The Big Picture
APRIL 12, 2025
Chuck Jaffe: “How NOT to Invest — which is about 375 pages of cautionary tales and 75 pages of the right things to do — notes that it’s easier to invest well than most people think.” I come in around the 4:40 mark… [link] The post Money Life: How NOT to Invest appeared first on The Big Picture.
Wealth Management
APRIL 17, 2025
The founder of Concurrent Financial Planning opens up about his challengesbankruptcy, self-medicating behaviors and racial microaggressionsall while searching for balance, healing and true fulfillment.
Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT)
APRIL 15, 2025
By Antoinette Tuscano, MDRT senior content specialist AI note-taking tools can transform financial advisors’ productivity and engagement in client meetings, and this is likely only the beginning of its possibilities. These tools are becoming more comprehensive and mainstream. How AI note-taking tools are used Financial advisors can use AI note-taking tools to record client meetings, attach the notes in their CRM, create post-meeting tasks for the team, draft a post-meeting recap email to t
Speaker: Aaron Berson
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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