Darrow Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 9, 2025
The idea of living off dividends in retirement sounds nice, but investors often don’t realize how much money they’ll need invested to generate enough income from dividends to cover lifestyle expenses. Over the last 30 years, the S&P 500’s average dividend yield was 1.98%. So historically, every $1 million invested would yield annual dividend income of $19,800 on average… before tax.
Clever Girl Finance
FEBRUARY 11, 2025
Do you ever feel like your money disappears the moment you get paid? Maybe you have mounting credit card debt or an emergency fund thats dangerously low. If you want to take control of your finances, break the cycle of overspending, and build lasting financial stability, then a low-buy year could be the perfect reset. Table of contents No-buy year vs low-buy year?
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Nerd's Eye View
FEBRUARY 12, 2025
When the Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law on January 5, 2025, it came as a relief to many recipients of state or local government pensions whose Social Security benefits had been, up until now, reduced by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) for individuals claiming retirement benefits under their own name, or the Government Pension Offset (GPO) for those claiming spousal or survivor benefits under a current or former spouse's name.
Diamond Consultants
FEBRUARY 11, 2025
While the model has become a go-to for advisors seeking independence, understanding the variety of types and options can be challenging. Heres a breakdown of what advisors need to know. In an industry brimming with jargon, acronyms, and opaque terminology, its no surprise that advisors find it challenging to keep up with the ever-growing variety of models that exist in the industry landscape.
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.
Darrow Wealth Management
FEBRUARY 13, 2025
When starting to search for a financial advisor, investors may not realize the different types of advisors out thereand theyre not all trying to sell you something. If youre looking for a fee-only financial advisor or wealth manager, its probably because you know fee-only advisors don’t sell products. Finding the right financial advisor is so important.
Clever Girl Finance
FEBRUARY 11, 2025
Have you been overspending and want to get back on track? Maybe you just want to boost your savings or finally break free from impulse purchases. A no spend month could be exactly what you need! Table of contents What is a no spend month? The benefits of a no spend month Expert tip: A no spend month can make you more intentional Mistakes to avoid during your no spend month Commonly asked questions about doing a no spend month Articles related to spending less Try a no spend month!
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Tobias Financial
FEBRUARY 11, 2025
Dreams and financial goals are important, but reaching them would be rather impossible if no plan exists to save money for those goals. You can reach your goals and live life on your terms by paying yourself first. The Reason Lets use a simple illustration to demonstrate the impact your priorities have. Envision a large jar. You have some rocks, pebbles, and sand, and you need to fill up your jar.
Calculated Risk
FEBRUARY 8, 2025
The key reports this week are January CPI and Retail sales. For manufacturing, the January Industrial Production report will be released this week. Fed Chair Powell presents the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. -- Monday, February 10th -- No major economic releases scheduled. -- Tuesday, February 11th -- 6:00 AM: NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for January. 10:00 AM: Testimony, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress ,
Clever Girl Finance
FEBRUARY 11, 2025
If you’re thinking about using the cash envelope system to budget effectively, having the right cash envelope wallet is key. A well-organized wallet makes it easy to divide, access, and track your cash, helping you stay committed to your budgeting goals. Without one, managing your envelopes can feel chaotic, making it harder to stick to your plan.
Nerd's Eye View
FEBRUARY 14, 2025
Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the news of a recent survey indicating that while overall client satisfaction with their financial advisors remains high at 95%, potential threats to client retention lurk beneath the surface, particularly amongst clients who experience a major windfall or a life transition.
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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.
Truemind Capital
FEBRUARY 14, 2025
To create wealth from investments, you need to let your investments compound. To let compounding work and create exponential gains, you must stay in thegame for a long period of time. To stay in the game for long, you must not panic and withdraw during marketdownturns. To ensure you do not panic during market crashes, you need to set the right expectations for your investments.
Calculated Risk
FEBRUARY 14, 2025
On a monthly basis, retail sales decreased 0.9% from December to January (seasonally adjusted), and sales were up 4.2 percent from January 2024. From the Census Bureau report : Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for January 2025, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $723.9 billion, down 0.9 percent from the previous month , and up 4.2 percent from January 2024.
Validea
FEBRUARY 14, 2025
In this episode of Excess Returns, Justin and Jack sit down with Scott McBride, CEO and portfolio manager at Hotchkis and Wiley, to explore the approach that has allowed them to succeed during a time when many other value investors have failed. McBride, with 24 years at the firm, shares insights into how their team has achieved impressive results by being willing to think differently from consensus.
MainStreet Financial Planning
FEBRUARY 10, 2025
Recently, a fire broke out in my condo complex just after midnight. Most of us only woke up because we heard a loud boom. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but three detached garages burned completely down, along with the cars inside. Five other vehicles parked nearby sustained body damage from the heat. My building had minor damage to the siding and windows facing the fire.
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.
Random Roger's Retirement Planning
FEBRUARY 8, 2025
Barron's had a very quick look at the recent popularity of private assets to try to figure out whether investors should wade into the space. One quote that caught my eye was that over the last ten years, private equity has returned 15.2% annualized versus 12% for the S&P 500. They didn't cite a source for that 15.2% number. If you look at the sectors that make up the S&P 500, there are a couple that very frequently will outperform the index over rolling ten year periods, there are a coup
Calculated Risk
FEBRUARY 11, 2025
The Consumer Price Index for January is scheduled to be released tomorrow. The consensus is for a 0.3% increase in CPI, and a 0.3% increase in core CPI. The consensus is for CPI to be up 2.9% year-over-year and core CPI to be up 3.2% YoY. From Goldman Sachs economists: We expect a 0.34% increase in January core CPI (vs. 0.3% consensus), corresponding to a year-over-year rate of 3.19% (vs. 3.1% consensus).
Don Connelly & Associates
FEBRUARY 10, 2025
Effective communication is the cornerstone of enduring and trusting relationships. For financial advisors, its the key to meaningful client engagement that fosters deeper discussions and stronger connections. At the core of meaningful engagement is asking the right questions. Open-ended questions, in particular, can transform a conversation, moving it beyond stunted yes or no answers to delve more deeply into what matters to a clientto understand the why behind their thinking.
Indigo Marketing Agency
FEBRUARY 8, 2025
Top 7 SEO Strategies Every Financial Advisor Needs to Know to Rank Higher on Google Its true, theres more than one way to skin a cat. The cat were referring to in the case of financial advisors is leads, booked appointments , and new clients to grow your practice. There are multiple ways to drive highly targeted leads, but one way thats often overlooked and underestimated by many financial advisors is search engine optimization (SEO).
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.
Random Roger's Retirement Planning
FEBRUARY 12, 2025
Yesterday, I referenced a chart comparing the returns of 100% equities versus 50/50 equities/bonds and 50/50 equities/low correlating alternatives. Here's another version of that chart from the Man Institute. The timeframe in today's chart is more useful because it gets into the period where retail accessible funds started to become available. The title of the Man article is Why Alpha Matters for Retirement Savers and in it, they make their case for portable alpha.
Calculated Risk
FEBRUARY 10, 2025
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Part 1: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-February 2025 A brief excerpt: This 2-part overview for mid-February provides a snapshot of the current housing market. I always focus first on inventory, since inventory usually tells the tale ! Im watching months-of-supply closely. New home inventory, as a percentage of total inventory, is still very high.
The Big Picture
FEBRUARY 14, 2025
This week, I speak with Christine Phillpotts , Portfolio Manager for Ariel Investment s emerging markets value strategies. She is also Senior Research Analyst for Consumer and Real Estate across Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Eastern Europe. She also covers all sectors in Africa. Previously, she spent 10 years at AllianceBernstein as Portfolio Manager and Senior Research analyst in emerging markets.
Indigo Marketing Agency
FEBRUARY 8, 2025
Marketing for Financial Planners: Strategies to Build Trust and Grow Your Client Base Strategic Client Growth: Win Trust in a Trust Economy More than many other fields, trust is truly the currency that drives growth for financial planners. Thats why the marketing for financial planners is regulatedto prohibit the use of tactics that manipulate hardworking people into putting their life savings in the wrong hands.
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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
Random Roger's Retirement Planning
FEBRUARY 11, 2025
Morningstar did a quick writeup on model portfolios. The article wasn't too insightful but there was an example of a model portfolio and then an example of how to customize that same model. I didn't see where the original model came from or where the customized version came from either but there's something to learn from it. All I tried to do was simplify the portfolio, not do anything to improve it.
Calculated Risk
FEBRUARY 13, 2025
From the NY Fed: Household Debt Balances Continue Steady Increase; Delinquency Transition Rates Remain Elevated for Auto and Credit Cards The Federal Reserve Bank of New Yorks Center for Microeconomic Data today issued its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. The report shows total household debt increased by $93 billion (0.5%) in Q4 2024, to $18.04 trillion.
Validea
FEBRUARY 12, 2025
The S&P 500’s remarkable performance in recent years has been heavily driven by a handful of dominant technology companies, particularly the “Magnificent Seven” – Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, NVIDIA, Meta, and Tesla. While these tech giants have certainly delivered impressive returns, their outsized influence has overshadowed the broader market composition and potentially created a blind spot for investors.
Abnormal Returns
FEBRUARY 8, 2025
Autos Honda ($HMC) is planning to launch two new EVs. (thecooldown.com) A first-hand experience with Super Cruise on I-95. (wapo.st) ATC Air traffic control failures may now be a bigger risk than mechanical malfunctions. (theatlantic.com) Why it's so hard to hire and retain air traffic controllers. (barrons.com) Energy Amazon ($AMZN) keeps buying renewable energy.
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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
The Big Picture
FEBRUARY 14, 2025
My end-of-week morning train WFH reads: How Vanguard plans to play disruptor again : Low fees made the group a passive investing powerhouse. But it needs to improve tech and service as it pushes into wealth management and cash accounts.( Financial Times ) The American Con Man Who Pioneered Offshore Finance : How a now-obscure financier turned the Bahamas into a tax havenand created a cornerstone of global plutocracy ( The Atlantic ) How Many Adult New Yorkers Are Secretly Subsidized by Their
Calculated Risk
FEBRUARY 14, 2025
From the Fed: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Industrial production (IP) increased 0.5 percent in January after moving up 1.0 percent in December. In January, gains in the output of aircraft and parts contributed 0.2 percentage point to total IP growth following the earlier resolution of a work stoppage at a major aircraft manufacturer.
Validea
FEBRUARY 8, 2025
In this episode of Excess Returns, we sit down with Mike Taylor, portfolio manager of Simplify’s PINK healthcare ETF, for a fascinating discussion about how he mansges his personal portfolio. Drawing from his extensive experience at firms like Citadel and Millennium, Mike shares candid insights about what makes a successful investor and his portfolio construction process.
Abnormal Returns
FEBRUARY 14, 2025
Finance Why 24-hour trading isn't a boon for investors. (morningstar.com) Successfully running an ETF is harder than it looks. (jeffreyptak.substack.com) TIPS TIPS yields haven't been this high in a decade. (wsj.com) A speculative, but cautionary take against investing in TIPS. (paulkrugman.substack.com) Crypto The SEC could soon allow for in-kind redemptions for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
Speaker: Cheryl J. Muldrew-McMurtry
Remote finance teams are rewriting how the back-office runs—and attackers are taking notes. Disconnected workflows, process blind spots, and rising cyber threats have become more than just “growing pains”. They’re now liabilities. The challenge isn’t just team distribution, but building resilient systems that protect accuracy, control, and speed across every transaction and touchpoint.
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