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The Federal Reserve released the Q2 2024 Flow of Funds report today: Financial Accounts of the United States. The net worth of households and nonprofits rose to $163.8 trillion during the second quarter of 2024. The value of directly and indirectly held corporate equities increased $0.7 trillion and the value of real estate increased $1.8 trillion. Household debt increased 3.2 percent at an annual rate in the second quarter of 2024.
Top clicks this week High yields come with risk. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. (wsj.com) Three reasons why the stock market declines. (awealthofcommonsense.com) Early in retirement is the time to do some tax planning. (whitecoatinvestor.com) Three reasons to buy Josh Brown's new book "You Weren’t Supposed To See That." (ritholtz.com) How pour-over coffee got so good.
Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the news that the SEC this week fined 4 RIAs for violations of its marketing rule related to their claims that they offered 'conflict-free' financial advice. Which means that while many fee-only RIAs use the reduced conflicts that come with the fee-only model (as opposed to firms that receive compensation from commissions and other sources) as a key marketing talking point, the fact rem
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
Today, in the Real Estate Newsletter: The "Home ATM" Mostly Closed in Q2 Excerpt: During the housing bubble, many homeowners borrowed heavily against their perceived home equity - jokingly calling it the “Home ATM” - and this contributed to the subsequent housing bust, since so many homeowners had negative equity in their homes when house prices declined.
Listening The 'Acquired' podcast is selling out arenas with the help of Zuck. (nytimes.com) Podcast 'historians' aren't bound by anything resembling the truth. (theatlantic.com) Economy Jack Forehand and Matt Zeigler talk with Ed Yardeni about the potential for a 'Roaring 20's.' (youtube.com) James Pethokoukis talks American dynamism with Katherine Boyle who is a general partner at VC giant Andreessen Horowitz.
Listening The 'Acquired' podcast is selling out arenas with the help of Zuck. (nytimes.com) Podcast 'historians' aren't bound by anything resembling the truth. (theatlantic.com) Economy Jack Forehand and Matt Zeigler talk with Ed Yardeni about the potential for a 'Roaring 20's.' (youtube.com) James Pethokoukis talks American dynamism with Katherine Boyle who is a general partner at VC giant Andreessen Horowitz.
This week, we speak with David Rubenstein , Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group , which manages over $426 billion is private equity, credit and venture funds. Prior to forming the firm in 1987, David practiced law and served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, as well as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments.
From Dodge Data Analytics: Dodge Momentum Index Rises 3% in August The Dodge Momentum Index (DMI), issued by Dodge Construction Network, increased 2.9% in August to 220.4 (2000=100) from the revised July reading of 214.2. Over the month, commercial planning expanded 1.9% and institutional planning improved 5.7%. “Owners and developers continued to prime the planning queue in August, ahead of next year’s anticipated stronger market conditions,” stated Sarah Martin, associate director of forecasti
Books An excerpt from Tim Harford’s book, “The Undercover Economist Strikes Back.” (on.ft.com) A Q&A with Alison Fragle author of "Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve." (annieduke.substack.com) AI Why AI really could disrupt work. (danielmiessler.com) Just how transformational is AI in the big picture? (thezvi.substack.com) 11 predictions about AI including 'AI will create more disruption than profit.
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
At The Money: Karen Veraa, Head of iShares US Fixed Income Strategy, BlackRock (September 11, 2024) Full transcript below. ~~~ About this week’s guest: Karen Veraa is a Fixed Income Product Strategist within BlackRock’s Global Fixed Income Group focusing on iShares fixed-income ETFs. She supports iShares clients, generates content on fixed-income markets and ETFs, develops new fixed-income iShares ETF strategies, and partners with the iShares team on product delivery.
Today, in the Real Estate Newsletter: Asking Rents Mostly Unchanged Year-over-year Brief excerpt: Tracking rents is important for understanding the dynamics of the housing market. For example, the sharp increase in rents helped me deduce that there was a surge in household formation in 2021 (See from September 2021: Household Formation Drives Housing Demand ).
While the NFL is welcoming some private equity players, its rules are more stringent than those adopted by other professional leagues, meaning funds allowing individual investor participation are not eligible.
Rates The yield curve inversion is over. (mrzepczynski.blogspot.com) Mortgage rates have come down in anticipation of a Fed rate cut. (thebasispoint.com) Why you can't just talk about 'bonds' as a single market. (humbledollar.com) Finance The CBOE ($CBOE) has launched a platform to trade shares in private companies. (finance.yahoo.com) Vanguard is now a 'no' on ESG shareholder votes.
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.
Each year since 2011, Gallup has asked people what they think is the best long-term investment: After a brief love affair with gold, real estate has been in the top spot every year since 2013. Stocks are a distant second. So why do we Americans love the housing market so much from an investment perspective? There is something about the American Dream of homeownership combined with the size of the price tag involved for s.
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: House Price Weekend: Case-Shiller: National House Price Index Up 5.4% year-over-year in June Excerpt: S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for June ("June" is a 3-month average of April, May and June closing prices). June closing prices include some contracts signed in February, so there is a significant lag to this data.
Podcasts Michael Kitces talks financial wellness with Zack Hubbard. Zack is the Director of Financial Planning and Participant Engagement of Greenspring Advisors. (kitces.com) Dave Zoller talks with Brian Portnoy about the essential skills of the best advisers. (youtube.com) Brendan Frazier talks with Michael Kitces about mastering the human side of financial advice.
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.
Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 402nd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast! My guest on today's podcast is John Mason. John is the President of Mason & Associates, an RIA based in Newport News, Virginia, that oversees $370 million in assets under management for approximately 390 client households. What's unique about John, though, is how joining a firm that served the niche of Federal government employees allowed him to quickly accelerate his own learning curve and demonstrate h
Notes: This CoreLogic House Price Index report is for July. The recent Case-Shiller index release was for June. The CoreLogic HPI is a three-month weighted average and is not seasonally adjusted (NSA). From CoreLogic: CoreLogic: Annual US Home Price Growth Dips Below 5% as Summer Brings Notable Cooling to the Housing Market • U.S. home prices posted a 4.3% year-over-year gain in July, with no states posting double-digit gains. • Home prices showed no gains in July compared with the month before
AVs When (and how) human operators step in for driverless cars. (nytimes.com) How self-driving cars could backfire from an environmental perspective. (theverge.com) Transport Electric school buses are the future. (vox.com) A wind-powered cargo ship just crossed the Atlantic. (fastcompany.com) Batteries are coming for your boat. (apnews.com) Fire Building codes need to change to reduce wildfire risks.
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.
While the share of advisors with the CFP marks has risen steadily over time, today, about 2/3 of financial advisors are not CFP professionals. This means that, for most advisors, the decision to obtain this designation remains an open one. A crucial factor in an advisor's decision to prepare for the CFP exam – often requiring them to sacrifice evenings and weekends to complete the requisite coursework (which can take more than a year), and spending many thousands of dollars – is whet
From CoreLogic: CoreLogic: US Homeowners See Equity Gains Continue to Climb, but at a Slower Pace in Q2 CoreLogic®. today released the Homeowner Equity Report (HER) for the second quarter of 2024. The report shows that U.S. homeowners with mortgages (which account for roughly 62% of all properties) saw home equity increase by 8.0% year over year, representing a collective gain of $1.3 trillion and an average increase of $25,000 per borrower since the second quarter of 2023, bringing the total
Quant stuff AI is not just another technology. (blogs.cfainstitute.org) Using machine learning for portfolio optimization. (blogs.cfainstitute.org) A review of recent research on portfolio risk management including 'Does Systematic Tail Risk Matter?' (capitalspectator.com) Poker as a tool to learn trading. (wsj.com) Trend following Why trend following won't go away any time soon.
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.
Our resident estate expert, Taylor Hollis, joined me on the show this week to discuss questions about CD rates, how trusts work, how to protect your finances from an illness in the family and paying off student loans with a 401k loan. Further Reading: How Individual Retirement Accounts Changed the Stock Market Forever 1Assets did fall and then stagnated coming out of the Great Financial Crisis but that was a period with.
Here are a few measures of inflation: The first graph is the one Fed Chair Powell had mentioned when services less rent of shelter was up around 8% year-over-year. This declined and is now up 4.3% YoY. Click on graph for larger image. This graph shows the YoY price change for Services and Services less rent of shelter through August 2024. Services were up 4.8% YoY as of August 2024, down from 4.9% YoY in July.
The firms named include Integrated Advisors Network, Richard Berstein Advisors and Abacus Planning Group, all of which paid six-figure civil penalties.
The big question of the week is 25 or 50? No, we’re not talking about the age of Leonardo DiCaprio’s next girlfriend (obviously 25). We don’t have time to think about about girlfriends (or boyfriends) because we’re too busy thinking about Federal Reserve policy and whether they’ll go 25bps or 50bps at the next FOMC meeting.
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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