The Big Picture

OCTOBER 2, 2023

We all love to use quotations in our arguments. It’s both an appeal to higher authority as well as social proof ( Hey! I’m not the only one who believes this stuff ). I find it useful occasionally to go back to first principles and reconsider the sources that have influenced my thinmking. Along those lines, here are in chronological order, the thinkers who have helped shape how I view the world view, including how I philosophically think about the economy, markets, and investing.

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The Reformed Broker

JULY 4, 2023

You know Hancock and Washington and Franklin and Jefferson. You might even know Greene and Knox, Henry and Hale. And we know you know Hamilton, pretty tough to escape that one these days! But it is very unlikely that you know the name Haym Solomon. This is unfortunate, because he’s the guy who arranged financing to keep the Continental Army alive during its darkest days, finding the money to keep the revolution goin.

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Marketing Marketing 361

Carson Wealth

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Stocks Remain Strong Stocks took a break last week, which was perfectly normal after a five-week win streak coming off the late-October lows. It is important to remember that stocks lead the economy, both on the way up and the way down. Various indexes are closing in on new all-time highs, and one of the most important indexes in the world is already there.

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Marketing Marketing Economy Compliance 143

A Wealth of Common Sense

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Personal finance was my first love in the money world. I was a saver before I ever knew what investing even was. Yet my relationship with personal finance has evolved as I’ve aged and changed my habits. Many of the personal finance rules written in stone will always apply. Live below your means. Pay yourself first. Stay out of credit card debt.

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Speaker: Nancy Wu, Head of Sales and Customer Success at SkyStem

Join us for an enlightening webinar as we delve into the transformative realm of modern accounting practices. In today's digital age, the convergence of outsourcing and automation has revolutionized how businesses manage their financial operations. In this webinar we will explore the synergistic potential of these two strategies to streamline processes, enhance accuracy, save cost and drive strategic decision-making.

Accounting

The Reformed Broker

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

“When I see a bubble forming I rush in to buy, adding fuel to the fire. That is not irrational.” – George Soros, 2009 I’ve spent 25 years watching, trading and investing in the stock market. The repetition of patterns is amazing. In every generation we see new bubbles, which form when a new innovation comes along and everyone gets excited about the future.

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Carson Wealth

DECEMBER 8, 2023

By Mark N. Petersen, CPA, CFP ® , CP, Affluent Wealth Planning The holidays are upon us! That must mean it’s time to roll up my sleeves and get to work on year-end financial planning – with an emphasis on 2023 income tax. One consideration this year is that we’re two years from the expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TJCA). This will mean: · Elimination of the state and local tax cap of $10,000 · The return of other itemized deductions in 2026 · Reversion of individua

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The Big Picture

OCTOBER 19, 2023

One of my favorite responsibilities as chief investment officer at Ritholtz Wealth Management is the quarterly conference call I do for our clients. I run through 30 charts in 30 minutes that explain where we are in the economic cycle, what markets are doing, and what it means to their portfolios. I like to finish with a thought-provoking, often “investing-adjacent” idea they might not have previously considered.

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Media Economy Economics Wealth Management 350

Wealth Management

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

The South and Midwest dominate the top of the rankings.

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A Wealth of Common Sense

JUNE 2, 2023

The AI craze is in full effect so everyone is trying to figure out who the winners will be. Maybe it will be the upstarts, some new start-up that gives you your own personal assistant in your ear, on your iPhone and at your desk. Or maybe it will be the big tech players who have gobs of money to throw at AI like Microsoft, Google and Facebook. Maybe it’s a company like NVIDIA that supplies the chips and software.

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Marketing Marketing 140

Advertisement

As we step into 2024, the lending landscape evolves rapidly with technology, regulations, and market dynamics driving change. For banks and financial institutions to stay competitive and meet the evolving needs of their customers, these drivers must be understood and engaged with. Lenders can anticipate significant transformation fueled by technological advancements, regulatory shifts, and changing consumer behaviors.

Banking

Calculated Risk

JUNE 22, 2023

The DOL reported : In the week ending June 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 264,000 , unchanged from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 262,000 to 264,000. The 4-week moving average was 255,750, an increase of 8,500 from the previous week's revised average. This is the highest level for this average since November 13, 2021 when it was 260,000.

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Meb Faber Research

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

“He was a U.S.-class smooth politician, which is the only way you’re going to survive in that job. It has nothing to do with investing.” That’s how Institutional Investor recently described a former CIO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, also known as CalPERS. The description is especially interesting when considering that the “I” […] The post Should CalPERS Fire Everyone And Just Buy Some ETFs?

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Retirement Investing Investments Marketing 140

The Irrelevant Investor

APRIL 8, 2023

My colleague Nick in Louisiana wrote something excellent that I wanted to share with you. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. “Do you know the difference between me and you? Me: Happy, happy, happy, dead. You: Worry, worry, worry, dead.” – Catch-22. The last few years reminded us that it’s more important to know how it feels to lose money than to make it.

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Advisor Perspectives

MAY 30, 2023

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released its U.S. house price index (HPI) for March. The index reached a record high last month, coming in at 398.0. U.S. house prices increased by 0.6% from the previous month. Year-over-year the index is up 3.6%. After adjusting for inflation, the real index is up 0.8% in March and up 0.2% year-over-year.

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Speaker: Joe Buhrmann, MBA, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC® Senior Financial Planning Practice Management Consultant eMoney Advisor

During an era of evolving consumer preferences, the banking sector is undergoing a profound shift. As customers continue to broaden their perspectives, banking professionals must support their customers' financial wellness by providing holistic financial advice that aligns with individual goals and circumstances. Without adapting, financial institutions will find that loyalty may crumble amid uncertainty.

Financial Advice

Trade Brains

JANUARY 1, 2023

Fundamental Analysis of Tejas Networks: Broadband connectivity to homes and businesses is an essential service like gas, electricity, and water, especially with the onset of the pandemic. High-speed connectivity is an enabler of business continuity and resilience, it is the engine of e-commerce. And telecom equipment companies play a major role in enabling connectivity.

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The Reformed Broker

MAY 17, 2023

Just wanted to take a moment to recognize the incredible work my media and research teams have been doing to propel The Compound channel past 120,000 subscribers this month. And that 120k is just a fragment of the audience because almost everything we do on video is also on the audio podcast channels too. For those who are new to what we’re doing at the Compound YouTube channel each week, below is the schedule of w.

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Media 361

Investment Writing

JULY 6, 2023

If you feel frustrated by coming up with topics for your financial blog, the journalist’s five Ws and one H can help. Below I share a list of 20 topics inspired by the five Ws and one H. As you brainstorm topics, think about how you can solve problems for members of your target audience. This will make your posts relevant to them. For help with this, read “ WHAT PROBLEM does this blog post solve for them?

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Carson Wealth

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

By Matt Lewis, CLTC ® , Vice President, Insurance In today’s world it’s fair to say that most reasonable people believe they are going to live a long life. And when you live a long life, it’s also fair to say that sooner or later, we’re going to need some form of care. Seven out of 10 people will eventually require long-term care in their lifetime. 1 How expensive that care is depends on where you live.

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Planning Insurance Assets Financial Advisor 143

Speaker: Carolina Aponte - Owner and CEO, Caja Holdings LLC

In today's rapidly changing business environment, building a resilient balance sheet is crucial to the survival of any business. A resilient balance sheet allows a company to withstand financial shocks and adapt to changing market conditions. To achieve this, companies need to focus on key strategies such as maintaining adequate liquidity, managing debt levels, diversifying revenue streams, and prioritizing profitability over growth.

Financial Planning

The Big Picture

DECEMBER 11, 2023

No, “ nearly half ” of $94.5 billion in retail inventory losses in 2021 was not “attributable to organized retail crime.” That line is just another in a long series of falsehoods put forth by the professional b *s at the National Retail Federation. Here’s Reuters : “The main lobbying group for U.S. retailers retracted its claim that “organized retail crime” accounted for nearly half of all inventory losses in 2021 after finding that incorrect data was used for its analysis.

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Wealth Management

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

New York-based Arch, which aims to solve for the workflow and data problems behind alternative investments, has received funding from Focus Financial Partners, the founders of Vanilla and Altruist, and others.

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Investing Investments 132

A Wealth of Common Sense

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Robert Kiyosaki wrote one of the most-read personal finance books of all time — Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I read it early on in my career. It never really did it for me but I can see why people latch onto the allegory he shares about learning the right financial habits. It’s a good thing to get people interested in personal finance because no one teaches you this stuff.

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Marketing Marketing 140

Calculated Risk

JUNE 8, 2023

From CoreLogic: CoreLogic: US Home Borrowers See First Annual Home Equity Losses Since 2012 in Q1 2023, but Overall Mortgage Performance Remains Strong CoreLogic®. today released the Homeowner Equity Report (HER) for the first quarter of 2023. The report shows that U.S. homeowners with mortgages (which account for roughly 63% of all properties) saw home equity decrease by 0.7% year over year, representing a collective loss of $108.4 billion, and an average loss of $5,400 per borrower since the f

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Speaker: Wayne Spivak, President and CFO of SBA * Consulting Ltd., Industry Writer, Public Speaker

If you’re lost in the world of spend management needs and your GAP analysis is lacking perspective on the future state of your business performance, listen up! With the advancement of technology, the implementation of spend management best practices and concrete GAP analyses is more streamlined and accessible than ever before. And while this may sound like great news for you and your clients, it won’t be worthwhile unless you have the latest techniques to back up your ambitions!

Management

Discipline Funds

MARCH 10, 2023

One of the themes I’ve been discussing lately is how inflation risk has been evolving into credit risk. What I mean by that is that we’re currently navigating the economic bust portion of the cycle where inflation is a falling risk and credit deflation risk arises, in large part, because the Fed has reacted so quickly to bring inflation in.

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Risk Management Banking Economy Valuation 137

The Irrelevant Investor

MARCH 14, 2023

It has been 872 days since a bank failed in the United States. This was the longest streak on record. We’re now at day zero. Silicon Valley bank went down on Friday. Signature Bank last night. These are the second and third largest bank failures in history behind Washington Mutual during the GFC. People are scared, mad, and looking for someone to blame.

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Banking 139

Advisor Perspectives

APRIL 26, 2023

“Be careful in the equity markets,” warned Larry Summers. The bond market is predicting a recession but, he said, the equity market has not priced that in.

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Marketing Marketing 145

Trade Brains

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

BoB World App Scam : The RBI raised a red flag against the Bank of Baroda (BoB) and has suspended their mobile app ‘BoB World’ from onboarding new clients because of a 22 lakh fraud affecting 362 customers. Nearly six customers have lost around Rs. 1.1 lakh each, whereas one lost almost Rs. 1.77 lakh, and an agent stole over Rs. 3.96 lakh. So, what in the world is ‘BoB World’?

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Banking Numbers Accounting Portfolio 131

Speaker: Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach®

Niche markets represent a huge opportunity for the financial services industry in America. From college students and women to communities of color and low-to-moderate-income households, niche populations have specialized financial needs – but they often underutilize many valuable financial products and services. How can you better connect with these consumers?

Clients

The Reformed Broker

MARCH 12, 2023

I feel pretty confident in making this call, and I don’t make market calls very often: We have seen the top for 2-year Treasury yields. It’s not going any higher than it’s been because there’s no reason for it to. Financial conditions are now contracting hard due in part to the events of this week but also because monetary policy operates on a lag – and the first Fed Funds hike of the cycle.

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Marketing Marketing 361

Alpha Architect

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

The claims of superior risk-adjusted performance by the PE industry are exaggerated. Given their lack of liquidity, opaqueness, and greater use of leverage, it seems logical that investors should demand something like a 3-4% IRR premium. Yet, there is no evidence that the industry overall has been able to deliver that. The Performance of Major Private Equity/LBO Firms was originally published at Alpha Architect.

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Carson Wealth

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

By Matt Lewis, CLTC ® , Vice President, Insurance You’re turning 65 this year and Medicare is on your mind. Medicare is a subset of Social Security and run by the Social Security Administration. In my experience, it may be almost as complicated as the Internal Revenue Code! With that said, let’s answer some common questions about Medicare to help you get started.

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