May 2012
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| Natural Resources Investing: The Case for the Upstream Supply Chain |
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With growing populations and increasing per-capita income, global markets are in the early stages of what is expected to be an extended period of demand expansion for energy, food products, metals and other natural resources such as timber and water. A key consideration for investors is the distinction between the upstream and downstream components of the natural resource supply chain.
View Natural Resources Investing white paper and get prospectus. Distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.
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May 2012
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| Q2 Outlook: “Sell in May” May Not Work This Year |
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Chief Economist Jerry Webman explains why he believes the U.S. economic recovery is real and CIO Art Steinmetz talks about how stocks are as cheap compared to bonds as they have been in decades.
- Read More
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| May 2012 |
The Municipal Bond Market: Emerging from the Tunnel
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Members of the Standish Tax-Sensitive Fixed Income Team discuss their expectations for the municipal bond market in 2012 and answer questions pertaining to uncertainty surrounding supply and demand issues, the possible impact of taxation and regulatory changes, as well as continued sovereign debt problems and how municipals factor into this discussion.
- Read More
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May 2012
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| Networking Your Practice through Interactive Marketing |
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Up until a decade ago, word-of-mouth marketing moved slowly. But the World Wide Web has changed the face – and the pace – of potential referrals for your business. We invite you to read our whitepaper, Networking Your Practice through Interactive Marketing, to learn about how you can integrate your website, emailing marketing and social media presences into a marketing strategy that can help you take your business even further.
- Read More
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May 2012
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| 65+5+Dividends: A Formula to Remember |
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| With retirees living longer than ever, it’s important for their portfolios to generate sufficient growth in the first few years of retirement to preserve capital into their 80s' and 90's. One approach for retirees to consider that may help them reach this goal: a dedicated allocation to high-quality dividend stocks, as explained in ClearBridge Advisors’ white paper, “65+5+Dividends.”
- Read More
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May 2012
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| S&P Capital IQ ETF Performance & Perspectives |
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A monthly selection of timely and actionable Trends & Ideas reports published on S&P Capital IQ Marketscope Advisor. The research reports inside include positive and negative implications for certain stocks, mutual funds and ETFs, and selected performance charts.
- Read More
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May 2012
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| Why Dividends Matter |
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Some investors have been rediscovering the power of dividends as an important element in the pursuit of long-term total returns. Following the 2008 financial crisis, traditional sources of income, such as bonds and cash, lost their luster. We aim to show that the power of dividends from equity investing has never diminished and has, in fact, been working away behind the scenes, adding not just appreciation but the possibility to mitigate the effects of both market falls and inflation.
- Read More
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May 2012
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| Investment Grade Wine – A Strategic Alternative Asset Class |
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With the rise in worldwide stock market volatility and the potential for a significant increase in inflation, many investors are looking for an asset class that will provide strong long-term absolute and risk-adjusted returns, which also will provide a hedge against inflation and stock market volatility. As explained in our white paper, investment grade wine provides these benefits and more.
Click Here to Read More.
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May 2012
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| The Art & Science Of Risk Management |
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A white paper that explains the importance of risk management and its role in portfolio management. It also highlights Franklin Templeton's integrated approach to evaluate whether investment risks are: Recognized, Rationalized and Rewarded.
Click Here to Read More.
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April 2012
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Working Smarter: Marketing Your
Business For Growth |
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| A strong marketing plan can be essential to business success, allowing you to capitalize on your strengths, focus on your highest potential clients and relationships, and deliver your message effectively. A successful marketing plan achieves these goals in a manner designed to increase both practice productivity and profitability.
- Read More
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April 2012
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| Growth Tactics of Elite Advisors |
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Elite advisors have attained success not just by growing for growth’s sake, but growing in the right way. This paper will show you how elite advisors—those in the top one-third of firms as measured by a composite metric of annual revenues and growth rates—have found success creating the “right” firm and how you can incorporate those same strategies into your own practice.
You’ll learn:
- How to manage your firm’s growth and position it for success in good times, as well as bad
- What key initiatives correlate to dramatic increases in revenue and growth of your business
- The advantages and tradeoffs when growing an independent firm, which can magnify your strengths—or reveal your weaknesses
Get your copy of Growth Tactics of Elite Advisors today.
- Read More
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| April 2012 |
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Senior Loans Attractively Priced Relative
to High Yield |
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| As the economy strengthens, look to Oppenheimer Senior Floating Rate
Fund to potentially help clients struggling to save for retirement in a
low rate environment.
- Read More
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| April 2012 |
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| The Long-Term Outlook for Energy |
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| This report by Fayez Sarafim & Co. offers a fresh perspective on
many of the current challenges, such as the Arab Spring and the search
for alternative energy sources, as well as the potential investment
opportunities presented by this important economic sector.
- Read More
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| April 2012 |
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| Networking Your Practice through Interactive Marketing |
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Up until a decade ago, word-of-mouth marketing moved slowly. But the
World Wide Web has changed the face – and the pace – of potential
referrals for your business. We invite you to read our whitepaper,
Networking Your Practice through Interactive Marketing, to learn about
how you can integrate your website, emailing marketing and social media
presences into a marketing strategy that can help you take your business
even further.
- Read More
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| April 2012 |
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65+5+Dividends: A Formula to Remember
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| With retirees living longer than ever, it’s important for their
portfolios to generate sufficient growth in the first few years of
retirement to preserve capital into their 80s' and 90's. One approach
for retirees to consider that may help them reach this goal: a dedicated
allocation to high-quality dividend stocks, as explained in ClearBridge
Advisors’ white paper, “65+5+Dividends.”
- Read More
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March 2012
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Rethinking Total Equity Market Exposure:
The Case for Tilted Indexing
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Many investors believe that market cap weighting a total market portfolio is the optimal approach. But academic research and empirical evidence suggest that market weighting builds in a bias toward growth and larger companies. A new ETF strategy pursues a potential performance advantage by offsetting those inherent biases and tilting a core portfolio toward smaller cap and value stocks.
Distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.
View Rethinking Equity Exposure white paper and get prospectus.
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| March 2012 |
| REITs—the Rodney Dangerfield of Asset Classes |
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In this paper, John Corcoran, Vice President, Client Portfolio Manager, discusses how real estate investment trusts have outperformed the S&P 500, Russell 2000 and Nasdaq Composite over the last 30 years and are doubly tax advantaged. So why do they get “no respect”?
- Read More
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| March 2012 |
Bond Market Observations
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David Leduc, Chief Investment Officer at Standish Mellon Asset Management Company LLC, provides his view on fixed income investment themes for 2012.
- Read More
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| March 2012 |
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Networking Your Practice through
Interactive Marketing |
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Up until a decade ago, word-of-mouth marketing moved slowly. But the World Wide Web has changed the face – and the pace – of potential referrals for your business. We invite you to read our whitepaper, Networking Your Practice through Interactive Marketing, to learn about how you can integrate your website, emailing marketing and social media presences into a marketing strategy that can help you take your business even further.
- Read More
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| March 2012 |
A Tale of Two Trust Companies: Exploring how
to design the efficient, profitable and client-centric trust company
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Introduction
Trust companies should explore how to constantly improve client service
and maximize profitability through best practices in trust technology,
connectivity and workflow. Trust companies must ask themselves if they
are leading the way, effectively adopting and leveraging innovative
solutions, or are they an industry laggard, doing business the same way
it has been done for decades?
- Read More
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| March 2012 |
Broker-Dealers as Fiduciaries? How the SEC
Staff’s Study Could Raise the Bar for Investment Advice |
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The financial crisis and Section 913 of the Dodd-Frank legislation has forced a reexamination of the fiduciary responsibilities of advisors and brokers. In January 2011, the SEC staff Study on Investment RIAs and Broker-Dealers (hereafter referred to as the “SEC Staff Study”) recommended that the market adopt a single fiduciary standard of care for personalized financial advice.
- Read More
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February, 2012
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Complimentary E-Book: The Definitive
Guide to Billing on Held-Away Assets
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Download this interactive e-book to learn everything you need to know about how to increase revenues by advising and billing on held-away accounts, including; areas of opportunity, compliance Considerations, how to charge and where to deduct fees, how to get started, sample client letters and forms from other advisors, and more!
- Read More
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| February, 2012 |
Marketing Tactics of Elite Advisors
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High-value clients come from high-value marketing. This paper will show you how elite advisors—those who have acquired five or more $1 million-plus clients in the past 12 months—have found success reaching out to affluent individuals, and how you can incorporate those tactics into your practice.
You’ll learn:
- How to use relationship marketing to build your business and strengthen your connections with your clients
- How to achieve a greater share of wallet from your existing clients
- Which marketing activities you might want to focus on—and which you should avoid
Get your copy of Marketing Tactics of Elite Advisors today.
- Read More
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| January, 2012 |
The Financial Professional’s Guide
to Social Media |
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Social Media Marketing is an innovative way for financial professionals to acquire new clients they couldn’t have reached before. Using Social Media is easy, but specifically how to acquire new clients in a compliant way is a much more involved task, but it doesn’t have to be. Download this whitepaper and begin effectively using best practices on social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as tactics that you can use while Blogging to reach more potential clients!
- Read More
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| January, 2012 |
| Expanding Asset Allocation Programs with Next Generation Commodity Indexes |
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Oil. Gas. Food. The great resource race is on and it may be time to gain exposure. Learn about new opportunities that are providing investors with the most efficient commodity exposure. In this white paper, Van Eck explains why next generation commodity indexes are a true alternative to traditional index investments. Download this report and examine how contango, backwardation and roll yield can impact returns of commodity funds and find out about innovative solutions that are helping investors.
- Read More
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| January, 2012 |
Working Smarter: Engaging Prospects
and Clients through Social Media |
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For financial advisors, social media represents a powerful addition to traditional marketing and networking activities. With the right strategy in place, social networking can be an important tool for both client acquisition and retention, enabling you to enhance brand awareness, deepen existing client relationships and find prospects and convert to clients.
- Read More
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| December, 2011
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Working Smarter: Build Greater Practice Value through Succession Planning
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As a financial advisor, you actively promote advanced planning to your
clients to help them achieve their financial goals. As a business owner,
it is just as important that you do the same by creating a succession
plan for your practice. Industry statistics point to less than
two-thirds of advisors with an adequate plan in place. The good news is
that it is never too late to begin planning. This guide can help by
providing information, tools and resources you can use to not only get
started on your business succession plan, but begin building greater
equity value for the future.
- Read More |
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| December, 2011
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| Build Relationships Across Generations: Cater to Younger Clients to Retain & Increase AUM |
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We’ve all read the stories about the ageing Baby Boomers, many of whom
have already started retiring. So it’s no surprise to see many advisors
showing a heightened interest in attracting the next generation of
investors to keep their business vibrant.
Gen X and Y is projected to account for about $28
trillion in investable assets in the U.S. by 2018. These two generations
can’t be ignored given their sheer size. That said, they grew up in a
completely different environment than Boomers and understanding what
makes them tick is essential if you're to make successful connections. Read this paper to see how 3 firms approach this new segment. Specifically they cover:
- Defining Gen X & Y
- How and where to engage and communicate
- Tips and Tricks for working with Gen X & Y
- Read this whitepaper to get all the details |
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| December, 2011
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| Reasons to Consider Dividend-Paying Stocks |
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Fayez Sarofim & Co. discuss their views on why investors should
consider dividend-paying stocks, including why they believe
dividend-paying stocks possess the attributes sought after during a
volatile and uncertain marketplace.
- Read More
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| November, 2011 |
Hedging Inflation: The Case for Precise
Targeting of TIPS Durations |
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| Shifting inflation expectations and changing market interest rates will
complicate portfolio construction and rebalancing. TIPS can be used to
provide inflation protection, but to use them effectively, investors
must consider duration. Having the ability to precisely target TIPS
durations may give investors a better way to hedge inflation and manage
interest rate risks in their portfolios.
Distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.
View white paper on Hedging Inflation and get prospectus.
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November, 2011
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3 ways Advisors can find better prospects
and acquire more clients |
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Advisors have steep growth goals for 2012. Over 41% of respondents from
our recent Marketing and Business Development Survey said they are
looking to acquire between 6 and 15 new clients next year, while over
46% hope to bring on 16 or more.According to both the survey results and
some of the industry’s leading marketing experts, there are three
essential ways to find better prospects and acquire more clients.
- Read More |
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| November, 2011
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| Working Smarter: Advantages of Independence |
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What is driving the tremendous growth in the independent broker/dealer
channel and should you consider getting on board? While independence can
provide advisors and their clients with many advantages, choosing the
right business model for you involves careful consideration of the
practical and emotional aspects that come with any career move. This
guide will provide you with insight on the advantages of establishing an
independent practice along with valuable information to help you
determine the right practice affiliation, focus, and fee model for your
business.
- Read More |
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October, 2011
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| Working Smarter: Marketing Your Business for Growth |
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A strong marketing plan can be essential to business success, allowing
you to capitalize on your strengths, focus on your highest potential
clients and relationships, and deliver your message effectively. A
successful marketing plan achieves these goals in a manner designed to
increase both practice productivity and profitability.
- Read More |
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October, 2011
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| Marketing Tactics of Elite Advisors |
|
High-value clients come from high-value marketing. This paper will show
you how elite advisors-those who have acquired five or more $1
million-plus clients in the past 12 months-have found success reaching
out to affluent individuals, and how you can incorporate those tactics
into your practice.
You'll learn:
- How to use relationship marketing to build your business and strengthen your connections with your clients
- How to achieve a greater share of wallet from your existing clients
- Which marketing activities you might want to focus on-and which you should avoid.
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| October, 2011 |
| Help your clients prepare for the future; what retirement expert Harold Evensky says they must know |
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We recently spoke with Harold Evensky, President of Evensky & Katz,
to understand his perspective on strategies for managing retirement
assets. For Harold, it all boils down to these four points:
1. Don’t try to maximize returns, maximize the probability that your clients will
achieve their financial goals.
2. Follow a “five-year mantra”
3. Keep abreast of changes on the retirement planning horizon
4. Take advantage of tools to support holistic planning
Read this whitepaper to get all the details
- Read More
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| September, 2011 |
| A Solution to Volatility: Debt-Free Income Properties |
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The volatility and poor performance of traditional investments
(stocks, bonds and cash) over the past decade has taken its toll and has made
most investors feel that positive performance will continue to be ever
elusive.But by mimicking the strategies
used by major endowment funds, you will find one particular alternative investment
opportunity that offers less volatility.
Buying income-producing commercial properties for cash is an investment
that has performed well over time and has a performance that doesn’t normally
correlate with traditional investments.
- Read More |
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| September, 2011 |
| Companies, Not Countries: Investing in an Uncertain World |
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Practically everywhere you look today, there seems to be some kind of
national crisis. Europe is still trying to contain its sovereign debt
issues. Japan is just beginning to recover from natural disaster. The
U.S. is struggling against stiff economic and political headwinds. And
many emerging markets are trying to contain high infl ation without
compromising growth. Despite such challenges, each of these areas offers
potentially outstanding opportunities for informed investors.
- Read More |
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| September, 2011 |
| How Advisors Deepen Client Relationships with CRMs |
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Adoption
of CRM software is definitely on the rise. In our recent Q3 CRM Survey,
73% of respondents said they currently have CRM software in place.
Furthermore, of the remaining advisors who don’t yet have a CRM system
in place, two-thirds say they plan to implement a solution within the
next 12 months. This begs the question: Even though CRMs have been
widely available and used in other industries for many years, why the
uptick among advisors now?
Read More
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| September, 2011 |
| Working Smarter: Engaging Prospects And Clients Through Social Media |
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| Social
media can be a valuable addition to your networking and marketing
efforts, helping you connect with your clients and engage new ones. But
leveraging this medium requires a clear understanding of the do's and
don'ts of building a successful social media effort.
- Read More
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September, 2011
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| Protect Your Purchasing Power |
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| “ … Inflation can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of citizens… and does it in a manner that not one man in a million can diagnose.”—John Maynard Keynes
Loss of purchasing power threatens the wealth of many Americans whose
household incomes aren’t keeping pace with the rising cost of goods and
services. Prices are rising for a variety of reasons, including a weaker
dollar, higher wages in emerging markets and rising commodity prices.
Compounding the problem, savers face low-to-zero real yields on U.S.
Treasuries and savings accounts. This paper explains how investors may
be able to offset these threats to purchasing power through exposure to
asset classes that offer
- Ownership of real assets or claims on real earnings
- Potential hedges against dollar weakness and imported price inflation
- Income growth opportunities that historically have outpaced inflation or rising interest rates
- Read More |
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| August, 2011 |
| Whitepaper: The Benefits of Outsourcing Today |
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According to a new online survey we conducted, approximately one in four advisors using an outsourcer today indicated they do this for portfolio management and reconciliation. Read this whitepaper
to see how outsourcing offers the potential to reduce costs, immediate
access to skilled professionals, ability to stay current with technology
and the ability to rapidly scale your business
Read More
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| August, 2011 |
| Investing in a Rising Interest Rate Environment. |
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Help your clients take action against rising
interest rates with Multi-Financial’s thought leadership white paper
Investing in a Rising Interest Rate Environment.
This paper will provide an in-depth historical assessment of different
interest rate regimes and propose a road map to assist you, given the
current near record-low interest rates, in repositioning your clients’
portfolios to help protect against a potential rise in rates.
The analysis will present you with several ways you can take action and
implement some broad changes to your clients’ portfolios, including:
-
Ways to diversify a portfolio’s fixed income assets
-
A list of absolute return mutual funds from the Cetera Research Team
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Asset allocation guidelines for a balanced portfolio
- Read More |
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| July, 2011 |
| Do you Charge Enough for held away accounts? |
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Thinking about billing on held away assets? Wondering how you compare to other advisors? Check out this whitepaper to learn:
- how other advisors are billing
- where they take fees from
- how much they bill
- how they communicate those fees to their clients
- Read More
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| June, 2011 |
| Make a Smart Decision: Leverage Your Time |
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It has been over a year since SEC Rule 206(4)-2 was changed. It now
includes an independent audit for advisors with custody, bringing the
definition of custody to the forefront for compliance officers.
One thing is clear — today’s environment is substantially more
complicated for advisors, and the time commitment required to deal with
the regulations can be onerous. Check out this new Smart Decisions paper to learn how two firms are handling the SEC regulation and pick up 7 tips to help your firm prepare for the audits.
- Read More |
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| June, 2011 |
| Power of Dividends |
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Amid modest return expectations for most major asset classes, we
recently spoke to James Harries, who is the lead manager of Newton’s
Global Equity Higher Income Strategy, about growing interest in
income-focused investing. Harries believes investors are rediscovering
the potential power of dividends as an important part of the pursuit of
long-term total returns. Global dividend yields are attractive at the
moment, he says, relative to other sources of investing income.
Moreover, as developing markets mature, more companies in those regions
are beginning to issue dividends. Harries points to numerous studies
that document the compounding power of reinvested dividends. In
addition, he says, focusing on dividend yields can be a useful barometer
for identifying outperforming companies that are disciplined and
efficient in their capital allocation and cash flow management.
- Read More
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| May, 2011 |
A Time to Invest In Africa
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For the past two decades, investors around the world have been riveted
on the emerging markets of the four high growth BRICs – Brazil, Russia,
India and China. However, as these opportunities fade, other high-growth
emerging and frontier markets should become attractive and worthy of
consideration to be added to an investor’s asset allocation strategy.
Several of these markets are located in Africa, the world’s second
largest continent by population and land mass, behind only Asia in both
measures. With a population of more than one billion spread among 53
nations and almost 12 million square miles, Africa is becoming too big
for investors to ignore. Yet, its financial markets and expanding public
companies remain shrouded in mystery for most U.S. investors.
- Read More |
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| May, 2011 |
| MUNICIPAL BONDS: ARE THE CONCERNS FAIR OR FOUL? |
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For a segment of the domestic fixed income market long renowned for its
relative tranquility, municipal bonds have received plenty of attention
lately. Muni bond price volatility spiked in 2010's fourth quarter as
investors focused on the credit ramifications of state and local
government fiscal stresses stemming from the Great Recession and
residential real estate debacle. In the first quarter of 2011, new
issuance of tax-exempt bonds fell by more than half compared to last
year and to the lowest level in more than a decade.
- Read More |
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| May, 2011 |
Working Smarter: Greater Efficiency Through Technology.
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As financial advisors continue to expand their practice reach to include
a broader segment of the high-net-worth and mass-affluent markets,
technology has become increasingly important for maintaining the balance
between consistently high service levels, productivity and
profitability. How today's advisors use the technologies available to
them, from integrated trading platforms and customer relationship
management tools to social and mobile media, will determine their
competitive advantage well into the future.
- Read More
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| May, 2011 |
| Redefining Risk in Fixed Income |
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|
The world has
changed for fixed income investors. The four primary sectors in the
fixed income market have essentially converged into two. Interest rate
risk in the U.S. is at its highest level in decades. Sector risk/return
characteristics have been significantly altered--perhaps permanently.
These factors are coming together to create an environment of heightened
risk for fixed income investors.
- Read More
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| May, 2011 |
| Investing in a Rising Interest Rate Environment |
|
Want
to help your clients take action against rising interest rates? The
paper provides an in-depth historical assessment of different interest
rate regimes and proposes a road map to assist advisors, given the
current near record-low interest rates, in repositioning their clients'
portfolios to help protect against a potential rise in interest rates.
Action items that advisors can use with their clients include tactics to
mitigate the adverse affects of a rising interest rate environment, a
list of investments from the Cetera Research Team, and asset allocation
guidelines for a balanced portfolio.
- Read More
|
|
| May, 2011 |
| Why Provide 401(k) Advice for Free When Clients Are Happy to Pay? |
|
|
Check out this whitepaper to learn how 3 different firms are embracing
technology to help broaden client relationships, and grow both assets
under management (AUM) and revenues. Altfest Personal Wealth Management,
Fairlane Investment Advisors, Inc., and World Equity Group share how
you can introduce the concept of advising and billing on retirement
assets to clients, and how the actual mechanics of generating invoices.
-
Read More
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| December, 2011 |
| Answers to Questions about Recent Municipal Market Volatility |
|
Recent
municipal bond (muni) market volatility has raised questions about the
risks and rewards facing muni investors. Steven Permut, senior vice
president and senior portfolio manager in charge of American Century
Investments' muni team,
responds to these uncertainties.
Continued ....
Click Here to download the full white paper
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