Blogs may be all the rage on the Internet, but they have not yet made significant inroads with financial advisors, chartered financial analyst Susan Weiner writes in Advisor Perspectives, a provider of investment trends data on high-net-worth individuals.
Weiner, an investment writer and blogger, notes that advisors aren't big fans of the blog revolution and that she had a hard time finding advisors to speak to about the topic because most people contacted said they don't do blogs either as readers or writers.
Weiner found some advisors are skeptical about the information in financial blogs. Jeremy Mitchell of Robert Harding Financial told Weiner that he's dubious about the qualifications of bloggers, particularly since many aren't even licensed to render financial advice.
Some advisors, such as Eve Kaplan of Kaplan Financial Advisors, simply don't have time to cruise through the blogosphere.
Weiner cites some industry observers who believe many financial bloggers focus on stock picking and market timing information to attract web surfers who click on advertisements on their blogs. The result is less focus on topics that interest financial advisors.
That said, Weiner found some advisors who dabble in financial blogs and found them useful for certain things.
Maureen Whelan of M.A. Whelan Financial Planning said discussions on blogs can prompt timely decisions that help clients. Whelan says she advised a client to sell Citigroup stock because of a blog discussion about Citigroup's exposure to subprime mortgages at a time when others still thought Citigroup was sound.
Patrick Valenty of Financial Planning Unlimited finds blogs help him assess what may happen in the economy, while Russ Thornton of Thornton Wealth Management said blogs give him talking points to help him communicate effectively with clients.
Advisors who are blogging about investment topics suggest selecting one or two blogs that seem to have useful and accurate information and sticking to them, rather than trying to keep track of the dozens of investment advice blogs that now exist. Some blogs, such as Seeking Alpha, which has more than 200 contributors, evaluate the contributions based on how useful the information is.
Weiner's report concludes that advisors should check bloggers' credentials and see how the information stacks up against other traditional sources.