1. How To Size Up An S&P 500 Bear Market
It starts with understanding how market cycles work What is a stock bear market? Ask a typical investor, professional or otherwise, and impulse might be to say it’s when stock prices go down. Or, if you use the TV pundit definition, it would be when the market falls by 20% from its peak. — Rob Isbitts
2. Opportunities Will Fall into Your Lap. What Now?
People ask why I invest so much time sending biweekly e-mails to friends we met on vacation over the years. Why we do a series of Wednesday to Saturday Zoom calls with other friends. Why do we put so much effort and money into socializing? We love it. It can also pay unexpected dividends, if I was still an advisor. — Bryce Sanders
3. How Many Advisors Do You Need If You're Really Rich?
Eighty-two percent of wealthy investors indicated that they use 1 or more financial advisors. This would not include attorneys or accountants just individuals that give advice about investments and financial matters. Twelve percent indicated that they do not use any advisors and 5% rely upon friends and family members. — Catherine McBreen
4. The Race To Provide Autonomous Finance
Autonomous finance uses artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to deliver personalized, optimized experiences specific to the financial services industry. It requires a shift in how organizations approach operations and will require them to digitize what was once analog and on paper. Why is this important now? What are the implications for financial services customers? — Chris Skinner
5. 40 People That Could Be Part of Your Centers of Influence List
We all know referrals are the most impactful way to grow your business. An endorsement from someone you already like and trust goes a long way in getting you to want to take the next steps with the recommended vendor. Whether it’s a car repair, new restaurant or the latest show on Prime Video – if someone in your trusted network says to do it, they’ve already done half the work for you – the research. You simply need to follow through. — Alana Kohl
6. The S&P 500 ESG Index: Defining the Sustainable Core
The launch of the S&P 500 ESG Index in April 2019 signaled an evolution in sustainable investing. Indices based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data were no longer simply a means for companies to declare their sustainability credentials or tools to manage tactical investments playing a minor role in investors’ portfolios. The S&P 500 ESG Index and other such indices were built to underlie strategic, long-term mainstream investment products. — Mona Naqvi, Reid Steadman and Daniel Perrone
7. Bitcoin Price Approaches All-Time-Highs as Demand Surges
The price of bitcoin is undergoing a parabolic price rally. As bitcoin nears its all-time high—$19,800, reached on December 17, 2017—we took a closer look at how the current rally compares to the days leading up to its previous peak, and we believe that there are notable differences. While the 2017 bitcoin rally was driven by higher volumes, likely due to retail demand, the 2020 price rally so far has been driven by lower volume. We believe the 2020 rally is driven more by institutional allocation and that investing in bitcoin has become less speculative in nature, which indicates bitcoin’s increasing status as a store of value and suggests further potential adoption. — Gabor Gurbacs
8. Client Communication Planning During COVID-19
I have called all of my clients, now what? One of the most common questions I have been asked by financial advisors is communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Do you have a communication protocol? How often should you communicate? We are all receiving more and more communication, now that the world is working from home. What is the right amount and type of communication? — Grant Hicks
9. How To Overcome 15 “Buts” That Keep Your Advisory From Achieving the Next Level of Success
“I would like to do this but…” There are many “buts” that financial advisors use as reasons to not pursue a better marketing strategy that would move their business forward. — Kirk Lowe and Matt Halloran
10. Investors Go “All-In” Without A Net
These are the rules. They are simple but impossible to follow for most. However, if you can incorporate them, you will succeed in your investment goals in the long run. In the end, it is crucially important to understand that markets run in full cycles (up and down). While the bullish cycle lasts twice as long as the bearish cycle, investors’ damage comes not from lagging markets as they rise but in capturing the decline. — Lance Roberts
11. Is Having a Large Network Important?
I know when I first joined LinkedIn is used to want to keep my network “small and intimate” and I generally only connected to people whom I had met. My thinking was that if I had met them (and assuming that we had got on okay) we could use LinkedIn as a way of keeping in touch and not have to worry about when we changed jobs, emails, phone numbers etc. I was profoundly wrong, and here’s why. — Adam Gray