The landscape in which financial advisors must compete to earn the business of consumers is more competitive than ever.  In this integrated marketplace, small and large Financial Services firms are competing to offer integrated, holistic solutions to their client-base.  This leads to the dilemma ALL financial services firms are striving to solve: How do we…

In this tight economy, learning departments of Financial Services firms are looking for creative, cost-effective ways to add value to the business line. Many of them are turning to eLearning for the technical and skill development their professionals need; while others, especially smaller organizations, are reluctant to utilize eLearning due to perceived barriers to adoption.…

Wealth transfer and estate planning are not only very broad topics that have myriad implications and directions for every individual client, but they also involve very significant planning discussions that require a lot of time, effort, work and money to complete.  With that said, many high net worth clients have already done some level of…

In this our fourth in a series of articles about helping clients in the Accumulation Phase of Retirement Planning, we address the fourth root cause of inadequate retirement saving, which is improper allocation of their retirement accumulation portfolio(s) when measured against their objectives and risk tolerance. We have been witnessing a steady decline in defined…

It seems like everyone is involved with social media these days – even the IRS.  You can get Twitter news feeds from the IRS; you can even go to their Facebook page, although I don’t see anywhere where you can become a “friend” (either that, or no one has yet signed up to be a…

One of the benefits of serving the CFP marketplace as an educational provider is the privilege we have to connect with so many individuals of various backgrounds. Whether they have been serving clients within the wealth management industry for many years, whether they are considering a change of career, or those only looking to better…

Roth IRAs are one of the best retirement accumulation vehicles available because they offer tax-free accumulation, tax-free distributions, and no required minimum distributions. In addition, accessibility to the funds is hassle-free and withdrawals of contributions are always tax-free. One Roth IRA income tax benefit is not talked about enough – the income tax effect of…

As you have undoubtedly noticed, yields on short-term income investments are very low. However, you may have some cash set aside or some discretionary cash flow that you want to put to work somewhere but NOT at an anemic interest rate or speculative higher rate of return. What to do? The answer may be to…

There is no way to predict what changes will take place in 2012-2013 regarding changes to our Federal Tax system, but financial advisors and financial planners certainly need to be informed on what is being examined. The latest Kiplinger Tax Letter has outlined the president’s proposals: Letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those with…

Everywhere we turn, we are faced with predictions.  Many encounter these predictions from: Newspapers Periodicals TV talking heads Stock analysts and …yes, the barber and hairdresser All of the sources above think they have insight into the economic future and have no fear of expressing it. Some are outlandish and others seem logical. Some are…