Nerd's Eye View blog

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (May 23-24)

May 22, 2020 02:47 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" – this week's edition kicks off with an interesting investor research study showing what clients are actually interested in learning and hearing about now... which shows that while there was an initial burst of interest in commentary about markets and the economy, within just a week or two of the pandemic shutdown client interest had already shifted to topics more 'personally' relevant to them, from health and wellness to thinking about second careers (as the pandemic may have shut down their first!), and the family dynamics of how the pandemic and its economic impact may be rippling through their personal lives beyond their portfolios alone.

From there, we have several practice management articles on the continued adaptation of working in a virtual environment, including tips on managing your team remotely (from daily huddles to weekly videos and structured virtual get-togethers), to advisory firms taking a fresh look at their office space decisions as lease renewals may be coming due in the midst of the shutdown, some tips on managing client meetings virtually, and why in the end the key to surviving and thriving in the midst of this pandemic shutdown is not just about figuring out whether and how to adapt by changing your mindset to view this as a positive turning point in your business (and then to decide what you're going to build towards from here!).

We also have several marketing-related articles this week, from suggestions of what any advisory firm can start doing to improve (virtual) communication and connection with clients and prospects, why it may be a good time to take a fresh look at your advisor website, tips on how to focus on and change your website to do a better job of turning visitors into qualified prospects and eventually clients (now that we have to rely on our websites more than ever!), and how even though clients commonly find prospective advisors through referrals it's still necessary to do the substantive work of really earning their trust.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of habits and personal productivity: the first is a reminder of the power of "keystone habits", and how finding just one or two positive anchor habits can help spiral the rest of our lives in a more positive direction; the second is a fascinating look at mathematician and computer scientist Stephen Wolfram and the 'personal infrastructure' he has created to make himself more productive; and the last is a powerful reminder that in the end, the pandemic shutdown hasn't necessarily given us more time to be productive (as though we weren't already trying to be productive in the past!), it has just shifted our time, and the real key to productivity remains as it always was: not finding more time in the day, or a way to cram more things into the time that's available, but instead figuring out what you truly need to be doing yourself to be productive... and learning to hyperfocus your time on only those things that really, truly, matter the most!

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

Kitces & Carl Ep 34: Are We Making Financial Advice & Portfolios More Complex Than They Need To Be?

May 21, 2020 07:19 am 1 Comment CATEGORY: Kitces & Carl Podcast

Oftentimes, individuals seek out the services of a financial planner because their lives have become increasingly complex, and they need help to get organized, simplify, or at least just ‘make sense’ of their situation and what to do next. However, some clients don’t even realize just how complex their finances and lives have really become, and therefore may not fully appreciate the extent their financial advisor actually works to create a comprehensive financial plan that simplifies their situation in an easy-to-understand narrative and manageable to-do list.

In our 34th episode of Kitces & Carl, Michael Kitces and financial advisor communication expert Carl Richards talk about how many financial advisors feel compelled to illuminate the complexity in a client’s financial plan as a means of justifying their value, and whether the ability to simplify complexity, especially as pertaining to the client’s investment portfolio, is really what defines an advisor’s value in the first place. Because while clients do find value in the solutions their financial advisors bring to them, for many clients, it is their advisor’s ability to understand who they themselves are and the goals they are trying to achieve (and why) that is even more important than coming up with solutions themselves. And so in many instances, the fear that offering a simple solution to a complex problem may end out encouraging a client to take a do-it-yourself approach (and thus losing the client in the process) is generally misplaced, because helping clients to simplify is still a tremendous value unto itself.

Even so, there are many financial advisors who have encountered prospects who already had well-diversified portfolios that need little, if any, adjustments, sometimes prompting them to question themselves and what value they can actually provide to a client who seems to already have their investments in good order. These situations can be opportunities for the advisor to reflect around their own value proposition outside of portfolio design (e.g., all of the elements aside from investment management involved in a truly holistic financial planning process), and how they might best present their services to clients. As while the value in knowledge and technical details is unmistakable, there is also a huge value proposition in an advisor’s ability to help their clients identify and clarify their goals, and then to help them manage their behaviors and the use of their capital to achieve those goals.

Another common question facing advisors is how much complexity they actually should share with their clients, which depends on where the client may lie on the ‘complexity curve’ of understanding how complex their lives actually are. As for many clients who are far along on the complexity curve are fully aware of how much their lives are embroiled in complexity (though their concern is not so much in understanding that complexity, but just in getting help to manage the complexity), other clients who are at the initial stages along the complexity curve are completely unaware that their situations are anything but simple, and don’t understand the effort it takes to bring some real simplicity back to their financial situations (and thus the actual value their advisors provide to them). These ‘early-curve’ clients may benefit from their advisor sharing the level of detail involved in developing their financial plan, thereby moving farther along the complexity curve… not as a ‘scare tactic’ to reveal how complicated their lives actually are, but just as a way to walk them through the rough terrain that must be traveled to get from their current situation to a workable, simpler outcome.

Ultimately, the key point is that financial advisors have the freedom to delve into varying levels of complexity for their clients, depending on how much the client needs (or wants) to understand and participate in. And by asking simple questions at the start of the relationship to identify why the client sought an advisor in the first place and how the client believes an advisor can help them with their goals, an advisor can leverage how they share complexity as a means to further strengthen their relationship with their clients.

Border Wars: Helping Clients Set Financial (And Emotional) Boundaries To Avoid Enabling Dependent Family Members

May 20, 2020 07:05 am 1 Comment CATEGORY: Client Trust & Communication

It is natural for individuals to want to help their friends and family members in times of need, and doing so can be a healthy way to nurture those important relationships. However, establishing realistic boundaries is also important in healthy relationships, especially when the relationship dynamic involves a provider and dependent. For financial advisors, these become relevant issues when it comes to clients who are inclined to offer financial support to their friends and family, especially when that support continues on an ongoing basis and even more so when the support negatively impacts the client’s own financial plan, potentially interfering with the client’s own financial goals.

Well-structured emotional boundaries include limits, consequences, and consistent enforcement. They are keys to healthy relationships because they offer all parties involved clear rules that govern how to interact with one another to maintain the relationship. While good boundaries indicate that an individual understands their own needs and that they’ve established to others what their needs are (and what the consequences are if those needs are not met), they also provide other individuals with a framework of acceptable behaviors and consequences… as well as the autonomy of choosing whether to honor those expectations (or not).

When good boundaries are not established in a relationship, though, unhealthy behaviors and co-dependencies can arise. Financial enabling is one such example, whereby a financially dependent person (e.g., a child or family member) is continually supported by an enabling provider in such a way that limits the dependent’s own personal development. Dependent individuals in a financially enabling relationship are not only denied the opportunity to learn about financial responsibility, but they are also prone to feelings of inadequacy (perhaps they doubt their own ability to provide for themselves) and uncertainty (e.g., never knowing for certain whether their support will continue). Enablers, too, are impacted – not just by the potential loss of assets that may be an integral part of their own personal financial goals, but also by feelings of shame, guilt, and frustration (e.g., knowing that they shouldn’t be providing ongoing support, but not knowing exactly how to stop).

Accordingly, for financial advisors who have clients struggling in financially enabling relationships, there are a few things they can do to help. One option is simply to broach the subject of the problematic relationship and the role of boundaries and to offer the client some self-help resources to contemplate how they might establish boundaries to remedy the situation on their own, while keeping an open door to continue discussing the client’s progress on establishing those relevant boundaries to address the situation. Another option is for the advisor to offer boundary-building workshops to teach clients in a group setting about how boundaries can promote healthy relationships in the context of their finances.

Advisors can also refer their clients to mental health professionals that specialize in working with family relationship dynamics, as while advisors don’t need to be involved in the actual process of helping the client establish personal boundaries, they can still support their clients with enforcement and follow-through of boundaries. For example, the advisor can serve as the ‘gatekeeper’ to the client’s assets when it comes to the financially dependent individual, helping the client by being the one to deny requests to borrow money, support business ventures, or pay bills. Finally, advisors can support both their client and the enabled dependent by facilitating meetings with both to encourage dialogue, helping them to break the enabling nature of the relationship and to educate the dependent with strategies to become financially responsible and self-sufficient.

Ultimately, the key point is that advisors can help their clients address unhealthy relationships that involve financial enabling, and that may be detrimental to their clients’ financial plans by encouraging clients to examine and establish good boundaries with appropriate limits, consequences, and follow-through and by recognizing that patience and empathy are critical in this work, as the changes required to resolve financially enabling behaviors can be difficult and may need to happen slowly over long periods of time.

#FASuccess Ep 177: Career-Changing To Become A Financial Advisor In The Midst Of A (Financial Crisis And) Bear Market, with Sara Stanich

May 19, 2020 07:25 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 177th episode of Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Sara Stanich. Sara is the founder of Cultivating Wealth, an independent RIA based in the New York City area that oversees nearly $50 million of assets under management for 95 ongoing client households. What's unique about Sara, though, is the way she transitioned into the world of financial advice as a career changer in the midst of the financial crisis and the last bear market, which ultimately forced her into the independent channel with less support but more flexibility to build the business at her own pace, which in the end made it easier for Sara to craft the advisory firm she ultimately wanted to.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about Sara's journey through the advisory industry. Why she initially started out in a major wirehouse for their training program, what led her to initially skip out on the independent RIA channel and make a switch to the independent broker-dealer channel instead but still choosing one that had more independence, even if it meant a little less salary base and training, why she ultimately made the decision to switch to the RIA channel six years later anyway, though, because of how much the support structures for independent RIAs had changed and developed during the decade of the 2010s.

We also talk about how Sara built her business and gets clients. The way, in the early days, she obtained both her CFP certification and the CDFA designation to go deeper into the divorce niche, how she tried to take advantage of opportunities to buy out what were ‘C’ clients for other advisors in her branch but ‘A’ clients for her early practice, the way, today, she uses DataPoints, a software service, to provide prospects with a wealth-building assessment to understand themselves better and to identify who may be a good fit for the firm, and the three simple things that Sara includes in her monthly newsletter to prospects to stay in front of them for future business opportunities.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Sara shares how the business has evolved in recent years as she has begun to add more CFP professionals to her team, how she kept her confidence through the early years by focusing on the progress she was making, even if the dollars took years to add up to what she had been making in the past before pulling ahead, and her key advice to career changers and other advisors early in their careers who may be struggling in the firm or platform where they're currently at.

If The S&P 500 Falls To 2,000: How Financial Advisors Can (And Should) Be Preparing For The Next Crisis

May 18, 2020 07:16 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Practice Management

Over the past several weeks, the major stock indices have experienced both the fastest crash and the most robust market bounce ever seen. In the process, financial advisors have watched their clients transition from abject panic to outright relief and have worked hard to keep their clients focused on their long-term goals… while sometimes questioning how they themselves will persevere through these difficult times because as previous crises have shown, many businesses fail to survive through severe economic downturns. Which, in turn, raises the question: what should advisory firm owners do now to ensure they survive the next crisis (or the next stage of this crisis, if the S&P 500 falls back near 2,000!)?

In this guest post, Stephanie Bogan – CEO of Educe, Inc., and Founder of Limitless Adviser Coaching – explains how financial advisors can address this difficult question and start to understand the steps they need to take to help them prepare for the potential bumps and potholes in the road ahead. More specifically, planning ahead can help avoid getting backed into a fight-or-flight reactionary corner in response to crisis situations; instead, advisors can take a proactive approach in preparing their firms, embracing an enthusiastic mindset, identifying where they provide the most value to their clients, developing efficient systems, and continuously driving growth.

Accordingly, the first step in preparing for a crisis involves contingency planning, a calm evaluation of all business expenses, and modeling various scenarios to identify which expenses can be reduced or eliminated without compromising client care.

Beyond that first step, the capability that will function as the main driver of a successful business is maintaining a positive mindset by categorizing all tasks that need to be done as either ‘above-the-line’ activities (those that empower and create energy and thus create a success-state frame of mind) or ‘below-the-line’ activities (those that stagnate energy and create a negative state of mind with feelings such as fear, uncertainty, doubt, and anxiety) and then to design a plan that will allow the advisor to delegate all below-the-line activities to someone else while keeping their time and energy focused on the above-the-line activities that ultimately are crucial to keep the business thriving and growing through a crisis.

An objective and fair assessment of an advisor’s own value is also a critical step to help home in on a specific client niche for which they are able to provide their best work. By narrowing the ideal client’s profile, advisors can focus on their clients’ specific and unique needs, elevating the value they provide. Efficiency is another core competency that will help advisors not just survive, but thrive, in the face of crisis as efficient systems will permit advisors to continue delivering their specialized services without interruption, even in the face of crises. Finally, a focus on growth – by investing in marketing strategies such as SEO, digital marketing, and podcasting – can help advisors maintain a successful practice even in times of crisis. And with a narrowly defined client niche, providing targeted, essential services addressing the unique and specific needs of the clients in and of itself can also foster growth!

Ultimately, the key point is that by asking the right, albeit difficult, questions about what it will take to maintain a successful mindset in the face of a future business crisis like watching the S&P 500 fall to 2,000, the specific value that can be most effectively offered to clients (and sustained through such a crisis), how operating systems can be systematized most efficiently (especially when facing the pressures of a crisis), and what measures can be taken to foster continued growth of the firm (despite an ongoing crisis), advisors can ensure their own continued success when the next crisis inevitably hits.

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (May 16-17)

May 15, 2020 02:50 pm 1 Comment CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the big industry news that Goldman Sachs is acquiring small-RIA custodian Folio Institutional... and setting off an industry debate about whether Goldman is aiming to compete for small RIAs, repurpose Folio into a breakaway offering for wirehouse brokers going to Goldman, to use internally for its existing United Capital and Ayco assets (which are already many times the AUM of Folio's existing business), or to get a foot in the door with Folio's early-mover fractional share trading to launch a Goldman Direct Indexing solution. Or perhaps all of the above?

Also in the news this week is the announcement that TradingFront is partnering with Interactive Brokers to create a new all-in-one RIA custodial offering (particularly for smaller RIAs that don't have the time and capacity to piece together their own solution), and the news that Schwab is acquiring the technology, IP, and staff of recently-shut-down Motif Investing in what appears to be Schwab's own looming play to enter the Direct Indexing business to disrupt mutual funds and ETFs (including their own?)!

From there, we have several stories about the aftermath of the recent market volatility and how investors actually behaved, including a study from Morningstar finding that nearly 90% of investors (and almost 97% of target-date fund investors) didn't make any changes in the midst of the market volatility, Vanguard similarly finding that almost 90% of investors stayed the course and that of the ~10% that did trade 7-in-10 actually bought stocks (rather than selling out) and that advisors also reported being successful in keeping ~90% of their clients on course through the market volatility (recognizing that advisors may disproportionately have the most challenging clients who seek out a financial advisor because they struggled with inopportune trading in prior bear market cycles?).

We also have several retirement-related articles this week, from a look at the history of the Financial Independent/Early Retirement movement (which, viewed from the lens of the average investor being able to inexpensively invest into the stock market through 800 years of stock market evolution, seems to have arrived exactly when it should have), a study on how our ability to manage emotional volatility and delay gratification seems to improve throughout adulthood (perhaps explaining why so many prospective clients are 'suddenly' ready to get serious about retirement in their 40s and 50s), and a look at the upcoming changes to the Federal government's Thrift Savings Plan and a number of changes to its L (Lifecycle) funds.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of how businesses are (or may need to continue) adapting to the work-from-home environment: the first highlights recent research that in the aggregate, productivity of workers from home is 'only' down 1%, and the majority of workers are experiencing higher productivity at home (offset by a smaller number that are significantly struggling with lower productivity); the second looks at our growing obsession with sweatpants (and more generally, comfortable clothing, especially off-camera from the waist down) and whether/how the workplace dress code will return when we're all allowed to go back to work; and the implications of how business owners (including advisory firm owners) may need to adapt if we don't all get back to work in the next 1-2 months and instead it turns out that a resurgence of the coronavirus results in us operating on an at-least-partial-work-from-home environment (and forcing us to really learn how to survive and thrive in a virtual workplace) for another 12-18 months instead?

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

Using Behavioral Finance Principles To Behaviorally Coach Clients To Make Better Decisions

May 13, 2020 07:14 am 2 Comments CATEGORY: Client Trust & Communication

The study of behavioral finance has significantly enhanced our understanding of real-world financial behaviors, and (in the process) has given advisors insight into the underlying behavioral biases that cause clients to make not-always-rational decisions. Yet while examining the irrational behavior of individuals in the context of personal finance, behavioral finance focuses mainly on how individuals behave but doesn’t always do a great job explaining why they make the choices and have the biases that they do, nor in particular what financial advisors should actually do about those behaviors. Thus, while academic research on behavioral finance has imparted value to the financial planning industry, it still has a tendency to fall short when it comes to providing effective, practicable applications that advisors can bring back to their firms.

In this guest post, Jay Mooreland – Founder of The Behavioral Finance Network in Saint Paul, Minnesota – examines the challenges financial advisors face in actually implementing behavioral finance concepts effectively with their clients, and how advisors can instead use behavioral coaching not only to help clients stick to their plan but also as a way to differentiate themselves from other advisors.

One of the most common challenges with the actual application of behavioral finance is dealing with the overabundance of ‘noise’ described as ‘behavioral finance’ presented by experts and non-experts alike, which frequently offers little value to the financial advisor who isn’t just trying to understand what biases may be causing their clients to behave the way they do, but who are trying instead to help their clients change their behavior and actually stick to an agreed-upon financial plan by managing the influence of those irrational behavioral biases. As the recent market volatility from the coronavirus pandemic illustrated, simply ‘knowing’ that clients may be exhibiting behavioral biases that make them want to sell at the market bottom didn’t itself do much to talk them off the ledge.

Instead, behavioral coaching can be an effective way to help clients make better choices if done proactively and consistently. And notably, while education is a key factor in behavioral coaching, the best coaching support won’t come from advisors who just provide their clients with facts and rational statements, but will instead be more likely to come from advisors who also understand the importance of message timing (i.e., when a client would most benefit from certain ideas, which depend not just on the economic environment or current legislative landscape, but also on what is happening in the client’s own personal, financial, and emotional life), and how best to deliver the messaging (e.g., crafting messages that are easy, smart, and fun) so as to effectively stick with a client.

Advisors can also employ the principles of behavioral finance to connect and engage with clients and prospects to grow an advisor’s business, as it is critical for financial advisors to use appropriate framing (i.e., advisors can communicate most successfully when they keep the client’s point of view in mind, versus relying only on their own perspective) and understand how clients will perceive and interpret the messages they convey. Furthermore, messaging and communication that incorporate psychological factors (e.g., emotionality and connection) will generally tend to be more impactful in influencing clients’ behaviors than rationality and logic.

Ultimately, the key point is that while behavioral finance research may have limited application for financial advisors looking for practical ways to directly help their clients, advisors can use behavioral finance principles to effectively help their clients make better choices and stick to their plans with a more coaching-oriented approach. Furthermore, principles of behavioral finance that emphasize proper framing and the psychology of communication can help advisors differentiate themselves with value headlines that are personal, impactful, and that connect effectively with clients.

#FASuccess Ep 176: Understanding The Landscape Of Employee Vs. Independent Advisor Broker-Dealer Platforms, with Mindy Diamond

May 12, 2020 07:04 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 176th episode of Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Mindy Diamond. Mindy is the founder of Diamond Consultants, a recruiting firm that has been helping advisors evaluate and change their broker-dealer platforms for more than 20 years now. What's unique about Mindy, though, is her deep understanding of the full breadth of options that advisors can consider when evaluating the right platform to build their businesses - from wirehouses to regional broker-dealers, independent broker-dealers, and hybrid RIAs, and from employees to independent models.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about the range of choices that advisors have today in choosing a brokerage platform, the contrasting benefits and disadvantages of each platform depending on the types of clientele the advisor serves, how each varies in what they will pay in upfront recruiting bonuses versus higher payouts over time, and the way the independent RIA channel is increasingly replicating the brokerage channel as it shifts from simply being the most openly independent platform to instead ranging from employee tuck-ins to fully independent models as well.

We also talk about when advisors should and shouldn't look at switching to another broker-dealer platform. Why it's not enough to just feel the push that makes you want to leave your current platform but must also have a pull that makes you want to go find a new one, the most common pushes and pulls in practice that lead advisors to switch platforms, from “Lowest Common Denominator” (LCD) compliance frustrations to limitations on product choice, compensation changes or simply a desire to build more equity in your own business, and why it's so crucial for an advisor to understand and assess their own priorities first to have any chance of really picking the right platform for them.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Mindy shares her perspective on how brokerage platforms for advisors have changed over the years. Why the decision about what platform to choose is not as black and white as it once was and instead is more shades of gray, how the emergence of teaming (especially in wirehouses) may be better for advisor training but also makes it harder for advisors to change platforms when they want to, and why the most crucial question that advisors need to evaluate when figuring out whether they're in the right place or not, is simply to take a hard look at whether they really want to be an employee or independent in the first place because there are opportunities to succeed with both.

Launching A Compliance-Ready Podcast To Enhance Your Digital Marketing

May 11, 2020 07:07 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Marketing

In this day and age of social media and social distancing, podcasting is an ever-popular means for advisors to market themselves to grow their businesses and reach prospective clients in an ‘audio-intimate’ format unique to podcast episodes. However, advisors face the unique challenge of meeting strict compliance requirements when producing a podcast show. Because of regulations imposed by the SEC and FINRA, both RIAs and broker-dealers, respectively, have specific guidelines that must be followed when it comes to communications with the public and content that may be construed as advertising.

In this guest post, Ben Krueger – Founder of Cashflow Podcasting – discusses steps that advisors can take to work with their compliance teams and to set up their own podcast episodes. The three key steps that can help advisors streamline the approval process of their podcast proposals with their compliance departments include: establishing podcast goals that aim to provide value through educating and supporting a clearly identified target audience; developing a good working relationship with the compliance team members who will be involved in reviewing the podcast and taking measures to be proactive on what they need while keeping communication channels open and clear; and creating content that complies with regulatory requirements (e.g., avoiding testimonials, endorsements, unsubstantiated claims, etc.), and then reviewing and documenting all content produced.

In addition to these steps, creating a systematic timeline for the podcast process can also help to organize a recurring schedule of events needed to produce each episode and can help the advisor stay on a regular production schedule (as the entire process can take as long as two months for producing a ready-to-air show approved by compliance), which can be important to attract and maintain a regular audience of listeners. Identifying the right tools and services can also help streamline the process, from transcription, audio editing, and production services to social media archiving and monitoring tools.

Ultimately, the key point is that while there is plenty to manage in creating a successful podcast, compliance requirements should not keep advisors from producing an effective podcast program that will help to educate their clients and grow their business. By developing a clear vision of podcast objectives, understanding compliance requirements, proactively working together with compliance team members, and identifying the best technology solutions to meet their needs, advisors can create their own compliance-ready podcast episodes!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (May 9-10)

May 8, 2020 02:54 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the news of a new show to debut this weekend on CNBC that will feature not stock-picking entertainment but actual financial planning advice from real financial advisors (featuring advisor and media personality Josh Brown) in what may be the most visible attempt yet to burnish the public image of what it means to be a "financial advisor" away from existing negative portrayals like Wolf of Wall Street and Ozark.

Also in the news this week is an update to the SEC's Frequently Asked Questions guidance on Regulation Best Interest reaffirming that standalone broker-dealers will be required to stop using the "advisor" title after June 30th (though dually-registered broker-dealer/RIAs will still be permitted to do so, even when acting as a broker and not an RIA), registration is opening for a new online version of FINRA and NASAA Series 6, 7, 63, and 65 exams as Prometric testing centers look to stay closed for at least several more weeks in many areas (while the CFP Board has announced that the July CFP exam is being delayed to September to allow more time for in-person testing centers to open where the more comprehensive exam can be effectively proctored), a recent Fidelity study finds advisors are buying more active than passive funds in the midst of the current market volatility (though it may simply be because advisors who use active funds are more likely to actively manage them in the first place), FPA launches a "Virtual Externship" program for college students to get up to 160 hours of CFP experience if their prior in-person internships were cancelled, and a new study finds that it's the frequency of advisor-client interactions and the transparency of the advisor's compensation that drives perceived value from clients (more so than just "how much" the advisor charges and whether it's more or less than what other advisors charge).

From there, we have several articles around client communication and relationship-building, including a look at how therapists are adapting to a more virtual environment with their patients (with some lessons for financial advisors communicating with clients), how to be more mindful of whether what you're saying to clients is really empathetic or not (hint: any sentence that starts with "at least... [it isn't worse]" isn't actually very empathetic), and a reminder that it's almost impossible to really know what others are going through so even when they share their troubles it's a good idea to pause and say "tell me more about that" before just trying to (empathetically) respond without necessarily understanding what their true concern actually is.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of how businesses and their employees can and are continuing to adapt to the work-from-home environment and the potential of returning back to the office in the coming month: the first explores how a renewed focus on employee safety (from the potential transmission of the coronavirus) may force offices to shift away from the open-office trend and back towards cubicles (with barriers to support social distancing!); the second provides some helpful tips on apps and tools to use to be more productive in a work-from-home environment; and the last provides a helpful reminder for anyone in a position of leadership about how to communicate more productively with employees in an era when virtual workplaces necessitate a more proactive communication approach.

Enjoy the 'light' reading!