Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the big industry news that the CFP Board is modifying its Terms and Conditions, and beginning in May will require all CFP certificants that have a dispute with the CFP Board to go through mandatory arbitration, forever ending the possibility that the CFP Board will have to defend another case like Camarda in court. Also in the news this week is the continued escalation of life insurance companies changing internal costs to make up for losses due to low interest rates, which has now triggered a class action lawsuit being filed against Transamerica (though it's certainly not the only company engaging in the practice!).
From there, we have a couple of technical articles this week, from a discussion of the importance of Active Share (the more unique the portfolio, the greater its upside and also downside potential), to a look at how to read through a Financial Aid Award letter (as many have just started going out to college students matriculating in the fall), as well as a look at the practical challenges of using an HSA as a supplemental retiree medical savings account, and the growing concern from the "father of Smart Beta" Rob Arnott that parts of the Smart Beta universe may be in a self-induced bubble that could lead to a Smart Beta crash (even if the underlying concept remains structurally valid when done properly).
We also have a couple of financial technology articles this week, including the launch of a new portfolio design and risk analytics tool called Totum Wealth, some helpful reminders about how to stay on guard against potential cyberattacks, and a discussion of the big #FinTech news that Intuit is going to be shutting down its APIs, potentially leaving a number of account aggregation and client portal services in search of a new partner (and while there are alternatives to choose from, including Intuit's suggested replacement Finicity, advisors using software relying on Mint APIs may still find their clients soon have to reconnect all their accounts just to get up-and-running again!).
We wrap up with three interesting articles: the first looks at how "99%" of networking events are a waste of time, and the real ways to leverage networking value and opportunities (first hint: when it's time for sessions, take a nap, so you can be awake and refreshed for the actual social time for relationship-building!); the second is an interesting hypothetical letter from a Millennial to her parents' advisor, providing a great reminder of the ways that advisors could (and often fail to) engage the children of their clients; and the last is a discussion of the challenge in figuring out, when you're raising children, how to define what is "Enough", particularly for a family that is affluent enough to afford whatever their kids want, and have to introduce an "arbitrary" line to tell them no, create some financial discpline, and hopefully instill values of fiscal responsibility.
Enjoy the "light" reading!