Nerd's Eye View blog

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (December 9-10)

December 8, 2023 02:00 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 that a new study from research firm Cerulli has found that investors' willingness to pay for financial advice has risen over the last 15 years, with more investors reporting using a financial advisor (and a decreasing share considering themselves "self-directed"), in spite of the proliferation of DIY investing options in the internet era – which highlights the value that advisors provide in giving advice on client's financial decisions beyond the investment portfolio itself.

Also in industry news this week:

In a new whitepaper, industry consultant Mark Hurley predicts that the environment for wealth management firms will grow much more competitive amid higher interest rates and greater PE funding of advisory firms, although opportunities exist for RIAs that can successfully attract and serve younger clients at scale
According to Charles Schwab's most recent Compensation Report, RIA firms are increasingly concerned about retaining their top talent, and seeking to articulate the value they provide to their employees in a written Employee Value Proposition document

From there, we have several articles on practice management:

As the pace of retirements in the RIA industry exceeds the number of experienced advisors who can replace them, advisory firms will need to focus on developing and training less-experienced advisors, or risk going to war with other firms in a competition for more experienced talent
Mergers and acquisitions activity in the industry has remained strong in 2023, defying expectations for a major slowdown as interest rates rise – and PE investors see more room for continued acquisitions as the pace of new firms being established exceeds the number of firms being acquired
A growing number of investors are buying minority stakes in RIA firms, which in theory could be a win-win in that it provides capital for firms to grow and scale while allowing the existing owner to keep their majority control; however, some minority owners may demand more of a say in how the company is run than majority owners may be willing to give them

We also have a number of articles on investments:

With cash and short-term T-bills providing positive returns over inflation for the first time in more than a decade, it can be tempting to "chill" in short-term assets for their risk-free return – however, history suggests that the relatively high returns of short-term assets (at least compared to riskier assets like stocks and longer-term bonds) aren't likely to persist for the long term
3 years after Dimensional Fund Advisors introduced ETF versions of its most popular investment strategies, it has become one of the biggest active ETF providers in the industry – although questions remain about whether DFA can keep pace with Vanguard and Blackrock's passive ETFs (which advisors can combine to implement their own DFA-like strategies, at a lower overall fee)
Investors in diversified portfolios have found themselves lagging the S&P 500 for over a decade, which serves as a reminder that the overall cost of diversification is missing out on the best-performing assets (while also avoiding the worst-performing ones)

We wrap up with 3 final articles, all about gift-giving:

How advisors can find unique gifts for their clients without going over the $100 limit for FINRA-registered broker-dealer representatives
How giving clients non-"stuff" gifts like experiences or donating to charities of the client's choice can be a powerful way for advisors to show their appreciation
Which "luxury" gifts high-net-worth clients might be buying as the holidays approach

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

When Does A Financial Coach Need To Register As An Investment Adviser? The “ABCS” Test To Determine Status

December 6, 2023 07:01 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Regulation & Compliance

Over the past several years, the financial services industry has undergone a tremendous evolution in how financial advisers deliver and charge for their services. While commission-based models remain in use, fee-for-service models (including AUM, hourly, retainer, and subscription) have become increasingly popular. And because many service offerings have traditionally focused on areas like investments and securities recommendations, there has been little debate about the need to register as an advisor. However, the more recent rise of financial coaching models has introduced complexity, particularly for those offering advice on financial topics adjacent to investments where the need to register as investment advisers with the SEC or state securities authorities isn't always obvious.

In this guest post, Chris Stanley, investment management attorney and Founding Principal of Beach Street Legal, explores the specific conditions under which a financial coach must register as an investment adviser. He introduces the "ABCS Test", a mnemonic designed to help financial coaches and advisors grasp the fundamental elements that define an investment adviser.

According to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, anyone in the business of rendering advice about securities for compensation is, absent an exclusion or exemption, required to register as an investment adviser. Thus, Advice, Business, Compensation, and Securities (ABCS) are the key elements in this definition. Notably, while many financial coaches satisfy the majority of these requirements – they are in the business of offering advice to clients and are compensated as such – they often steer clear of making specific securities recommendations, focusing instead on areas like budgeting, debt management, savings, and retirement planning.

Nevertheless, the 'securities' component of the definition has several nuanced exceptions. Financial coaches can address topics such as real estate, commodities futures, non-variable insurance, and government securities (none of which are included in the Investment Advisers Act's definition of a security), offer non-specific advice about investments to a general audience, and even obtain industry designations (like the CFP marks) without the need to register as an investment adviser. But once a financial coach addresses specific questions from clients around actual securities (e.g., how they should invest their savings or why one particular asset is better suited for their specific circumstances than another), they will need to register as an investment adviser.

Ultimately, the key point is that understanding the intricacies of what it means to be an investment adviser, including the exceptions within the 'securities' component of the definition, is critical for financial coaches navigating the fine line between offering advice to clients and needing to register as an investment adviser. This insight can be invaluable in shaping their services while staying within regulatory boundaries, allowing them to confidently guide those in need of financial advice. And with the clarity provided by the ABCS Test, financial coaches will be better positioned to support the financial wellbeing of their clients, regardless of whether they need to register as investment advisers!

#FA Success Ep 362: Developing Associate Advisor Compensation Plans And Career Tracks To Scale Capacity Past $1.5B AUM, With Jeff Brown

December 5, 2023 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 362nd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Jeff Brown. Jeff is the President of Stratos Private Wealth, an RIA based in San Diego, California, that oversees almost $1.5 billion in assets under management for just over 350 client households.

What's unique about Jeff, though, is how his firm has developed associate advisor compensation plans and career tracks, with well-defined Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 performance indicators of exactly what those advisors should be able to accomplish at each stage of their career progression towards becoming a lead advisor (which is allowing the firm to train and develop its future senior advisors from the ground up).

In this episode, we talk in-depth about why Jeff decided on a growth strategy of having the firm generate prospects for its lead advisors and how it allowed them to hire and develop advisors that better connect with and serve (and retain) clients instead, the unique performance review plan and scoring system that Jeff implemented to both highlight when his associate advisors were ready for a promotion and is used to calculate their bonuses, and how the firm has leveraged client referrals, content creation, social media, and M&A to bring in clients for its advisors on the way to growing to nearly $1.5 billion of AUM (and is now increasing the firm's marketing budget and hiring a dedicated marketing professional to help further expand his firm's reach).

We also talk about how Jeff transitioned from the wirehouse world to start his own RIA and how, after feeling initially overwhelmed by everything from selecting technology to leasing office space, he chose the supported independence model offered by Stratos Wealth Partners, the mental shift from focusing on income to enterprise value that led Jeff to sell a minority stake, and subsequently a majority of his firm to Stratos, and how becoming an employee of the firm Jeff previously owned has actually been energizing for him as he works to expand the opportunity beyond his own firm and build out an entire unified private wealth platform under the Stratos umbrella.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Jeff shares how a bad partnership breakup earlier in his career has changed the way he views and creates partnership and operating agreements today, why Jeff wishes he had set bigger goals for himself earlier in his career and revels in how many different ways there are to build a successful advisory business (despite naysayers who say "you can't do it that way"), and why Jeff recommends that young advisors decide early on in their careers whether they want to pursue an employee advisor path or build a firm of their own as they evaluate their own career risk and return preferences.

So, whether you're interested in learning about how to build associate advisor compensation plans and career tracks, how to leverage a multi-faceted marketing approach to generate client leads, or what it looks like to roll up into a larger RIA, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Jeff Brown.

The Latest In Financial #AdvisorTech (December 2023)

December 4, 2023 07:04 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

Welcome to the December 2023 issue of the Latest News in Financial #AdvisorTech – where we look at the big news, announcements, and underlying trends and developments that are emerging in the world of technology solutions for financial advisors!

This month's edition kicks off with the news that Black Diamond has announced the launch of its own CRM system, targeting advisors at mid-size firms who have data complexity and workflow needs greater than what more basic CRM options can accommodate, but who don't yet need (and don't want to pay for) the Salesforce-based options – like Black Diamond's existing Salentica CRM software – that offer the most customizability.

From there, the latest highlights also feature a number of other interesting advisor technology announcements, including:

Nitrogen CEO Aaron Klein and TIFIN President Jack Swift have announced their departure from their respective firms, the latest in a wave of founder/CEO departures from AdvisorTech firms after a 7+ year cycle of rapid PE-funded growth – raising questions about whether investor demands for growth and profitability in AdvisorTech firms is realistic (or whether it places an undue burden on firms' employees and leadership) given the reality that advisors tend to be slow to adopt new technology in the first place.
Envestnet has announced a partnership with Empower to offer a turnkey 401(k) plan management solution for advisors with small business owner clients – but it isn't clear whether making 401(k) plan management 'easier' will actually convince more advisors to manage 401(k) plans, given how advisors have largely been averse to 401(k) plan management when it isn't a core part of their business
Elements, the financial health-focused tool for engaging prospects and clients, has announced a new RIA partnership model to serve clients who don't have enough assets to meet an advisor's minimums – but given the struggles of previous attempts to expand access to smaller clients, it isn't clear how the program will bring in enough small clients to create sustainable revenue (especially given that advisors generally aren't marketing themselves to small clients to begin with)

Read the analysis about these announcements in this month's column, and a discussion of more trends in advisor technology, including:

Digital marketing platform FMG has announced a new premium website design service, responding to the desire of financial advisors for a unique advisor-specific website to stand out to prospective clients for less than the cost of a custom-built site
As technology providers have struggled to achieve wide distribution among advisors who remain reluctant to change out their technology, an increasing number have turned to "tech-facilitated marketplace" (where the technology facilitates connections between buyers and sellers, and is 'free' for the advisor while taking a cut of the transaction) and "tech-enabled services" (where a service is provided in a technology wrapper to be less costly than a standalone service ) – which on one hand, creates more options for advisors to find solutions to meet their needs, but on the other, can create confusion about what the advisor is actually paying for (and whether they really need it)

And be certain to read to the end, where we have provided an update to our popular "Financial AdvisorTech Solutions Map" (and also added the changes to our AdvisorTech Directory) as well!

*And for #AdvisorTech companies who want to submit their tech announcements for consideration in future issues, please submit to [email protected]!

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (December 2-3)

December 1, 2023 02:00 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 that the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week in the case of SEC v. Jarkesy, which in a narrow sense focuses on the SEC's use of in-house Administrative Law Judges to hear securities law cases rather than traditional Federal jury trials, but in a broader sense could call into question the SEC's (and other government agencies') authority to make rules and enforce laws in the absence of specific guidance from Congress in how to do so, making it of great significance for financial advisors regulated by the SEC.

Also in industry news this week:

As part of its proposed (revised) fiduciary rule, the Department of Labor is seeking comment on whether professionals using titles like "financial planner" and "wealth manager" are considered to hold themselves out in a position of trust and confidence (and therefore ought to be automatically treated as an ERISA fiduciary for the purposes of retirement investing advice)
A new study from Advisor360 finds that the majority of "next generation" advisors welcome the use of AI tools for communicating and collaborating with clients, but firm restrictions and regulatory concerns are holding many of them back from using AI in practice

From there, we have several articles on practice management:

Although advisor benchmarking studies are common ways to gauge advisory firm performance, the answer to whether a firm is truly successful lies in how it is meeting the goals set by the firm's own leaders
Newer advisors who find their careers (and compensation) stagnating at the firm that initially hired them are increasingly leaving to seek better opportunities, putting pressure on firms to offer higher pay and a clear path for career advancement
When an advisor moves from one RIA to another, a non-compete or non-solicit agreement can make it difficult to rebuild the advisor's business; however, there may be ways to settle between old and new firms in a way that keeps everyone happy

We also have a number of articles on money and family relationships:

Why many couples' arguments about money often stem from far deeper disagreements (and what advisors can do when they get caught in the middle of arguments that go beyond money)
Although talking to family members about wealth and estate planning can help ensure one's wishes are carried out after they are gone, some people end up regretting the conversation if it's spontaneous and unplanned – making a more structured and intentional conversation (or series of conversations) a better way to communicate the meaning and purpose of family wealth
Data show that the majority of heterosexual couples in the top 1% of net worth have the husband as the sole breadwinner (with the wife not earning any income), echoing a power imbalance between men and women both at home and in the workplace

We wrap up with 3 final articles, all about financial wisdom:

Why people are so driven by desire for the things they can't have (and why that isn't always a bad thing)
The lessons that real estate investor Sam Zell, who passed away in May, can teach about spotting opportunities and managing risk
A reminiscence on the legacy and wisdom of Berkshire Hathaway vice-chair Charlie Munger, who also passed away this week

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

Kitces & Carl Ep 126: The Best Ways To Boost Advisor Productivity: New Tech Efficiencies Vs Old Fee Increases

November 30, 2023 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Kitces & Carl Podcast

Financial advisors looking to increase their firm's productivity may often start by choosing either to hire more employees as a way to delegate their workload, or to implement new technology solutions to increase the efficiency of their work processes. While the expectation is often that investing in these solutions will enhance efficiency, advisor capacity, and margins without proportionally increasing costs, the reality is that they typically have a modest impact on profitability (with no more than an estimated 10% margin of improvement). This suggests that technology alone may not be the panacea for scalability and profitability many advisors hope for. Yet, a more direct and potentially immediate revenue-boosting solution is for advisors to adjust their firm's fee structure, aligning their fees with the true value of their services – which often results in significantly higher profitably!

In our 126th episode of Kitces & Carl, Michael Kitces and client communication expert Carl Richards discuss how raising one's advisory fees may perhaps be the most efficient strategy for growth and scaling, and how advisors can justify and execute a fee increase for their own services.

As a starting point, the positive math of raising advisory fees is relatively straightforward, primarily because it avoids the same resource-intensive investment and ongoing costs that accompany other growth strategies, such as implementing new technology solutions or hiring additional staff. However, while the work of raising fees may be as 'simple' as sending an explanatory email to announce fee increases to clients, there are often psychological barriers that prevent some advisors from charging appropriately for their services. For example, many advisors may hesitate to raise fees for long-time clients who have been with them since the beginning – the ones who took a gamble on a fledgling practice and practitioner. Others may face deep-seated beliefs that clients will react badly to increased fees, and some advisors may even struggle with asserting their own value proposition.

Nonetheless, clients are willing to pay for perceived value – especially when that value goes beyond the technical aspects of financial planning (including personalized attention such as goal clarification, behavioral coaching, and empathetic listening). Which means that when advisors find themselves ready to take their next steps to growth, hiring more people or implementing new technology are not the only solutions to consider. Instead, raising fees to accurately reflect the true value of an advisor's services might be the best solution to help advisors realize their growth goals.

Ultimately, though, the key point is that whatever fee structure an advisor may choose, it is important not to underestimate one's own growth and value. By reflecting on their value, recognizing and acknowledging the complex narratives that might have limited their past pricing strategies, and embracing the worth of their services, advisors may develop a new perspective on raising fees as a growth strategy – recognizing that this approach not only serves to increase growth, but also ensures the firm's success and sustainability, serving as a win-win situation for both advisors and clients!

Advice Engagement Tools For A More Dynamic VIP (Visualization, Interaction, and Process) Planning Experience

November 29, 2023 07:01 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

The traditional way that most financial planning has been offered was for an advisor to create "The Plan": a comprehensive document outlining a client's financial strategy that was delivered either on a one-time basis or updated annually. However, as the industry has shifted towards an ongoing relationship model, advisors have felt compelled to demonstrate consistent value to their clients throughout the year. The problem, however, is that a typical client's big-picture financial situation doesn't tend to change much from year to year, and the process of updating "The Plan" entails intensive document review and time-consuming data entry. Which means that updating a client's financial plan more frequently would offer little additional value to the client and would be very inefficient for the advisor.

As a result, tools have emerged that are designed to keep clients engaged in the financial planning process throughout the year, addressing the inefficiency and time burden of frequently updating the full financial plan itself. Recent Kitces Research on Advisor Technology indicates that while these newer Advice Engagement tools are not yet widely adopted among advisors (likely due at least in part to the newness of the category overall), most advisors who do use advice engagement software tend to like it – which in turn suggests that as more advisors become familiar with advice engagement tools, the rate of adoption will increase as advisors see the potential for a more dynamic ongoing financial planning process.

Broadly, advice engagement tools incorporate 3 key elements that enhance the process of financial planning: First, they use visualization tools to simplify complex and abstract financial planning concepts for clients. Second, they facilitate clear and organized communication between the advisor and client to ensure that important information is effectively conveyed. And third, advice engagement tools help clients understand where they stand in the financial planning process itself – and, most importantly, what comes next – to provide a clear roadmap and prepare the client for what lies ahead. The current tools in the Advice Engagement category vary in their use of Visualization, Interaction, and Process (VIP) elements, offering advisors the option to tailor the technology to the client experience that they desire.

Which means that for advisors considering adopting advice engagement technology, the process starts with deciding which engagement elements can do the most to enhance the advisor's existing financial planning. For many advisors, tools that help to define and navigate the planning process for clients can be the most valuable starting point, with interaction fostering more dynamic communication and visualization delivering information in an impactful, meaningful way.

Ultimately, as financial advice continues to steer away from static plans and towards a more dynamic planning relationship with clients, advisors will increasingly benefit from tools that can help them not only analyze and project financial data, but also deliver information to clients more effectively. Because as the increasing adoption and high satisfaction of advice engagement tools show, giving clients a "VIP" experience really does increase their engagement not only with the advisor, creating a deeper client-advisor relationship, but also with the financial planning process itself, making both client and advisor more successful in the long run!

#FA Success Ep 361: Scaling A $2.4B Advisory Enterprise With Debt-Financed Acquisitions Into High-Productivity Pods, With Peter Tiboris

November 28, 2023 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 361st episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Peter Tiboris. Peter is a Partner of Park Avenue Capital, an advisory firm affiliated with Northwestern Mutual based in New York City, that oversees $2.4 billion in assets under management for 1,377 client households.

What's unique about Peter, though, is how he and his business partner have built up their firm through a combination of organic growth, and a series of mergers and acquisitions all conducted within the Northwestern Mutual ecosystem, where Park Avenue Capital's size as one of the largest Northwestern Mutual offices in the country, and their ability to access debt-financing, provides a unique acquisition differentiator that is just further accelerating their growth.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Park Avenue Capital has grown to $20 million in revenue through a combination of organic growth and M&A activity, their approach to evaluating and valuing potential acquisitions, and the unique bank financing arrangements they made to be able to fund serial acquisitions over time, the way Peter and his firm build out 3-person advisor pods – including the lead advisor, an associate advisor, and a client service associate – and structures team support around the pods so allow them to increase their client capacity and productivity with a target of 50% gross profit margins, and how Peter and his business partner built a service-oriented culture at Park Avenue Capital, including hiring the former general manager of the St. Regis hotel in New York to bring a new mindset to the firm about what it really means to provide a personalized client experience (and bind the client to the firm's brand, rather than to their specific advisor).

We also talk about how Peter started in the industry in New York city in the aftermath of 9/11 as an insurance salesperson charged with cold-calling potential customers (and how he took inspiration from the work of author Nick Murray to overcome the challenge of hearing "no" from prospective clients on a regular basis and push through to grow his book of business), how Peter still thinks of his firm as being in the early stages of a startup despite all the growth and acquisitions because the business challenges that arise continue to be new and different as the firm grows, and why and how Peter created a business decision approach for himself by consciously considering what his older self would think of a potential choice, rather than just what his current self would prefer.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Peter discusses how he and his business partner came to the decision to hire a full-time CEO of their advisor enterprise so that they can focus on their strengths of generating new business and looking at the big picture of their business (rather than needing to manage the day-to-day operations of the firm), Peter's advice for advisors starting out as they try to generate prospects and build their initial book of business, and why Peter remains so upbeat about the advisory business, as one of the few high-income careers in America that can be achieved with very little in business startup costs (especially since large firms will often 'front' you a desk, a computer, and a phone), where success is determined primarily by your ability to control and manage through your own visceral reaction to hearing the word "no" from prospects until you get to the next "yes".

So, whether you're interested in learning about building a firm through M&A, using a pod structure to maximize the number of clients an advisor can serve, or how to create a service experience that ties clients to the firm's brand rather than to their individual advisor, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Peter Tiboris.

How Financial Advicers Can Write, Publish, And Distribute Their Own Book To Create A More Effective Impression On Prospective Clients

November 27, 2023 07:07 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Personal/Career Development

One of the main goals of financial advisors who market themselves is to build a foundation of trust with their prospective clients so that they feel comfortable in discussing often-sensitive financial topics and ultimately acting on the advisor's recommendations. The challenge, though, is that advisors usually have only a short amount of time to build this trust, and while advisors can use different channels (e.g., their websites, newsletters, and social media) to demonstrate their expertise, these channels often don't give advisors enough time or space to convey what makes them ultimately worth hiring. This is because telling the full story of an advisor's background, philosophy, and expertise could easily fill up a book; in fact, many advisors have written books to share their knowledge and experience, which can establish them as trustworthy and desirable professionals for prospects to seek out.

In this guest post, Michael Levin, a New York Times bestselling author and ghostwriter, writes about how financial advisors can make a more effective impression on prospective clients by writing, publishing, and distributing a book that establishes their authority, confidence, and, above all, trust.

When writing a book, the first goal is to make the reader feel like the author understands them, which draws them in and makes them want to know more about the author. Establishing that the author understands the reader's problems (e.g., through examples of how the author has solved those problems for others) early on in the book creates a connection with the reader. And because of this rapport, the reader will want to listen to the advisor's story. Put differently, since people care (and want to read) about their own problems, then by extension, they care about the people who understand and can solve those problems, too.

After creating the initial connection, the next goal for the author is to establish expertise in a captivating way. One way to do this is to create value on every page by giving readers clear and authoritative information that they can actually use. Some advisors may be wary of giving away too much information and providing the tools that readers could use to do everything themselves (rather than hiring the advisor). However, in reality, there's almost always more that could be said when a current or prospective client is in the room with the advisor. So, while advisors may want to avoid providing so much information as to be overwhelming to nonexpert readers, being otherwise as generous as possible (for instance, by outlining a detailed process to solve a specific problem) can develop a sense of gratitude in the reader, while giving them a glimpse of what could await them if they became a client.

Finally, as with many other forms of marketing, ending the book with a call to action makes it clear to the reader what they can do next. A brief, clear description of the types of clients the advisor works with, the services provided, and what to expect after the client's initial outreach helps the reader understand whether they might be a good fit as a client and how they can become one (which, if they've made it to the end of the book, they hopefully want to!).

The key point is that while an advisor's book can showcase the advisor's expertise and empathy, the story's real hero is the reader, not the advisor. By keeping the reader and their challenges front and center, the author demonstrates relevant expertise and encourages the reader to trust them with their problems. And when the reader can see themselves reflected in the pages of the book, they'll want to know more about how that advisor can be a part of their journey!

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (November 25-26)

November 24, 2023 01:38 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 that FINRA has issued a proposal to allow broker-dealers to advertise hypothetical performance data to institutional and high-net-worth investors, which would bring the rules for broker-dealers largely in line with those for investment advisers, but also raises questions about the comparative roles and regulations for the two groups.

Also in industry news this week:

A recent survey indicates that about 98% of clients are at least somewhat satisfied with their financial advisor and that an advisor’s ability to provide peace of mind when it comes to finances is a key driver of this satisfaction
A study indicates that advisors can potentially boost client referrals by using client portals and by implementing financial psychology practices

From there, we have several articles on insurance planning:

While many clients might be tempted to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan, doing so can create potentially costly financial risks
How seniors in several of the largest states will experience greater-than-average increases to their Medicare Part D premiums in 2024
How advisors can help clients minimize IRMAA surcharges and appeal to have them reduced under certain circumstances

We also have a number of articles on client communication:

The 7 communication practices that clients dislike the most and how advisors can avoid them
Why avoiding technical jargon can facilitate better prospect and client communication and tactics to help advisors communicate more clearly
Why empathy often beats sympathy for advisors when it comes to working with clients dealing with stressful situations

We wrap up with three final articles, all about the history of common financial products:

How the current system of employer-provided health insurance benefits can be traced back to wage controls imposed during World War II
How the private long-term care insurance marketplace has evolved over time, and why some states are considering stepping in to provide coverage to their residents
How the 30-year fixed mortgage became dominant in the United States and how it is impacting housing affordability today

Enjoy the ‘light’ reading!