Enjoy the current installment of “Weekend Reading For Financial Planners” - this week’s edition kicks off with a report from Future Proof, dubbed the “world’s largest wealth festival”, held this week on(!) Huntington Beach, California. In addition to being held outdoors, the event stood out from ‘standard’ industry conferences in other ways, from the wide scope of its content to the diverse makeup of its attendees.
Also in industry news this week:
- How the SEC appears poised to issue new or amended rules regarding its Custody Rule and 12b-1 fees by the end of the year, and what advisors can do to prepare their firms
- A new report suggests that smaller firms have seen lower employee attrition rates than larger ones during the pandemic, and the steps firms can take to maintain a stronger company culture to attract and retain staff
From there, we have several articles on retirement planning:
- A survey indicates that while pre-retirees largely understand the benefits of delaying Social Security benefits, only 11% plan to wait until age 70 to claim them, suggesting that advisors can play an important role in influencing clients’ retirement income decision making
- Recent research shows that spending often declines throughout retirement, not because retirees have less income or fewer assets, but rather due to changes in health and preferences, offering advisors an additional data point to help project client expenses in retirement
- With Medicare’s open enrollment period approaching in less than a month, advisors can add significant value to their clients by assessing whether changing their coverage could save them money
We also have a number of articles on spending and cashflow:
- With an increasing number of retirees holding mortgages, advisors can add value by helping clients explore the financial and emotional considerations that go into the decision of keeping a mortgage or paying it off early
- While some clients coming off a summer vacation might be tempted to buy a vacation home, advisors can help them consider the full range of consequences of doing so, from unexpected expenses to the potential for family conflict
- How the travel industry has added to the growing number of subscription services, offering everything from discounted flights to access to luxury accommodations
We wrap up with three final articles, all about parenting and family dynamics:
- The importance of friends for middle schoolers, and why ‘peer presence’ might be a more important dynamic than ‘peer pressure’ for parents to consider
- How some parents helped develop an entrepreneurial mindset in their children, often by taking a step back
- Why a growing number of family foundations are choosing a time-limited, rather than perpetual, approach in order to donate money faster
Enjoy the ‘light’ reading!