![Weekend Reading 150x150 Final](https://www.kitces.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Weekend-Reading_150x150_Final-150x150.png)
Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with a look at the big media buzz around how Peter Thiel managed to built a whopping $5 billion Roth IRA by 'stuffing' it full of pre-IPO shares of his companies and early stage startup investments (first PayPal, then Palantir, as well as Facebook), which as part of a ProPublica investigative journalism expose is already raising questions on whether the IRS needs to further crack down on how illiquid private investments are valued when being contributed to Roth accounts?
Also in the industry news this week are a number of other interesting headlines:
- A recent study on consumer preferences in retirement shows that what retirees actually care about is very different than what they expected in the years leading up to retirement, with a major focus on health, family, and purpose, and not 'just' retirement finances alone
- FPA hires a new "Chief Membership Experience Officer" as incoming CEO Patrick Mahoney attempts to change the tone and focus to turn around the beleaguered membership association
From there, we have several interesting articles on the rising focus on operations and the 'business' side of advisory firms:
- PFI Advisors (an operations consulting firm) launches a new "COO Society" for advisory firm operations staff to learn and train
- Angie Herbers launches a new practice management Academy for advisory firms focused on the core areas of business management for a scaling advisory firm
- Why COOs are increasingly becoming a partnership-track role in larger advisory firms
We've also included a number of articles on the growing focus of 'data' in advisory firms, including:
- A consumer study that shows consumers are very willing to share their data with their wealth managers (more so than their own financial institutions)
- How "Chief Data Officer" may soon become a key role in larger enterprise advisory firms that manage their data as an asset
- The trade-offs in being a data-driven leader (and why there is such a thing as being 'too' data-driven, such that the firm misses out on innovation by looking only in the rear-view mirror)
We wrap up with three final articles, all around the theme of learning from the past to inform the future:
- How "The Office" itself has evolved over the past 100 years, and why repeated calls for it to decline in popularity haven't materialized for decades
- Why it's becoming increasingly popular to (once again) look to antiquity for insights about what's healthy and best for us
- The fascinating link between walking outside and improving our mental health and creativity
Enjoy the 'light' reading!