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Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - this week's edition kicks off with a discussion of the latest RIA benchmarking study from Fidelity, which again finds that advisory firm fees are holding steady against robo-advisors, but that growth rates are falling... and suggests that perhaps growth rates are down precisely because advisors aren't paying enough attention to industry pricing pressures. Also in the news this week is an SEC announcement that they will be putting more scrutiny on independent RIAs with multiple office (i.e., "branch") locations. And the mutual fund industry still appears to be scrambling to find common ground regarding share classes for broker-dealers as the DoL fiduciary implementation date looms large in April.

From there, we have several practice management articles this week, including: why the "pitchbook" is dead, but advisors should consider making a "Capabilities" deck to present to prospects; tips on what to say in a bad prospect meeting to turn the conversation around; and tips to finding a financial advisor business coach (from a financial advisor who went through the process).

We also have a few more technical articles, from a look at how the combination of SPIAs to guarantee essential expenses and withdrawal-smoothing strategies for the rest fares better than using either technique alone, to a look at where it makes sense to use an ETN (exchange-traded note), and a recent Morningstar meta-analysis finding that SRI portfolios do not actually require the investor to sacrifice returns to meet sustainable investing objectives.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of improving and easing the management of household finances: the first is a series of tips from a financially independent retiree about how he's simplified his financial life; the second is a look at personal finance tips from a meeting of ultra-wealthy investors; and the last is a series of 20 personal finance "rules" that, while relatively simple and straightforward, can be remarkably powerful in the aggregate to get any household on a better track towards financial independence.

And be certain to check out the video at the end... an interesting exploration by Myra Salzer of the topic of "Wealth Prejudice", and how those who inherit substantial wealth actually face significant social challenges, as they are effectively "born into" a form of social minority that has a number of unfavorable stigmas associated with it!

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Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - this week's edition kicks off with comments from President-Elect Trump's former campaign manager and now senior advisor Kellyanne Conway that Trump's views on the DoL fiduciary rule "don't necessarily jibe" with the oppositional views of his advisors... and when coupled with Trump's recent selection of Andrew Puzder as his new Labor Secretary, suggest that a Trump repeal the DoL fiduciary rule really may not be coming once he takes office.

From there, we have a number of marketing-related articles this week, including: how to craft your 2017 marketing plan; tips to improve client communications (particularly via email and social media); the marketing advantages (or not) in writing a book to establish your credibility as an expert; how to refine your prospect and new client experience to be of consistent quality (especially when it's delivered by more than just the founding advisor themselves); and the announcement of a new "Mystery Shopper" service that Fidelity is making available to RIAs that will allow them to engage a market research firm to pose as prospects and provide feedback on their marketing and sales process.

We have a few more technical articles this week as well, from a look at the ongoing struggles of traditional LTC insurance (with the recent news that LTC insurer Penn Treaty will have to be liquidated, in what may be the largest insurance insolvency in 25 years), to a recent new study that finds life expectancy actually declined last year in the US (for the first time in over 20 years), and the results of an analysis of the predictive value of Morningstar star ratings which finds they have slightly positive predictive value, but only very slight.

We wrap up with three interesting articles: the first is a look at new economic research quantifying, for the first time, how likely it is someone achieves the "American Dream" by being more financially successful than their parents, and finds that the odds of generational improvement have plummeted since World War II from a high of 92% to what today is no better than a 50/50 coin flip, driven partially by slowing economic growth but even more by rising income inequality; the second is a discussion of the increasingly popular retirement strategy of "retiring at sea", and making a cruise ship your second or even primary home in retirement (with a growing number of large cruise ships offering "residence at sea" apartments to accommodate extended-term travelers, in some cases at prices even lower than a local assisted living facility!); and the last is a good discussion of the ever-present question "how much is enough", which despite being a core focus of financial planning, faces a challenging reality that figuring out the answer to the question has both a quantitative and a highly qualitative component.

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Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - this week's leading news is that the Department of Labor has won yet another of its cases on the fiduciary rule, as indexed annuity provider/distributor Market Synergy Group has failed in its attempt to have the rule blocked or repealed. While there are still many cases left to resolve, and the potential for appeals, the DoL going 2-for-2 in the past month is a promising sign that the fiduciary rule may be here to stay.

From there, we have several practice management articles this week, specifically around the hiring and compensation process that often comes at the end of the year, from a look at when it makes sense to hire another advisor, to the importance of creating a career track and compensation plan for employees (which is better than the "compensation crisis management" approach of only addressing the issue when an employee reports he/she is about to leave!), and a look at how firms are starting to formulate career tracks and long-term compensation plans to retain the best talent.

We also have a few more technical planning articles, including: a reminder to look at potential year-end capital gains distributions from mutual funds and whether clients should switch to another investment before the distribution happens; how HSAs are starting to gain real momentum (but disproportionately amongst "older" workers aged 55+, who may be contributing to the HSA more as a retirement supplement than simply to cover upcoming health insurance deductibles as originally intended); factors to consider when a client has a potential NUA distribution; and how lifetime immediate annuities can still make sense, even in a low-yield environment, because the reality is that the annuity "income" is actually a combination of interest, principal, and mortality credits (which means interest rates alone only play a moderate role in setting the payouts).

We wrap up with three interesting articles: the first is a look at Julie Littlechild's research on how when advisors make personal breakthroughs in their business, it tends to follow a consistent three-stage process to change; the second is a reminder that while lots of us have work and obligations to do, the greatest success comes to those who are initiators, getting ideas off the ground and going above and beyond the bare minimum required; and the last is a fascinating look at the research showing that most of us have tens of thousands of thoughts that flitter through our heads all day, of which a whopping 80% are negative... which means our success will be determined heavily by our ability to silence the voices and change our beliefs and focus on the positive that allows us to really move forward.

And be certain to check out Bill Winterberg's "Bits & Bytes" video at the end, which this week includes coverage of WisdomTree's $20M capital investment into robo-advisor-for-advisors Vanare (which is also rebranding to AdvisorEngine going forward), a favorable review of new financial planning software provider RightCapital, and an inside look at the capabilities of portfolio performance and accounting software challenger Addepar.

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Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the announcement that more than 50% of all Vanguard's growth is now coming not from its 'traditional' direct-to-consumer retail investor but instead from financial advisors, who now have as much with Vanguard as all individual investors in the aggregate (about $1.3 trillion)... a trend that will likely only continue, or even accelerate, as the DoL fiduciary rule rolls out in 2017.

From there, we have several articles on technology solutions for advisors, including: the announcement of Fidelity's new "robo-advisor-for-advisors" solution Fidelity Automated Managed Platform (which will deeply integrated with eMoney Advisor); the latest technology roadmaps at major broker-dealers Commonwealth, Raymond James, LPL, and Lincoln Financial; a review of the digital marketing tool Vestorly; and an interesting profile of the growing number of financial-advisors-turned-tech-entrepreneurs who are creating tech solutions for advisors by solving problems in their own advisory firms and then making the software available to others (sometimes building sizable tech companies in the process).

We also have a few more practice management articles this week, from a review of the latest FA Insight advisory benchmarking study on how the best advisory firms are outperforming on growth and profits, to a good reminder of how important it is to engage employees (and how expensive it is to turn them over), a discussion of key points to consider before breaking away from a broker-dealer to form your own independent RIA, and a reminder of how even a successful advisory firm sale by a founder can be extremely stressful and trigger a lot of soul searching.

We wrap up with three interesting articles: the first is a look at recent research on longevity, which suggests that despite improving life expectancies, we really may not even live much beyond 115 years of age, which appears to be the maximum lifespan based on our underlying biology (and medical advances may simply help us all to get close to age 115 before we die, not extend us past that point); the second examines how despite the tremendous growth of the tech sector, which now comprise most of the largest companies on the US stock exchanges, total employment of the tech sector is actually down over the past 15 years, as are the number of new tech startups, suggesting that perhaps the potential of technology is much more nuanced than previously believed; and the last is a challenging discussion about whether the focus of financial planning on helping clients achieve goals is wrong, because the truth is that most people don't have or even know what their goals are in the first place, and that perhaps our real value is to help clients figure out what goals they want to set and pursue.

And be certain to check out Bill Winterberg's "Bits & Bytes" video at the end, which this week includes cybersecurity tips for advisors from Kevin Mitnick ("World's Most Famous Hacker"), the launch of the new Fidelity Automated Managed Platform (AMP) for advisors, and the latest growth trends in performance reporting software solutions (from new features at Tamarac, to Orion landing a deal with mega-RIA Buckingham/BAM Alliance, and Addepar surpassing $500B of AUM and opening up a new API on its platform)!

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Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the big news that Nationwide Insurance is purchasing Jefferson National, the maker of the leading low-cost fee-based variable annuity for RIAs, as Nationwide looks to gear up its no-commission fee-based insurance and annuity products for the DoL fiduciary rule (and gain access to Jefferson National's RIA relationships to offer new Nationwide fee-based products in the future). Also in the news this week is a new advisor survey from Fidelity, finding that financial advisors are warming up to the DoL fiduciary rule and increasingly see it as an opportunity, though a non-trivial number of advisors (about 1-in-5) report that they may leave the industry altogether if forced to act in their clients' best interests. (Good Riddance!?)

From there, we have several "counter-intuitive" articles on financial advisor marketing strategies, from why you should stop asking for referrals (and what you should do instead to become more referrable), why you should stop going to networking events (and organize your own instead), why you should create a "prospect repellant" list (characteristics of people you don't want to work with), and why maintaining an emotional aloofness as an advisor professional may be inferior to sharing your personal story and allowing yourself to be more emotionally vulnerable with clients.

We also have a few more technical articles this week, including: the benefits of using a HECM for Purchase reverse mortgage to buy a retirement home (instead of a traditional mortgage); how factor investing extends beyond the traditional Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) approach; and ideas for new ETFs that would actually be useful for consumers (unlike the proliferation of so many today that appear to be pursuing extreme differentiation at the cost of introducing new risks).

We wrap up with three interesting articles: the first is a look at how, if you really want to motivate employees, don't just give them financial bonuses (which can briefly encourage behavior but quickly fade), and instead give them compliments and pizza (which have more lasting motivational effects than you might have realized!); the second is a discussion of how we tend to distance ourselves from those who criticize us, even though the reality is that constructive criticism feedback is crucial to self-improvement; and the last dives into the research of how to actually take a truly restful "micro break" during the day to keep your energy flowing (as even a brief 5-minute restful break can go a long ways to renewing our energy to get through the rest of the work of the day)!

And be certain to check out Bill Winterberg's "Bits & Bytes" video at the end, which this week includes highlights of the recent #FinTech hackathons from Orion Fuse and eMoney Advisor, the announcement that Motif Investing is launching a new Motif BLUE subscription service, the launch of Betterment's new "Tax-Coordinated Portfolio" (automated asset location), a new Quovo advisor dashboard, and more!

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