Gaining Perspective

Fulcrum Asset Management oversees $6.2 billion in assets. It is headquartered in London and has an office in New York. Like the other executives at Fulcrum Asset Management, Nabeel Abdoula is enthusiastic about the ability of macro fund strategies to deliver results for the clients of advisors during the tough times as well as better economic/market conditions.

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Here is a link where you can learn more about Fulcrum Asset Management.

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Advisors are increasingly using annuities when they determine that it is in their clients’ best interests. They recognize that it is a client’s income – not their wealth – that matters in retirement, and annuities are the only way to provide a longevity-protected income solution. Rising inflation and uncertainty over high market valuations have made the need to secure lifetime income more acute, and rising interest rates have made annuities more affordable.

Here to discuss how to help clients and prospects determine if an annuity is a good fit for their financial needs are three members of the Protective Life team: Lori Marino, Tom Sullivan and Mark Berwanger.

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Here is a link where you can learn more about Protective.

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In the next 10 years, 37% of financial advisors, collectively controlling $10.4 trillion, or 40% of the assets controlled by the advisory profession, are expected to retire. Yet, one in four advisors who expect to transition their business in the next 10 years is unsure of their succession plan.

Commonwealth Financial Network’s Matt Chisholm, SVP of RIA services and practice management, is here today to break down the options and opportunities for advisors looking to grow their practice in anticipation of succession. He will share how they can plan for the future.

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Here is a link where you can learn more about Commonwealth Financial Network.

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Clients and prospects are demanding a more flexible, iterative financial planning process that evolves as their financial lives do. That is why my guest today created Elements, a mobile-first, client-centric, financial monitoring platform. Elements builds a one-page financial plan that helps the modern advisor remain in closer, deeper communication with clients as their financial needs shift. It encourages better behaviors with clients that promote financial health by displaying digestible pieces of critical financial data, including debt, savings, spending, insurance, investments, and more.

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Here are additional resources:

• Elements home page
• The Advisor Substack
• Reese Harper on LinkedIN
• Subscribe to the Elements podcast
• Blog posts by the Elements team
• Videos by the Elements team
• Webinars by the Elements team
• A "Meet Reese" webinar

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Balancing the needs of your clients with the needs of your advisory business is challenging, but it’s essential to maintaining growth and scale. My guests today will discuss how to navigate the challenges advisors face through phases of growth by identifying opportunities to increase value, drive growth, and boost your firm’s performance. From client segmentation to succession planning to other key issues, my guests will identify the key decisions advisors must make to build a sustainable, successful business.

AssetMark is a turnkey asset management platform for financial advisors specifically tailored to help investors achieve their life goals. It supports more than $80 billion in client assets. 

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“Maneuver the economic downturn while supporting your clients effectively and strengthening your business with the new guide, Recession Proof Your Business.”

Here is a link where you can learn more about AssetMark and its business consulting services.

Take the First Step With AssetMark here.

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Last year, 2022, was very challenging for equities, particularly for growth-equity investing. Today, we’ll be discussing the style headwinds investors faced last year and the outlook for high-quality, large-cap growth investing in 2023. The William Blair Large Cap Growth fund (LCGFX) focuses on growing companies in growing industries – what its team calls structurally advantaged companies – whose long-term growth they believe will persist in a variety of economic environments.

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Here is a link where you can learn more about William Blair’s large-cap-growth strategy.

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This year, 2023, markets are poised for performance dispersion among equities (i.e., some stocks will do quite well and some quite poorly). That means it pays for growth and tech equity investors to be selective. We face a challenging economic outlook, from rates to a potential recession, but there are themes will shine within growth and technology. Here to explain how advisors can be more precise about where to find opportunities to navigate challenging near-term economic conditions, while seeking to capture exposure to long-term structural megatrends, is Jay Jacobs.

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Here is a link to Jay’s outlook, 2023 Thematic outlook: Rethink growth.

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The asset management industry is infected with buzzwords. Nowhere is that more obvious than in technology. Advisors are confronted with an array of labels like innovation, disruption, AI and deep learning. My guest is here to explain how providers of thematic technology ETFs are abusing industry buzzwords. You will learn how to inspect an ETF to prevent being victimized by “techwashing” – throwing buzzword labels on investment products with the goal of improving their marketing appeal but not necessarily their performance.

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Here are links to the TrueShares web site and to the LRNZ fund page.

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Last year, 2022, the 10-year bond yield rose 225 basis points, delivering record losses to bond investors. Equities were not much better, as the S&P lost 18.11% of its value. But this year has been different. The 10-year yield is down 27 basis points, and the S&P 500 is up 6.08%. Here to discuss whether those rallies in stocks and bonds will continue, and how advisors can protect portfolios from the volatility that we saw last year is Tim Urbanowicz.

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Here is a link to the Innovator ETF web site, where you can read more of the research that Tim and his team produce, and about Innovator’s defined-outcome product suite.

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Northern Trust Asset Management (NTAM) is a leading global investment manager with $1 trillion in assets under management. It released “The Risk Report” late last year, which is an aggregated analysis of 280 institutional equity portfolios across the globe. The report revealed six common drivers of unintended investment results. As an investment manager that employs a quantitative risk-aware approach, NTAM regularly partners with investors and their consultants to provide them with a distinct analysis of underlying risk components impacting their portfolios’ ability to achieve intended outcomes. Of utmost importance to our Advisor Perspectives listeners and readers, the findings of the research are as applicable to portfolios managed by advisors for individual investors as they are to institutional investors. NTAM does indeed serve individual advisors through a number of offerings, including Northern Mutual Funds, FlexShares ETFs, and Diversified Strategist model portfolios. NTAM’s purpose in conducting the research behind the Risk Report was to help investors make needed adjustments consistent with NTAM’s core philosophy, which is that investors should get paid for the risks they take – in all market environments and in any investment strategy.

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Here is a link to The Risk Report. Here is a link to the previous podcast I did with Mike in 2019.

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Formed in 2005 to serve educational and resource needs of professional business advisors, the Exit Planning Institute is a trendsetter in the field of exit planning for business owners across the globe. It is the only organization that offers the Certified Exit Planning Advisor Program (CEPA) and qualifies for continuing education credits with 12 major professional associations, making it the most widely endorsed professional exit planning program in the world.

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Here is a link to the Exit Planning Institute.

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For the 15 years preceding 2022, asset management was a great business, fueled by near-double-digit AUM growth driven by rising equity and bond markets. But that party ended in 2022, with big losses in the stock market and record losses in the bond market. My guest today is here to discuss what that means for asset managers, advisors, and the consumer who ultimately own mutual funds and ETFs.

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Here is a link to the podcast that I did with Neil in June of last year.

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RIA merger and acquisition activity had yet another record year, although the year-over-year increase was less steep than prior years. There were 264 transactions in 2022. M&A activity was nearly 10% higher than last year's 241 transactions. But 2022 ended with a slower fourth quarter, 20% below last year's blockbuster Q4 total. We'll get into the details beneath the numbers with David DeVoe in this podcast. I have had the privilege of interviewing David every year around this time, and this is the third in that series.

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Here is a link to DeVoe & Co.’s web site. Here is a link to last year’s podcast.

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Although the latest CPI data showed that inflation is slowing, it is still the number-one concern for clients. Investors are worried about the Fed’s reaction to interest rates, economic turbulence, and a potential recession. My guest today is here to discuss four topics:

1. Why adding low volatility to a portfolio is a defensive mechanism;
2. Where there is opportunity in dividend income, and what elements to prioritize;
3. What high yield bonds offer as a less risky risk asset; and
4. How to use real assets when seeking out inflation protection.

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FlexShares website: https://www.flexshares.com/us/en/individual

FlexShares on social:

• • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/flexshares/

Three Reasons for QDF: https://www.flexshares.com/us/en/individual/insights/three-reasons-for-qdf

Three Reasons for GUNR: https://www.flexshares.com/us/en/individual/insights/three-reasons-for-gunr

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My guest today is from Ionic Capital Management LLC, a $3.8 billion New York-based alternative asset manager. Ionic uses long volatility, relative value arbitrage, inflation protection, and value equity investment strategies on behalf of private and regulated investment funds. Since its inception in 2006, Ionic has been managing proprietary strategies and customized solutions. The Ionic Inflation Protection ETF (CPII) launched at the end of June 2022 and is an actively managed ETF that seeks to profit from its direct exposure to inflation and inflation expectations as well as increasing interest rates.

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Additional resources:

• Overview of the Ionic Inflation-Protected EF
• Fact Sheet
• Prospectus

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As investors increasingly seek out more personalized options, many advisors are seeing direct indexing grow in popularity. Direct indexing is a type of separately managed account or SMA, where investors can express their personal values and tax preferences. The personalization and flexibility afforded by an SMA allows advisors the flexibility to manage each client’s tax situation and reflect their values. Dimensional Fund Advisors recently conducted research into the tax management benefits of an SMA. It found that a multifaceted tax management approach that goes beyond tax loss harvesting and considers tax implications at every step of the investing process can lead to more significant, longer-term gains. Here from Dimensional to discuss further is Kaitlin Hendrix, senior researcher and vice president.

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To learn more about Dimensional’s Separately Managed Account offering: https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/smas

To learn more about Dimensional’s research into multifaceted tax management within SMAs: https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/insights/dimensionals-multifaceted-tax-management-of-smas

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Art collecting is a passion for many wealthy Americans. This was on display earlier this month, when the collection of Paul Allen, the late cofounder of Microsoft, was auctioned for $1.6 billion, setting a single-evening record. I doubt many of our listeners will have clients who amass a collection of that magnitude, but many will use their wealth to purchase art – either for esthetic reasons or in the hope that its value will appreciate. My guest today will discuss some of the principles and nuances one should know before purchasing art.

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Here is a link to the FreedmanArt gallery.

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Emerging markets have been rattled by inflation, weakness in China’s growth and the war between Russia and Ukraine. Wave after wave of bad news came in 2022; however, there are reasons for optimism as we approach 2023. Emerging markets are resilient and better positioned than developed markets to face the uncertain environment and lead the global recovery.

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Additional Resources-

• Learn More: MEGMX
• Learn More: MEM
• Engines of EM Growth
• Take a Flight to Quality

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Over more than two decades, Vanguard Advisor's Alpha® has shown how advisors can add value, or alpha, through relationship-based services such as financial planning, discipline, and guidance, rather than by trying to outperform the market. Vanguard’s Investment Advisory Research Center, led by Fran Kinniry, is charged with exploring how advisors provide value to investors.

This year has served as a harsh reminder of why so many investors seek a trusted advisor to navigate their financial journeys. During market declines, investor emotions easily crowd out wisdom and long-term thinking. However, through financial planning and behavioral coaching, advisors can help investors improve their chances of reaching their long-term financial goals.

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Here are links to four whitepapers from Vanguard’s research center:

• Putting a value on your value: Quantifying Advisor's Alpha
• Vanguard Advisor’s Alpha®: People with portfolios
• Consider portfolio and planning cleanup in volatile markets
• 2022 market decline continues

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My guest today will discuss how he works with UHNW/HNW individuals and families when it comes to charitable giving and meeting philanthropic needs. We will talk about the issues individuals should consider when making a gift of a business interest to a public charity. We will discuss the benefits for donors in making the decision to give a gift of a business interest to a public charity, the types of business interests that a donor may give to charity and the trends he’s seeing across his client base when it comes to charitable giving strategies such as this one.

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Here is a link to BNY Mellon WM’s piece, Considerations in Making a Gift of a Business Interest to a Public Charity.

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