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In a recent article by PlanSponsor.com, they referenced a survey by Legg Mason that reports that many 401k participants are in the dark of their own portfolio allocations. According to the survey 22 percent of participants aren’t even sure of what their portfolio allocations are. Interestingly enough, 34 percent of Baby Boomers are included in this, while only 11 percent of Millennials are in the dark. Another interesting tidbit from this is that it seems that many Baby Boomers are heavily invested in equities, while many Millennials are underinvested. This kind of study reveals an interesting trend that Baby Boomers may be paying less attention to their 401k or at...

Daniel Satchkov

15 Nov 2018

10 Social Media Marketing Mistakes Financial Advisors Make and How to Avoid Them

More and more financial advisors are turning to social media marketing every day. More than 81% of financial advisors use social media for business purposes. 79% have acquired new clients directly through social media, with an average gain of $4.6 million AUM annually through their social media marketing campaigns. Such success also comes with a need to make sure certain mistakes are not made to stay a step ahead of the competition. Here are our top 10 mistakes and proposed solutions for social media marketing: Joining Too Many Platforms A very quick way to burnout with social media is by joining too many platforms at once. Here are over 60 Platforms...

Daniel Satchkov

14 Nov 2018

Larkspur Executive Infographic

Competition is getting ever tighter for financial advisors in the retirement plan space. With so much at stake, you cannot afford to use the same data and tools as everyone else. Your process is unique and you need unique tools to reflect that. Not only does Larkspur Executive have up-to-date information about 850K+ ERISA plans, but Executive also gives you ways to contact more than 1.2 million plan executives. No other tool does that. In addition Larkspur Executive provides key ratings for virtually every plan in the country measured against a customizable benchmark peer group. Imagine being able to quickly search for thousands of plans in any zip code and...

Daniel Satchkov

13 Nov 2018

How will the 2018 Midterm Elections Affect You as a Financial Advisor?

The big news in the US this November, which was accurately predicted by virtually every reputable pollster and pundit who prognosticates about US elections, is that the 116th congress will bring a divided government with the Democrats controlling the House of Representatives and the Republicans controlling the Senate (and of course the Presidency which was not put to vote). The US stock market reacted positively to the news with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 each gaining more than 2% the day after the election, though, as of this writing, subsequent sessions have seen those gains eroded. But the real question is, what will happen over the next 2 years...

Daniel Satchkov

12 Nov 2018

Ways to help 401k participants understand the risk of their portfolios

One of the most obvious ways to look at the risk of portfolio is by checking its standard deviation. Standard deviation is a statistical measurement that sheds light on historical volatility. The higher standard deviation is the more risk a portfolio has. Also, looking at Value at Risk will give you an approximation of possible loss/gain over specified period of time with selected degree of confidence. For example, the annualized standard deviation of well diversified portfolio on the screenshot is 5.6, whereas the annualized standard deviation of SP 500 is about 10. So, the portfolio analyst can conclude that diversified portfolio is less risky than SP 500. Also, the distribution...