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How can one excel above the competition as an advisor? Here are five things you can start doing right now to become a better financial advisor and in turn grow your business: 1. Avoid Conflicts-of-Interest If you as an advisor are looking to serve your clients for a long time making a career out of it, it is best if you follow this simple but very important rule in your practice. If the interest of your clients is your primary concern, then selecting and advising on any investment product will be clear to you. Time after time, the advice given to a client, that benefited him, will help to build...

Daniel Satchkov

14 Aug 2018

The Proof Is In The Pudding: How portfolio crash testing worked for me.

In the last post I discussed my history using Portfolio Crash Testing’s (PCT) big brother, Riskostat. Riskostat shares the same DNA with PCT, but Riskostat contains more features like risk factor decompositions, marginal contributions to risk, etc. All the things that quant geeks require in a system. But PCT makes the information more accessible and easier to incorporate in a conversation with a client. It also contains the most important feature of Riskostat: Crash testing (aka scenario analysis). In this post I will dive into one of the key events that convinced me that crash testing really works. In my role as the Chief Risk Officer of an OCIO, I had...

Daniel Satchkov

14 Aug 2018

15 Weekly Stats: Week of August 13, 2018

Matt Meyer and Michael Robinson are founders of The BluePrint Insurance Services. Their mission is to be the premier insurance partner for RIAs and comprehensive financial advisors. The BluePrint provides an operational insurance platform that allows our partners to provide the highest level of insurance access and support. We feature weekly update with permission: Contact information for The BluePrint Insurance Services: Matt Meyer Co-Founder 424.387.4143 MMeyer@tblueprint.com Michael Robinson Co-Founder 619.404.3038 MRobinson@tblueprint.com Site: https://www.tblueprint.com

Daniel Satchkov

13 Aug 2018

The Complete Guide to the 404(c) Diversification Report

Below is your complete guide (with corresponding screenshots) to the 401kFiduciaryOptimizer 404(c) Diversification Report: Diversification addresses a plan lacking diversifying investments; it does not address overlap in the menu. It is based on adjusted similarity (the formula is right on the Diversification page at the bottom). The menu is diversified according to ERISA if “participants are able to reduce the risk of major losses”. They are able to reduce that risk if there are diversifying investments, like bonds or bond funds. Diversification rating is visually presented in the 401kFiduciaryOptimizer tool, in a simple and easy to understand way. The Diversification Rating is the number in the diamond-shaped box, scaled in...

Daniel Satchkov

09 Aug 2018

A new way to think about visually dynamic tools for financial advisors

As noted in an article from WealthManagement.com, visually dynamic tools with a great education message are a huge weapon for advisors in the modern world. With the kind of advancements we’ve made in fintech, it’s no surprise that investors of today are very much visual learners. We have so many tools that can provide a unique and educational experience to investors available to us. It’s clear that advisors that have creative and visually captivating tools will have a clear edge in gaining and retaining clients in the future. A visual and vivid explainion of risk to clients is a big piece of what we like to do at Larkspur-RiXtrema. Designing...