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The Forecast Folly: Why financial experts rarely stand the test of time Present success does not indicate future outcomes

Present success does not indicate future outcomes The Power of Other Opinions What do experts say about predictions? Two types of experts In Brief Present success does not indicate future outcomes Predictions are a form of guessing, where sometimes the guessing is more educated than others, and a more educated guesser is not necessarily more accurate. Market predictions, in particular, tend more towards the guessing end of the spectrum with the more educated and higher profile prognosticator typically carrying more weight in public opinion. Particularly at the end of every year there are a lot of predictions about what the major changes and trends are in the markets, technology, the...

Colin Ward

06 Jan 2020

What is the Best Interest, Anyway?

The devil’s in the details. DOL’s Fiduciary Rule Standard Reg-BI expands on FINRA’s Suitability Standard Best Interest according to a financial lawyer The devil’s in the details. Many of the terms used in Reg-BI, like “Best Interest” are not explicitly defined within the 1300 pages (guess they ran out of the room). In general, the new standard is met when a recommendation contains the five-component obligations: Care, Disclosure, Conflict of Interest, Compliance, and Recordkeeping. Still, while there is not much within the regulatory documents, we must look to what inspired the regulation to understand what the SEC means when using the term. Best interest and meeting compliance with Reg-BI will...

What’s going on with Equal Weighted Index Performance?

Yon Perullo

03 Jan 2020

What’s going on with Equal Weighted Index Performance?

Lately, it seems the only equity investment worth making is in US large caps. The cheaper and more passive, the better. Of course, passive US large-cap equities are not the absolute best performing asset available over the past few years, but the category is pretty hard to beat for ease of implementation, known risk characteristics, price and performance.

Yon Perullo

03 Jan 2020

Working Effectively – A conversation with Erik Solbakken (CPA)

The struggles of CPAs, RIAs, and BDs exist because of mindsets and practices anchored in old professional service business models. Erik Solbakken changed the way CPAs market and build client relationships by building an educational platform to train small firms on entrepreneurship strategies. In this part of the educational series, Yon chats with Erik about the challenges of financial professionals and how dedicating time to marketing campaigns and entrepreneurial innovation can strengthen loyalty with existing clients and attract new ones. Click the link here to visit Erik Solbakken’s website.

Colin Ward

20 Dec 2019

Boris finally birthed his Brexit baby

Doctor, I can see the head Another Brexit referendum is off the table What about Europe? 28 may be a crowd. 27 EU members is a party. Doctor, I can see the head Residents and anyone visiting Ireland or the United Kingdom will be overwhelmed with news about Boris’ burgeoning baby, BREXIT. It is everywhere, but who can blame Irish and British news media for relentlessly covering essentially the same story over and over and over? Just last month, when the Brexit baby seemed ready to breech, Ol’ Boris decided to let go of his “do or die” moment and permit every member of parliament to continue with their little...