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In a previous post I explained why most of the common criticisms of cryptocurrency (and Bitcoin specifically) are off the mark or are simply disingenuous. At this point, I would like to explain the real problem with cryptocurrency today and offer a fairly specific solution. Before I do, there is one more criticism that I did not address. It is so vague and yet it is repeated and used by anyone who is against the idea of a currency independent of central banks. I am talking about the B-word i.e. “BUBBLE”. Bubbles are bad (except in a jacuzzi), right? But this is not a serious criticism. For one thing, bubbles...

Gennady Prokofyev

04 Feb 2019

More Advisors Now See Opportunity Instead of Competition in Technology

Financial advisors are less intimidated by the risk of technological progress taking their jobs rather than they were a few years ago. Indeed, there are signs that advisors are becoming more comfortable with technology, especially as their clients become more tech-savvy and demand an enhanced experience in the digital age era. From the recent report written by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards’ Digital Advice Working Group and quoted in a recent Investment News article, “ Looking toward the future, however, the working group could see the technology to enable fully automated, direct-to-consumer, holistic financial planning without a human advisor as soon as 2023.” But that doesn’t mean the...

Alexandr Starodubtsev

04 Feb 2019

As a Fiduciary, How Well Do You Know Your Risk?

Recently FINRA has released its 2019 Risk Priorities and Examination Priorities Letter, where investment suitability remains its top priority. The main category in the suitability area continues to be deficient quantitative suitability determinations or related supervisory controls. However, it is still common that advisors ask their clients to trust their expertise when it comes down to selecting appropriate investments for a portfolio. This may be true, however, if the claim of being the investment expert can be backed up by hard quantitative evidence such as portfolio performance in different extreme events it will give such claim more merit. People tend to forget about risk when the markets do well. The...

Daniel Satchkov

01 Feb 2019

Case Study: Finding Plans with the Highest Fees

Our client specializes in cutting out excess fees in retirement plans, so their ideal prospect is one that is paying too much for their current plan. They need to be able to easily identify plans that are paying a high cost for their size, so how can they identify how much is too much?

Daniel Satchkov

01 Feb 2019

6 Things that Prospects and Clients Don’t Want to Hear from 401K Advisors

When it comes to communicating with your clients and prospects, it’s important to make sure you steer clear of certain things to make sure you start and maintain a good relationship. Below we’ve listed off a few topics and phrases that you should be careful of when talking to your clients, old or new. “I just assumed you were not interested…” If an advisor starts out with such a phrase, it can bring a quick end to the client-advisor relationship. One of the biggest blunders an advisor can do is to make the wrong assumptions about what a client is thinking about. Instead of making the wrong assumptions about a...