FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors.
Advisors Should Aim For Maturity-Based Inheritances Instead Of Age-Based Ones (The Wall Street Journal)
Kyle Sanders, a financial consultant with Foresight Financial Management, recommends a maturity-based inheritance, instead of age-based inheritance. In this model the beneficiary has to cross certain milestones, like graduation or get their first real job, before they get access to money. "You can also slowly release access to the inheritance as a way to encourage better decision-making," Sanders writes in the WSJ. "Clients like this concept because it gives the beneficiary access to the assets slowly, giving them time to make wise financial decisions with small amounts of money so that when the rest of their inheritance shows up they're ready for it."
Moreover, this gives advisors access to a second generation of clients. "As the children get older, the natural inclination is for adviser to explain some of these provisions to them, leading to the possibility of the children themselves becoming clients one day."
Wirehouses Are Trying To Recruit From Banks That Were Once Ignored (Investment News)
Wirehouses looking to grow their assets are now seeking out bank advisors, reports Mason Braswell, at Investment News. Since bank advisors typically build their clients through company referrals, clients are less willing to transfer assets when the advisor moves. "Over the years they have had a bad rap because every wirehouse manager has hired a bad bank adviser who only brought over 10% or 20% of assets," Rick Rummage of The Rummage Group said. "The truth is, they shouldn't paint all bank-based advisers with that brush."
Another problem is that many bank advisors frequently work with mass-affluent clients, or those that have less than $250,000 in investible assets. ""I don't know that there's a renewed interest," a Stifel Financial Corp. branch manager told Braswell. "But there's maybe more awareness that some of these guys are good brokers who just happen to be working with a bank."
SEC Chair Says Markets Are Not Rigged (Reuters)
In Flash Boys, Michael Lewis claimed that markets are rigged. But Mary Jo White, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), told a U.S. House of Representatives panel on Tuesday that the markets aren't rigged and that retail investors are not being fleeced, reports Sarah Lynch at Reuters. "I want to be very clear that the market metrics suggest that the retail investor is ... very well-served by the current market structure," White said.
Men And Women Have Very Different Views On How To Invest (UBS)
A new report from UBS titled "Do couples really share financial decisions?" finds that men and women have different views when it comes to investing. Men have higher risk tolerance than women. But they also expect different results from investing. "Men are more likely to aim to beat the market or track the market (51% of men vs. 39% of women), while women are more likely to either be happy with a small guaranteed rate of return even if it means underperforming the market (32% of women vs. 28% of men) or focusing on how they are doing toward goals, and not comparing to the market (29% of women vs. 21% of men). Women hold 29% of their assets in cash compared to men, who hold 22%." The study also found that men are more likely to invest any additionally money they get, or hold it for investment. While women are more likely to save their money or use it to pay off a debt.
When It Comes To Retirement, $2 Million May Be The New $1 Million (USA Today)
It used to be that if you managed to save up a cool $1 million you'd do okay in retirement. But Rodney Brooks at USA Today writes that "the new $1 million may be $2 million." This doesn't mean that people can't afford to live on $1 million, but that with key lifestyle changes, rising medical costs, $1 million doesn't seem like much.
"Everything is relative," Clarence Kehoe, executive partner in the accounting firm Anchin, Block & Anchin told Brooks. "For some people, I would think $1 million would be more than enough. For other people, I can tell you some of these clients spend more than $1 million in a year. It depends on the person, their lifestyle, and what they are used to."