Editor's Letter
I was reading the Wall Street Journal weekend edition (yes, I’m that much of a geek) when I came across the following, “The U.S. has suffered recessions only twice in the past quarter century and both were short and mild. There are good...
Forward Motion
Free love is making a mess of college campuses (so to speak). According to the Greenwich Times in old-money Greenwich, Conn., 2008 is the peak of the “baby boom echo,” the children of the baby boomers. There are more 18-year-old...
If you’re confused by the following report, so are we. But the message is important, no matter the source, so here goes: The American Veterinary Medical Association found that many baby boomers have not focused on planning for long term care...
Is boomer fatigue fueling calls for change in the current election cycle? Rep. Tom Cole (R-Ok.) says yes, and thinks it’s one reason for Sen. Obama’s rise in popularity (the fact that Obama was born in 1962 and is therefore technically a...
Is it possible the financial media overreacted to the plight of retiring boomers? Hard to believe. But Robert Powell, editor of Retirement Weekly, told MarketWatch recently that the leading edge of baby boomers is well-prepared for retirement....
Morningstar’s Jeffrey Ptak recently announced his picks for the best new ETFs in 2007. Ptak, the research firm’s director of exchange-traded securities analysis, broke the winners into two groups; market-beating ETFs and longer-term...
Think all retirees flock to Florida? No so, reports the Associated Press.
Retirees are increasingly likely to pick snow over sunshine for their later years. The wire service says baby boomers are gravitating toward Wyoming and Montana, promising...
Not that we’re big on dramatics (or alliteration), but the following comes courtesy of the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind.
In 2011, the number of people in the United States celebrating their 65th birthdays will increase from 2.7...
"In “Are annuities necessary for baby boomers?” (January issue, page 62) Michael Sadoff is correct when he
states that having a 20 year time horizon defeats the purpose of an annuity with a guaranteed benefit, since the market will...
Reader response to an editorial in our weekly eNewsletter, Boomer Market Advisor WATCH, played out like a
microcosm of our divided electorate. Roughly half of respondents agreed with our assessment of candidate John Edwards, and 50 percent were...
There are likely to be a number of issues shaping the future of the workforce, but for today’s companies, one stands out above the rest: Nearly one out of every two senior executives (47 percent) surveyed said baby boomer retirements will have...
Broker/Dealer Playbook
Today, independent advisors manage trillions of dollars in client assets and generate billions of dollars in annual revenues. Now imagine an environment where 80 percent of those assets are being managed by advisors over the age of 50.
Given the...
It’s the time of year to think about future business. Without revenue it’s hard to develop infrastructure — whether it means hiring staff, marketing or upgrading your software. As more advisors begin to appreciate that they own a...
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The Fund Watch
Most mutual fund managers stay fully invested more or less all the time — meaning they don't keep cash on the sidelines to pay back departing shareholders or take advantage of buying opportunities. When shareholders flee, fully invested...
Uncertainty in 2008 means the degree with which advisors navigate the choppy water and think out-of-the-box is all the more essential. Rather than helplessly riding the ups and downs of volatile markets, qualified investors may be advised to...
Baby boomers near retirement are being challenged to rethink retirement planning in response to unforeseen opportunities and pressures. Critical decisions made in the early years of retirement can have an impact on lifestyle quality for many years...
The central concept for the responsible fiduciary to understand is this: While fiduciary obligations are among the highest known to law, they are not intended to be high standards for society. The obligations of a fiduciary are to serve the...