The Wealth Consigliere

Our industry has always looked down on Wall Street’s recruiting checks.  Last week there were numerous announcements that independent firms were offering advisors money to purchase their practice.  The term for these transactions is inorganic growth.  This week we will look at why these transactions are the new rage and examine if they are better than the old Wall Street checks. Wempy Popeye and financial advisors fall for the “I’ll gladly pay pay you tomorrow for a Hamburger today” pitch.  Unfortunately Popeye and and most financial advisors provide their hamburger but seldomly get paid what the firms and Wimpy promise .  Why?  The advisors need the cash and Popeye is gullible.  On Wall Street the deals adjusted when the advisors changed firms looking for a new deal every five to eight years.  The recent Luminous departure shows that the advisory contracts need to be adjusted.  The new contracts are written by experienced firm...

The president’s recent interview confirmed how important information can be for a successful political campaign, running a country and in our case running an independent wealth advisory firm.  Our monthly podcast recommendations help.  The important item that I add is a consideration of what is the podcast host's agenda? We won’t need a Mueller report to decide.  Here are our new favorites and their agendas. Grant’s Current Yield Jim Grant has remained an informative voice on the fixed income markets for years.  His thoughts are unique and helpful.  His agenda is for us to subscribe to his newsletter.   The Meb Faber Show Meb is a thought leader and a top portfolio manager.  We always learn something new when listening to his podcas t.  His clear agenda is to attract more investors to his funds. CBS Sunday Morning If you are like me this program airs too early on Sunday TV.  If you miss it because you...

The 75th anniversary of D-Day was moving and made me appreciate the power of history. This week we will examine the history of the wealth advisory business.  As is the case with any history, there are some good items we need to remember and several we don’t want to repeat. This is easier said than done but History can be our helpful guide. D-Day The statistics and photographs of D Day evoke many feelings.  The soldiers were BRAVE but the mission was satistically doomed.  What can we learn from their experience.  I vacillate between anger and awe.  My hope is that we leverage our young to help our country move forward.  Youth has energy and is full of new ideas.  We need to provide them experienced information and engage in honest conversations that allows each generation to avoid the statement of “they don’t get it”.  History can only help us if we share accurate information about our past. Legacy Systems Change is difficul...

The Luminous breakaway news has grabbed the headlines again.  Didn’t they already breakaway?  There are several items we need to consider regarding this break.  Our blog this week will discuss the items and the ramifications for clients and other advisors. The breakaway doesn’t concern me but the self reported figures do.  Here are the main items after I take a deep breath. Dating Sites The Gig economy loves DIY and is self confident and self aware.  These beliefs have manifested in numerous new companies that empower people to implement functions that larger firms and their parents controlled.  Two examples are dating sites and self reported financial data.  Dating sites are thriving and self reported financial advisors continue listing inflated asset levels on their websites and pitch books.  We can solve this problem, asking the online dates to meet in person and asking financial advisors for multiple references after meeti...