The Wealth Consigliere

 In this month’s summary of Podcasts I am recognizing that even classic presenters can have good podcasts. I’ve broken my ratings into two categories classic (older) and Youth (millennials) Classic I love British accents and the podcast from the BBC In Our Time   https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl Oprah still rules   https://www.oprah.com/own-supersoulsessions/listen-to-oprahs-supersoul-conversations-on-apple-podcasts_1 I always learn something new from Howard Marks    https://art19.com/shows/the-memo-by-howard-marks Youth I just turned 59 and my kids keep me young  Robinhood might be in trouble, but their morning podcast is great   https://snacks.robinhood.com/ Axios Today is informative  every weekday  https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vYXhpb3N0b2RheQ?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiwmN6WoIrvAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg&hl=en If you are stressed please listen to Dan Harris    https://www.tenpercent....

  Investors are susceptible to new hot ideas. This week we will discuss how most ideas are not that new and how we can learn from the past ideas. The revolving door of managers shows that corporations are also looking for a new approach. Most new ideas don’t have a long life. Our examination is regarding the new ideas that are dominating the press and our social media feeds. Nothing new here.  SPAC It feels like everyday there is a new SPAC announcement.  The structures seem to work for the organizers, but not as great for investors.  The structure reminds me of a hedge fund structure without the SPAC providing any demonstrable acquisition expertise.  Most new ideas sound good until they aren’t.  We need to step back and examine the fine print.  I would guess that Shaquille is only expert at blocking shots not acquiring businesses.  Most athletes have proven to be poor money managers who fall prey to new restaurant ideas.   Regulators  ...

  Lyrics from great songs convey the difficult realities of our life.  Often we don’t immediately realize their message. ABBA wrote many great songs. The one that stuck in my head is Money Money Money . While it wasn’t written for our current environment or for independent advisors many of the messages resonate today. Our blog this week will summarize some of the ABBA lyrics that can help even if you don’t like the group or this song. If ABBA added lyrics for independent wealth management firms they would discuss three essential items.  New Business Development  We still need to develop and grow our business, but the operative words are our business.  Since it is our business we need to pay attention to items besides sales.  Our our firm ran a business that supported their objectives.  Those objectives often combined with our clients and our objectives.  The profit conflict required expense reductions and scale.  In our new business we will n...

  Two of the most valuable companies in the world are Apple and Amazon - neither created a new product. They did create a cheaper way to deliver what consumers want. We can learn from both on how we can improve our established wealth advisory business.  My advice is as usual is organized in three sections. Each has been around for thousands of years, but we all know that we can do better.  We will start with how we gain information. Give a shout-out to our parents and other mentors and end with what we need to do now. What would Apple and Amazon do? Town Square   For years we have gathered in the town square to listen to the ideas of others.  Now the internet and social media platforms are where we congregate.  While enjoyable we still need to fact check the opinions.  Apple and Amazon take different approaches.  Amazon allows their users to rate items they buy on the site.  Apple demands confidentiality and then allows the educated press the...