Let’s Land This Plane



After the hopeful speech from our new president last Thursday night it appears we need to start planning for a post pandemic existence. This week we will examine what elements should survive. There are several items that can be improved too.  We will try to land our wealth advisory plane on each runway. Please put your face mask on before putting a mask on your coworkers.  The runways are ready for our arrival so please buckle up.  



Good Advisors

Many firms have realized the importance of good advisors.  Wall Street took a pay-for-play approach and it eventually backfired.  The Morgan Stanley exit from The Protocol was a stop-loss move. The beneficiaries of The Protocol  were clients and breakaway advisors.  Recently Schwab made a big policy change too.  Like the exit from The Protocol the Schwab change is in response to overpaying recruiters. Only time will tell if the impact of both moves is ephemeral.  Remember past performance is not an indication of future performance.  I’m biased toward good advisors.  


Empty Offices 

Many large metropolitan areas are experiencing empty office space.  Our good advisors and their teams’ opinions after the pandemic will have an impact of whether we return to the office.  I miss seeing people with a different last name.  My prediction is a hybrid approach will be the best solution.  I live near my office so a long commute isn’t my issue.  My only personal issue is I never found that helpful ideas were  generated in the office.  My experience is that good ideas and deep personal relationships happen at lunch or over the cocktail of your choice outside the office.  We will start to see an adjustment to better food and a reduction in bloated expense accounts after the pandemic.



One of our biggest wealth management challenges was researched by the academic professionals Dunning and Kruger.  Their research is applicable to most professionals and their clients.  The research found we all have an inflated confidence in our abilities.  This reality existed before the pandemic and our time alone has either caused us to accept this research or we have become more confident.  Robinhood hopes we are more confident.  Some of us can land the plane.  I know that I need an experienced copilot’s help.


Even after the pandemic I hope we realize that there is more to flying a actual plane than flying a video game plane.  



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