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ITime was when personal financial advisory businesses died with the advisor, or the accounts got scattered among the other advisors in the office when he retired. Today, we've become much more sophisticated about valuing and/or negotiating for the orderly transfer of whole practices. This has certainly been a boon to the exiting advisors. I'm far from convinced that it's been anywhere near as good for the acquirers....keep reading

We recently observed the first anniversary of the most shocking and terrifying week in most of our financial lives: the economic cataclysm of September 15--19, 2008....keep reading

H. W. Brands, Thomas Jefferson...keep reading

The equity market has doubled from its panic lows. My email is full of unsolicited "awesome penny stock" newsletters. Clients are beginning to ask their advisors which sectors are likely to "outperform." This can mean only one thing....keep reading

There is no more important investment truism than this....keep reading

At Thanksgiving, I'll publish a new book for the advisor community called The New Financial Advisor....keep reading

Q: I'm talking to a prospect with $500,000 - $700,000 in an overdiversified
A: There is only one reason for a client to incur surrender charges, capital gains ...

Q: I have heard other advisors run into prospective clients who demand a list of ...
A: I guess the first thing that strikes me about this question is that you've got ...

Q: Today I learned of a study that seems to fly in the face of the Dalbar study ....
A: I would take the position -- not having read the study, and not intending to...

Q: I am curious as to your thoughts on continuing ed -- and specifically the CFP. ...
A: If you can master a good working knowledge -- within acceptable tolerances, ......keep reading

Q:I recently met with a prospect with 1.5 million in investable assets. For 16 ...
A:First, never say the dollar amount again, nor allow it to be said in your ...

Q:A long-term subscriber and grateful follower of your writings, I took the ...
A:I'd be hard-pressed to think of anything more catastrophic -- more perfectly ...

Q:I have a client who has been with me since 2002. He's self employed and I ...
A:By telling him that you would not consider altering his strategy in any way, ...

...keep reading

You're sitting with a prospect. Or, worse, you've already gotten a new account. You've analyzed his situation carefully, listened empathetically to his biases/fears/misconceptions about money and investing, and developed a clearly thought-out strategy for him to pursue, under your guiding hand....keep reading

Ask Nick...keep reading

Ask Nick...keep reading

Q: My firm includes a 40 year return history of all asset classes with our plans. I ...
A: Please take this answer in the spirit in which it is meant, which is as the pure ...

Q: I just found out that a plant in my area is closing, which will leave 140 white-...
A: I'll be blessed if I can see what diplomacy has to do with this. You have a right ...

Q: Just got an interesting introduction to a gentleman in his early eighties...
A: I'd start by considering the possibility that this is too good to be true and/or ...

...keep reading

Q: Recently, a local company that was 100+ years old, said they were closing ...
A: I don't think it's your place to battle their fear with anything. The handwriting ...

Q: I appreciated the advice you gave in the January issue to the person whose ...
A: A part of me is glad that you liked that answer -- which had to do with a ...

Q: I'm hearing a notable amount of client grumbling about "outsourcing." I know ...
A: It was called "The Perils of Protectionism," and it ran in Financial Advisor...

Q: Do you have, or do you know where I can get, a seminar script/slides that ...
A: You should build your own seminar; you know what you want to say. Think ...

Q: I have the account of a woman in her mid-50s who, never having worked ...
A: That's worse than investing with borrowed money: It's borrowing to support ......keep reading

We collectors of Wall Street trivia quietly celebrated, this past month, the thirtieth anniversary of the single most wildly, transcendently stupid piece of financial journalism of our lifetimes: Business Week's August 13, 1979 cover story "The Death of Equities," which featured the subtitle, "How inflation is destroying the stock market."...keep reading

I've already had a couple of requests to speak to advisor groups in 2010 on the subject of enhancing the so-called client experience--of working to improve client satisfaction with the advisor-advisee relationship....keep reading

A fascinating factoid was announced on March 18 by federal researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics (your tax dollars at work!): in 2007, for the first time, the number of births in the United States eclipsed the previous record, set in 1957 at the peak of the fabled postwar baby boom, and unchallenged ever since. (The 2007 number, if you care, was 4,317,119.)...keep reading

Ask Nick...keep reading

Q:I'm in prospecting mode again, and still running into no less incidence of the ...
A:"Do you feel strongly that your advisor has continued to earn your confidence ...

Q:Louise Yamada, one of the most celebrated technicians on Wall Street ...
A:Quite a number of important things seem to have escaped your notice. (A) Six ...

Q:I have had a couple of people tell me that the market won't recover for a long ...
A:I don't see why you would be agonizing over crafting a response to a ...

Q:We have an older client whose eldest son is giving us the third degree on his ...
A:With exquisite politeness, and a copy to the father, tell the son you've given ...

...keep reading

Elsewhere in this issue is an "Ask Nick" inquiry from a subscriber who can't seem to square the idea that he's charging one percent for his advice with the idea that his client is paying a total of two and a half points to have his assets managed....keep reading

Ask Nick...keep reading