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When Teams Stall, Growth Stalls: The Cost of Advisory Staff Underperformance
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Advisory firms are people-driven businesses. Unlike asset managers or product manufacturers, their value is derived from human capital — specifically, the ability of teams to serve clients effectively, deepen relationships, and manage workflows.
Why Being Better Is Being Different
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The financial advisory landscape has fundamentally shifted. What once differentiated firms and advisors has become commoditized, reduced to mere table stakes. Today's marketplace demands a new understanding of what it means to stand out — not through revolutionary uniqueness, but through extraordinary execution of fundamental principles that most advisors neglect or execute poorly.
Business Process Management: Why Wealth Management Firms Must Embrace It Now
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Wealth management firms today face an unprecedented convergence of challenges. Client expectations have evolved beyond traditional relationship management to demand digital-first experiences. Legacy infrastructure creaks under the weight of manual processes that were adequate decades ago but are now operational liabilities.
What Being a Financial Advisor Taught Me About M&A
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If you’re preparing to sell your business, the M&A process might seem daunting and mysterious. As a financial advisor, you’re an expert at connecting with clients and providing sound financial guidance.
America's Driving Habits: August 2025
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Travel on all roads and streets increased in August. The 12-month moving average was up 0.08% month-over-month and was up 0.98% year-over-year. However, if we factor in population growth, the 12-month MA of the civilian population-adjusted data (age 16-and-over) was unchanged month-over-month and down -0.91% year-over-year.
BlackRock Is Pulling Bitcoin Whales Into Wall Street’s Orbit
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A new generation of ETFs is giving the crypto rich a novel way to fold their digital fortunes into the regulated financial system — without selling, and through funds run by big asset managers like BlackRock Inc.
Vanguard Adds $1.4 Trillion S&P Funds to Investor Proxy Program
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Vanguard Group is expanding its proxy voting program — designed to give shareholders a greater say on corporate resolutions at portfolio companies — to add the investment giant’s oldest index fund.
AI Boom Transforms Utilities From Haven to Soaring Growth Stocks
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The artificial intelligence trade that has driven the S&P 500 Index to one record after another over the past few years is transforming traditionally sleepy utilities stocks into booming growth plays. Since the end of 2023, the utilities sector is up 44%, making it the third best-performing group in the S&P 500.
Real-Time Indicators Support a Rate Cut in October
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Last week’s scheduled release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September was postponed due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, which has disrupted the operations of key agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Morgan Stanley Says Sell Dollars in ‘Goldilocks’ Scenarios
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Investors looking to profit from a “Goldilocks” environment where US stocks rally but Treasury market losses are contained should short the dollar, according to a new study published by Morgan Stanley.
A Balanced Approach for More Cautious Investors
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Head of U.S. Fixed Income Greg Wilensky and Portfolio Manager Jeremiah Buckley discuss how balanced strategies can help investors stay true to their long-term objectives by providing a less volatile option to an all-equity portfolio.
Tough Pill To Swallow
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So while there is a lot of focus on drug prices, measures taken to date are unlikely to make a meaningful impact on costs paid by the U.S. and its citizens. More fundamental reform would likely take an act of Congress, which would be hotly contested by lobbyists. There is no end in sight for debate on this front.
Credit Jitters Seem Overblown, But Fed Cut Nears
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The 10-year Treasury briefly tested 4% and slipped just below, exactly what you’d expect when credit jitters boost demand for safe collateral. Real yields eased as well, consistent with a modest risk-off bid. Treasuries remain the cleanest hedge when credit fears pop, and that relationship asserted itself again last week.
Q3 2025: The Stock Market Is the Economy
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Stock markets are at all-time highs, public companies are shutting down their operations to buy bitcoin, consumers can bet in real time on almost anything they can imagine, “meme stocks” are back in full force, even the US government is buying stocks.
Flying Blind
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As we recently argued, investors don’t need to worry about the federal government shutdown showdown causing a recession. Before the current shutdown, the federal government had been shut for eighty days in the prior thirty years, with none of those days during a recession.
Why Energy Security Still Matters Today
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For most investors, energy security probably tends to be an afterthought until an event drives a jump in prices at the pump, as seen with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, energy security is about much more than geopolitics, especially as demand for electricity is poised for growth.
The Impact of U.S. Stock Buybacks: Theory vs Practice
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Buybacks are not a neutral corporate finance choice but a force shaping market dynamics, investor welfare, and fiscal policy. Their rise since the 1990s may be one of the most under-appreciated drivers of U.S. equity market performance and warrants greater attention from academics, investors, and policymakers.
Glass Half-Full Economy Has Rarely Looked So Good
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Seldom has the middling been the cause of so much relief. Six months after the White House unveiled steep tariffs, the global economy has held up well — mainly by outperforming some doleful projections. There's been no recession. Forecasts have even been revised up a touch.
Top Goldman Banker Marsh, 49, to Leave After Nearly 20 Years
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Prior to his most recent role, Marsh held several leadership positions including as head of the EMEA financing group, global co-head of credit finance and global co-head of the alternative capital solutions unit. He became a partner at Goldman in 2014 after joining the bank in 2006.
Pictet Enters U.S. Market with Actively Managed ETF Trio
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Pictet Asset Management just added three funds to a 2025 that’s seen a record number of actively managed ETF launches: the Pictet AI Enhanced International Equity ETF (PQNT), Pictet Cleaner Planet ETF (PCLN), and Pictet AI & Automation ETF (PBOT).
The Complexities of Moving Toward Simplicity
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I’m a big believer in simplicity for most things, and that includes investing. When constructing a portfolio, simplicity is what I aim for. In this piece, I offer a brief summary of how I analyze the holdings and make recommendations on what to keep and what to get out of when a client asks me to review and improve their investments.
Capitalism: The Road to Wealth & Happiness
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Therefore, while we have ideas about where countries might fall on the economic and political spectrums, this data helps us better quantify the accuracy of said ideas. From an investing perspective, the trends in a nation’s index help us appreciate its future growth potential.
Weekly Economic Snapshot: Navigating the Data Void with Secondary Reports
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In a week marked by renewed S&P 500 volatility stemming from reignited tariff talks and the ongoing challenge of a government shutdown that continues to delay crucial government reports, investors and analysts have increasingly turned to secondary economic indicators for a timely view of the U.S. economy.
Bitcoin, Gold and the Hard-Money Renaissance: A Practical Playbook for Allocators
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The most useful conversations about crypto don't start with block times or cryptography; they start with the monetary system. When money supply compounds and confidence in policy waxes and wanes, investors may reach for hard assets—tangible, scarce resources with intrinsic use value whose supply is difficult or costly to expand.
Q3 2025: Signal Through the Static
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The third quarter demonstrated the market’s ability to focus on powerful, long-term themes like technological productivity and monetary policy, even amidst significant short-term political noise. While large technology companies were once again a driver of headline returns, the positive performance across nearly all global asset classes rewarded a diversified approach.