“Financial Planning Articles” is a collection of articles and research that I’ve been reading regarding financial planning, industry trends, career development, and more.
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This installment of Financial Planning Articles starts with two investment-related articles that go against conventional wisdom. The first features Michael Kitces and his findings that increasing equity exposure at retirement, rather than decreasing, is warranted. The second touches on the idea that effectiveness rather than efficiency is sometimes justified with portfolio construction and in many other areas of finance.
We then move to three articles centered around Generation Y and Z. The first takes a look at how colleges and soon-to-be graduates are responding to the projected financial advisor shortage. A Wall Street Journal article follows covering how Generation Y (Millennials), who began their working lives during the financial crisis, are less well-off relative to past generations. Our final article brings up the issue of employee advisors’ desire to “incubate” their personal brand within a firm’s brand and how firm owners can best leverage this development.
I hope you enjoy.
What I’m Reading:
Michael Kitces Says Traditional Retirement Investment Strategy Is Wrong (Ryan W. Neal, InvestmentNews.com)
“Michael Kitces thinks the investment strategy most advisers use to manage retirees’ assets is wrong. Traditional thinking is to make portfolios more conservative as clients age, moving away from stocks and into bonds to protect assets. Speaking on a panel at the InvestmentNewsRetirement Income Summit, Mr. Kitces said there really isn’t any data supporting this rule-of-thumb.
Not Efficient, But Effective (Nick Maggiulli, OfDollarsAndData.com)
“The more you look, the more you will find examples where efficiency does not equate with effectiveness…While I am all for working smart, sometimes working hard is the best option available. So before you critique a financial strategy for being inefficient, ask yourself: is it effective?”
As A Financial Advisor Shortage Looms, College Programs Look To Help Fill The Talent Gap (Lorie Konish, CNBC.com)
“‘We get more job offers than we have students,’ Dean said. ‘And while that’s great for the students, the industry is still behind. We’re trending in the right direction, but we need to trend that way a lot faster.'”
‘Playing Catch-Up in the Game of Life.’ Millennials Approach Middle Age in Crisis (Janet Adamy and Paul Overberg, The Wall Street Journal)
“They found that millennial households had an average net worth of about $92,000 in 2016, nearly 40% less than Gen X households in 2001, adjusted for inflation, and about 20% less than baby boomer households in 1989.
Wages didn’t look much better. At the same ages, Gen X men working full time and who were heads of households earned 18% more than their millennial counterparts, and baby boomer men earned 27% more, when adjusting for inflation, age and other socioeconomic variables.”
When Staff Advisors Want To Market Themselves (Bryan Hasling, MillennialPlanners.com)
“If you’re a manager, make sure you know exactly where your people fall on this spectrum. If they are a marketer at heart, they’ll find a way to be seen, either at your firm or not…For those advisors in large firms with (unnecessarily) strict compliance rules on blogs and twitter, not only can they feel suppressed, but they can feel downright under-valued. Basically breaking a rule from Management 101 – value your people.”
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