Gaining Perspective

As expected, on March 16, the Fed signaled its intention to hike the Fed Funds rate by 25bps. My guest today, Matt Dines, the CIO of Build Asset Management, sees three big takeaways from its report. First, the Fed’s guidance on the path of the policy rate telegraphed its commitment to addressing the rising price levels afflicting the economy. Second, the FOMC’s guidance on the Fed Funds rate joined other key and important rate curves in the global financial system in inversion – i.e., the level for longer-dated maturities lies below those that come before them. Third, the strong rally across financial assets after they digested the FOMC's report was an understanding that the "Fed Put" will be in play the next time trouble arises.

Last year, Commonwealth Financial introduced the Brand Studio to help advisors establish a name, logo and website – all the fundamentals to get marketing off the ground. Brand Studio provides advisors with resources and services in a centralized portal and serves as the engine for strategic advisor marketing support. My guest today, Sarah Howes, oversees that effort.

Family wealth transfers are complicated conversations. My guest, Jim Bertles of Tiedemann Advisors, has managed those conversations among his many UHNW clients and their millennial children. He has extensive experience overseeing and coordinating these transfers. Jim and I will discuss the dynamics of a successful family wealth transfer.  I will ask Jim about the questions he is encountering with beneficiaries and what insights advisors should be sharing with them. Jim believes that advisors should work towards creating strong relationships with these younger beneficiaries now, as they will need ongoing advice to update their plans as major life changes occur.

Roughly half of adults over the age 55 say their biggest financial fear is not having enough money saved for retirement. Add in inflation, market volatility and low interest rates, and that’s enough for any investor to have serious cause for concern. Those at or near retirement don’t have time on their side. Enter Constance. Last October, RetireOne, an independent distribution platform for fee-based life insurance products, introduced Constance - a zero-commission, flat-fee annuity built to enable financial advisors to integrate life insurance into client portfolios. With Constance, RIAs give their clients a lifetime income guarantee without cannibalizing their assets under management. By unbundling the insurance component from its underlying investments, advisors can wrap client brokerage accounts, IRAs, or Roth IRAs with lifetime income protection. My guests today are RetireOne’s president, Ed Mercier, and Dimensional Fund Advisors’ head of retirement distribution, Tim Kohn, on the show to discuss their recent announcement and the trends facing advisors who work with clients approaching or entering retirement.

ESG regulations and standards are proliferating across the globe. Along with that has been a surge in ESG investor appetite and fund launches.  That puts ESG at the center of dialogue among financial advisors.  It is increasingly likely that US policymakers will move to integrate ESG into its regulatory landscape in the near future, as Europe has already done.  My guest, Adrian Whelan, will discuss the key ESG themes, including how these are likely to influence US policymakers.  It is Adrian’s contention that ESG Is everywhere!

Amid the human tragedy brought on by the war in the Ukraine, there is a need to quickly and reliably expose assets aligned with Russia. But it’s hard to track the risks faced by big investors across diverse public and private assets that are multinational. Asset managers and regulators are turning to STP Investment Services, a Westchester, PA-based company and its BluePrint software platform that collects, processes, and presents constantly changing asset valuations for investments, from the investors who own them and from outside sources.

Investors continue to need a balanced portfolio, including fixed income. But the bond markets are challenging: Rates are low, duration risk is high, and runaway inflation is putting pressure on long-term rates. “Buy and hold” fixed-income strategies will not work as well as they have in the past. A better alternative is a tactical, disciplined approach to when and how to invest in fixed income.

One of the biggest challenges facing advisory firms is growing their human capital – hiring and retaining the best people. As in any service-oriented profession, there is no substitute for motivated, intelligent workers with a team-oriented attitude. Add to that the facts that the pandemic has expanded the need to communicate with clients in a remote work environment, and the job market has tightened with many more vacancies than workers seeking employment. My guest today will discuss how advisory firms are solving for that human capital challenge.

One of toughest challenges for advisors and their clients is the relentless downward pressure on interest rates. It has pressured savers to stretch for yield and take incremental risk for the safest portion of their portfolios.  Morgan Creek and Exos have a long history of providing innovation investment solutions to address the most pressing challenges in markets.  Taking advantage of structural arbitrage has long been a preferred method of earning consistent returns. Morgan Creek and Exos have collaborated to deliver an investment opportunity to capitalize on a unique structural arbitrage in the SPAC markets.  CSH is an investment vehicle engineered to provide all investors access to the types of arbitrage strategies normally restricted to accredited investors and qualified purchasers.

Racial equity is imperative to ensure change in a world that is becoming more diverse. We all can lead with kindness and empathy when it comes to learning about the differences of others. We can’t continue to have conversations about racial equity that are not followed by actions that do more than level the playing field. C-suite executives are adding more DEI professionals to their leadership teams to drive internal changes. Organizations are promising upward mobility for Black and brown people. But they still do not see much representation. My guest today is Dana Wilson, and her goal is to enhance the visibility of financial professionals of color and break down barriers for Black and brown consumers around the country who have established wealth for their families or are looking to build it.