Gaining Perspective

The U.S. equity market is characterized by extreme dispersion. Virtually all the gains in the last eight years have been concentrated in six stocks: the FAANGs plus Microsoft. Strip out those six stocks, and the S&P 494’s performance has been utterly mediocre, roughly equal to that of the rest of the world. Here to discuss the role that dispersion plays in fund management is Chris Davis.

I attended the annual NAPFA conference a couple of week ago, which was held in Boston, where I live.  One of the most important sessions featured Kevin Keller, and he spoke about the initiatives and priorities of the CFP Board. Kevin is here today, along with Tom Sporkin, to talk about those initiatives. We’ll also talk about the steps the CFP Board took following an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal a little more than two years ago. That article cited some problems with the monitoring of infractions by advisors.

Warren Buffett once said, "When a bad business meets a good manager, it's the reputation of the business that survives." He was making the point that the business is more important than management. But my guest today, Krishna Mohanraj, disagrees. Krishna is a value manager with a solid track record and is here to discuss his firm’s investment process and the opportunities he sees in the global markets.

Alternatives have long been a cornerstone of institutional investment portfolios for their higher returns, lower volatility and diversification, but have historically been difficult for individual investors and financial advisors to access. In this episode, Andrea Mody, head of alternatives for Macquarie Asset Management’s Client Solutions Group, will discuss her firm’s efforts to democratize access to institutional-quality diversified private markets solutions for investors. We’ll delve into the increased demand from individual investors, the challenges that financial advisors face in meeting that demand, and Macquarie’s efforts to provide advisors with the resources, education and tools they need to provide their clients with access to alternative investments.

Advisors must embrace financial planning as a core service.   It gives them an edge against competition, provides a diversified revenue source and deepens their relationships with clients.  But there is no universal process for planning, and my guest today, Justin Duft, will discuss how advisors need to customize their approach to fit their client base. He will also highlight how his firm, Commonwealth Financial, has embraced planning and how it supports its advisors. 

The end of the year is approaching, and time is running out for 2021 tax planning.  Compounding the problem is the uncertainty around taxes.  Pandemic, massive spending proposals and a record high level of debt have created an impasse in Washington and increased levels of anxiety among wealthy clients.  Over the last year, the Biden administration and Congress have proposed several unprecedented changes to taxes that would impact investing for affluent clients.  With the specter of tax reform and the end of the year on the horizon, my guest today, Ryan Bertrand, is here to provide guidance for financial advisors. 

With COVID-19 variants keeping retirement-ready consumers wondering what’s next for potential market volatility, many are reevaluating a once common rule of thumb for retirement:  the 4% rule. It held up well for many retirees in the past, but most fixed income financial products like bonds no longer yield anything close to the 4% that would be required to support withdrawals. With rates actually hovering around 0%, what is a viable strategy today? 

FIAs, or fixed index annuities, offer some advantages, especially given COVID-19’s impact on the market. When combined with a sensible systematic withdrawal plan, they can provide an alternative with the potential for upside return, via interest credits based on partial returns of market indexes. This may allow for a yield closer to 4% while still preserving some or all of the principal. Doug Wolff, President of Security Benefit is here today to discuss how FIAs could be a useful consideration for retirees amid today’s shifting markets. 

Breckinridge Capital Advisors, a $47 billion, Boston-based asset manager, just released its 2021 Issuer Engagement report. It focused on climate change risk as a unifying theme. The report cited climate change as a risk multiplier for corporate, municipal, and securitized bonds. Climate change is an integral factor in Breckinridge’s approach to environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk assessment.

Science and technology have disrupted the active fixed income asset management industry, as they have so many industries before it. With the conditions in place for scientific fixed income investing to flourish, investors have available both an alternative and a complement to the traditional active fixed income strategies that dominate their portfolios today.