HighTower Podcast: Collective Wisdom

Jake Falcon of Falcon Wealth Advisors and Joseph Klein of HighTower's investment strategy team discussed how the ongoing trade war with China is impacting the way they position client portfolios, with both noting that there is the potential for the tariff battle to rage on well into the election year if China is determined to keep it going. Klein noted that investors have been 'head-faked' by news and tweets about the situation and need to wait until they see a real deal on the horizon to expect the market to move past it.

Ask advisers about 'alternative investments' and you will get a wide range of answers. Alternatives can be a simple way to say you are investing in something beyond stocks, bonds and cash, or it can mean you are buying into complex assets designed to provide returns no matter the market conditions. In this rebroadcast of a recent Collective Wisdom segment, Steve Tresnan of Tresnan Ferst Wealth Advisors, and Jeremiah Riethmiller of Sarian Strategic Partners discuss their personal -- and wildly different -- approaches to using alternatives in a portfolio.

Richard Flahive of HigTower Westchester and Ray Baraldi of Sarian Strategic Partners stressed in Collective Wwsdom that figuring out how to make savings last a lifetime takes more than picking the right retirement date. It requires appropriate timing on when to take Social Security, proper calculations of your future needs andyour budget and more.

Richard Flahive of HighTower Westchester and Ray Baraldi of Sarian Strategic Partners discuss the merits of real assets -- precious metals, real estate, commodities and more -- in a portfolio and how they use real assets as a diversifier, both based on current market conditions and on long-term portfolio goals.

Jimmy Hausberg of The Hausberg Group and Michael Policar of HighTower Bellevue discussed the non-traditional ways they use to diversify portfolios and protect clients from volatile markets, with Hausberg discussing newfangled defined-outcome funds while Policar said he favors what he described as 'core private real estate' as a way of creatively allocating assets and reducing market risk.

Michael Policar of HighTower Bellevue and Jimmy Hausberg of The Hausberg Group answer an audience question and walk a nervous investor back from the edge of making a massive asset-allocation change out of fear of the next market downturn, noting instead that other factors -- from income to mortgage status to the actual need to tap investments to longevity -- should drive allocation decisions. The duo noted that the timing is right for reviewing allocation changes -- with a calm market near record highs -- but they warned against letting fear have major influence over long-term plans.

Jimmy Hausberg from The Hausberg Group and Michael Policar of HighTower Bellevue discuss the importance of properly assessing risk tolerance and setting appropriate asset allocations, noting that current market conditions -- with the market near highs but not seeing gut-wrenching volatility -- are ideal for making calm, rational decisions. Hausberg noted that few investors he has seen in his career have a good handle on risk and how they really deal with it, while Policar noted that investors who only consider their risk tolerance after a big market move tend to make mistakes when the market hits the bottom of a move or a cycle.

Lauren Pearson of HT Somerset and Jim Ewing of Ewing/Cona Wealth Management acknowledge that financial-advisory technology is changing rapidly, and that while technologies can give clients more and better control of their money, too much tech can create paralysis-by-analysis and other problems. In this rebroadcast of a podcast from January, the two veteran advisers discuss how they integrate fin-tech with their clients.

Cory Bittner of Falcon Wealth Advisors and Peter Lang of HighTower Westchester discussed how financial planning helps clients cross the divide from working and accumulating funds to retirement and living off of investments, and how critical choices made in the early stages of retirement can have life-long consequences, creating a need to careful planning rather than seat-of-the-pants reactions to momentary market conditions.