Advisor News

Lenny Dykstra as investment guru? Advisers say, 'Be leery, dude'

aca_admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:55:00 GMT

In Lisa Shidler's article for InvestmentNews she asks advisors for their opinions about obtaining investment advice from Lenny “Nails” Dykstra. Bert Whitehead notes that “the bankruptcy is a red flag ... and just because he's good at baseball doesn't mean he's good at investments.” Click on the link to read the entire story.

Advisors Peg Fees to Total Net Worth

aca_admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:05:00 GMT

In article "Advisers Peg Fees to Total Net Worth" for the Wall Street Journal, Kristen McNamara explores fee structures based on a client's overall net worth. ACA member, Kevin Young, who uses the annual retainer compesation model explains, "fees based on total net worth can make sense for middle-income clients who may not have investments outside their company-sponsored retirement plans."

Click here to access the entire article.

VOICES: Dana Levit, On Retirement-Income Strategies

aca_admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:46:00 GMT

When counseling clients on whether or not they are financially ready to retire what should one consider? In the Wall Street Journal article "VOICES: Dana Levit, On Retirement-Income Strategies" by Thomas Coyle, Dana Levit uses a series of retirement projections to determine if their spending is in line with their savings. From there she works with them to develop "a system that provides a paycheck in retirement."

Click here to access the entire article.

Filling Legal Gaps For Same-Sex Couples

aca_admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:34:00 GMT

Dana Levit is mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article "Filling Legal Gaps for Same-Sex Couples." More than one third of Dana's clientele is made up of non-traditional couples so she has become very familiar with the challenges they face. “For those people, there’s an added level of complexity when it comes to financial planning,“ she says.

Looking beyond the basic bond ladder strategy

aca_admin — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:11:00 GMT

In the most recent issue of InvestmentNews Jeff Benjamin explores fixed income securities and how members of the Alliance of Cambridge Advisors, "use long-term zero-coupon Treasury bonds to lock in an income stream through a basic bond ladder model."

Bert Whitehead, president of Cambridge Connection Inc., adds “when it comes to retirement income, safety trumps yield.” He also notes that this strategy has worked for his clients while the stock market was down and now that it is rising again.

Click here to read the entire story.

Regulation of financial planning industry facing new opposition

aca_admin — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:25:00 GMT

In his October article “Bid to regulate planning industry will soon run into opposition, leaders predict” Dan Jamieson writes that while Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc., the Financial Planning Association and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors have banded together to lobby congress for a more clearly defined regulation of the financial planning industry, opposition is now emerging. “There could be push-back from various industry sources,” said Richard Salmen, departing president of the Financial Planning Association and ACA member.

Click here to read the entire article.

Advisor review sites a good first stop in the decision-making process

aca_admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:35:00 GMT

Davis Janowski’s article, “Evaluating three find-an-adviser websites” reviews the sites EvaluateMyAdvisor.com, fabeetle.com, and financeanswers.com. While many collaborators agree that the sites are in their early stages and need further development, they are a step in the right direction for consumers looking to research personal finance professionals.

“Investors are questioning things more than ever before, so it is natural that you would see people coming up with sites like these,” said Financial Planning Association president and ACA member Richard Salmen, who is also senior vice president of GTrust Financial Partners.

“Conceptually I like the idea of these sites. I hardly buy anything that I don't go out on the web and research, but what worries me about [the sites] is that it is extremely difficult to quantify or convey the overall value of what a good adviser provides, only part of which is investing,” Mr. Salmen said.

Read the entire article.

Investors’ foreign financial holdings are coming under increasing scrutiny

aca_admin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:13:00 GMT

The recent scandal surrounding Swiss banking giant UBS AG has shone a spotlight on foreign bank accounts, but many investors are finding out that they also have to report other foreign assets to both the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department. Failure to do so, reports Darla Mercado in this week’s InvestmentNews article “Foreign-account holders may face double trouble,” could result in fines and prosecution. These non-bank offshore assets include some foreign life insurance policies, trusts with foreign financial accounts, and some foreign annuities, for example. But even those who aren’t sophisticated overseas investors can get into trouble: One example is immigrants who obtain residency in the United States, receive assets from their parents in another country, and don’t realize they have to file a Foreign Bank Account Report. “It’s very common for European and Asian families with significant wealth,” says Troy Thompson of Thompson Advisory Services in Portland, Oregon. “The father will distribute shares of stock in a privately held family firm, but it might not be clear to the kids, or they might not think it’s really theirs, because the dad is still alive.” To read the entire article, click here.

Erin Baehr named one of her area’s Top 10 Women in Business

aca_admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:37:00 GMT

In this month’s Pocono Business Journal article “Cream of the Crop: Women in Business 2009” Tim Sohn announces this year’s Top 10, chosen for “their achievements, talents, and drive.” Among them is Erin Baehr of Baehr Family Financial in Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pennsylvania. Asked how she got to her current position, Baehr responded: “In 2002, after completing my certified financial planner course work, I took a position in the financial services industry, looking forward to helping people manage their finances in a hands-on, one-on-one way. Unfortunately, I soon realized my position was more about sales than financial management. Eventually I discovered fee-only comprehensive financial planning and knew it was right for me.” When asked how a woman succeeds in this challenging economy, Baehr replied that “she will surround herself with positive influences, learn all she can about her business, what her customers want and how she can offer unique value to them.”

New advisors find a way to tap into expertise, connections, and an existing client base

aca_admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:44:00 GMT

As more financial advisors postpone retirement, new advisors are finding that partnering with these veterans can be a good way to break into the business. In today’s Wall Street Journal article “Newbie Money Managers Look To Older Mentors” Shelly Banjo points out that for these unions to succeed not only should the advisors have similar values, investing philosophies, and fee practices; they should also have a clear understanding of the business aspect of the partnership. Robert Schmansky of Northern Financial Advisors in Franklin, Michigan recently conducted a search to join a new firm. “You want to leverage the knowledge of an experienced advisor in building your own experience,” he notes, “but you also don’t want to be left out in the cold when that person retires and wants to sell their business.” Bert Whitehead of Cambridge Connection in Franklin has developed what he calls a “stress-free” mentoring program: After advisors have worked for his firm for five years, they have the option of buying out their clients for one-and-a-half times the clients’ revenues and starting their own firm. “When they leave,” says Whitehead, “I shake their hands as they go out the door and they write me a check.”

Financial professionals who advised Swiss accounts for clients could face IRS scrutiny

aca_admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:04:00 GMT

Swiss banking giant UBS AG’s agreement to turn over names and information for 4,450 accounts to the Internal Revenue Service has serious implications both for American investors and for those who may have advised them to hide money overseas in order to evade taxes. In today’s MarketWatch.com article “Assault on tax shelters could hit financial advisers” Jonathan Burton reports that the IRS is not only cracking down on secret Swiss bank accounts; they are also scrutinizing financial professionals who recommended the offshore accounts as a tax dodge. “They’re paying attention to advisers and keeping track of who’s doing what,” says Troy Thompson of Thompson Advisory Services in Portland, Oregon. “It’s enough that you advised and participated in the activity to put you in the scope of civil and criminal tax enforcement.” To read the entire article, click here.

Cambridge Connection receives the 2009 Best of Franklin Award

aca_admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:05:00 GMT

The United States Commerce Association has honored Bert Whitehead and his Franklin, Michigan firm Cambridge Connection with the 2009 Best of Franklin Award in the Financial Management for Business category. Established to recognize the best of local businesses, the USCA Best of Local Business Program selects award recipients who have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and who have “enhanced the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.”

Planners can benefit from turning to peers for advice

aca_admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:44:00 GMT

In today’s Dow Jones News Service column “Advisers Learn From Having Own Advisers” Shelly Banjo and Kristen McNamara report that many financial advisers have advisers of their own—and not just to get their own financial houses in order: They also pick up ideas on how to run their own businesses more effectively while gaining valuable insight into how their clients feel when they sit on the other side of the desk. Robert Walsh of Lighthouse Financial Advisors in Red Bank, New Jersey has been working with his financial adviser for nine years. Walsh is a member of ACA, a network of fee-only advisers that encourages members to hire their own advisers, explains ACA Executive Director Cathy Stegmaier. If clients express concern when they find out that Walsh has his own planner, he reminds them that many professionals have their own coaches. “We all need a mirror,” Walsh says. “Sometimes we need someone to look at us and say, 'This is what I see.’”

A growing number of advisors are modifying traditional retirement planning

aca_admin — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:38:00 GMT

In what has come to be called the “post-9/11 world,” events that were once thought to be unlikely seem to be occurring more frequently. And financial professionals are adjusting. In this month’s Financial Advisor article “Last Hand For Monte Carlo?” Bruce W. Fraser reports that Monte Carlo simulation is one popular retirement planning tool getting a second look. The problem is that the traditional “sunny probability” of 7%-8% average stock market returns mirrors normal—not extreme—market events. One advisor making use of alternative retirement planning methodologies is Howard Cadwell of Northeast Passage Financial Advisors in Brentwood, New Hampshire: Instead of Monte Carlo, he uses what he calls “rolling historical periods going back a century.” Cadwell notes that “the historical record involves all sorts of things that would be hard to model honestly with a bell curve: war, depression, runaway inflation, stagflation, bubbles and what have you,” adding that “these severe events don’t just have random results; there are serially correlated consequences that resonate, or ebb and flow, over time.” Click here to read the entire article.

Financial planners favor a fiduciary code of conduct and a single governing body

aca_admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:17:00 GMT

Mark Bruno reports the results of a recent InvestmentNews survey (which was conducted with Chicago-based Incapital LLC) in this week’s article “Advisers back one standard, one regulator, survey shows.” Of the 700 respondents to the online survey, 90% would like to see a fiduciary standard for anyone who provides investment advice, and 69% would like to see the entire financial advisory community overseen by a single regulator instead of having multiple regulators for different parts of the industry. Richard Salmen of GTrust in Overland Park, Kansas and President of the Denver-based Financial Planning Association notes that “whenever you serve multiple masters, it’s always going to create some problems and headaches.” To read the entire article, click here.