Year: 2019
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You, Your Retirement, and the SECURE Act – GENERAL Audience
Created: December 24, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Estate Planning, Financial Planning, General Audience, Retirement Planning, Tax Planning
Description: Use this 1,300-word document to provide a GENERAL AUDIENCE with an overview of what to expect from the newly enacted U.S. SECURE Act -- emphasizing how you might assist them in applying the changes according to their best interests. Refer to separate piece tailored for CLIENT use.
You, Your Retirement, and the SECURE Act – CLIENT Audience
Created: December 24, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Client-Focused, Estate Planning, Financial Planning, Politics, Retirement Planning, Tax Planning
Description: Use this 1,300-word document to provide CLIENTS with an overview of what to expect from the newly enacted U.S. SECURE Act -- emphasizing how you will be assisting them in applying the changes according to their best interests. Refer to separate piece revised for GENERAL AUDIENCE use.
Six Financial Best Practices for 2020
Created: December 8, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Client Experience, Economics, Evidence-Based Investing, Financial Best Practice Lists, General Audience, Listicle, Philanthropy/Giving, Security, Wealth Management
Description: Share this 869-word piece with clients and prospects to offer six financial best practices for 2020. This year's selection is based on some of the changes that took place in 2019, including TCJA tax tips, zero-commission stock and ETF trading, and more.
Why Safe Harbors Can Be Risky Business
Created: November 21, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Client Experience, Evidence-Based Investing, Fixed Income, General Audience, Scary Market Insights
Description: Use this 922-word article to remind clients and explain to prospective clients how to balance managing short-term market volatility risks with the long-term risk of inflation. It’s also risky to overweight a portfolio in "safe harbor" investments, and/or flee to the sidelines during turbulent times, just in a different way.
A Meaningful Message for Thanksgiving/Holiday Season (2019)
Created: November 6, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Client Experience, Client-Focused, General Letter/E-Mail, Holiday Greetings
Description: Use this 323-word message to be in touch with your clients for the U.S. Thanksgiving or the general 2019 holiday season, thanking them for their business and wishing them "joie de vivre." The message also includes language for making an optional gift along with the letter, for all or some of your client relationships.
16 Things You Can Do To Prepare for the Next Recession
Created: October 18, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Expenses, Family Wealth, Financial Planning, General Audience, Listicle, Retirement Planning, Scary Market Insights, Wealth Management
Description: 16 things investors can do to truly strengthen their financial well-being, instead of engaging in market-timing in reaction to a potential recession. Share this 783-word overview with clients and prospects.
Quarterly Client Letter — 2019 Q3
Created: October 2, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Behavioral Finance, Breaking News, Client-Focused, Politics, Quarterly Client Letter, Scary Market Insights
Description: Use this 442-word quarterly client letter to remind clients to stay the course amidst breaking global news. It explores how reflexes in your brain can play tricks on your financial resolve.
The ABCs of Behavioral Biases (UPDATED)
Created: September 18, 2019
Categories: ABCs of Behavioral Biases, Advisor Role/Value, Article, Behavioral Finance, General Audience, PowerPoint Presentation, Quick-Reference, UPDATED Content, White Paper
Description: UPDATED FROM AUG. 2017: This collection of materials includes: (1) a 5,800-word white paper, (2) the same materials broken into a seven-part drip series, and (3) an ALL-NEW PowerPoint presentation on "The ABCs of Behavioral Biases." From anchoring, to hindsight, to tracking-error regret, the series covers 17 of the most common financial behavioral biases that lead investors astray, in alphabetic order.
FAFSA Application Advice for College-Bound Kids
Created: September 6, 2019
Categories: Article, Family Wealth, Financial Planning, General Audience
Description: This 482-word message alerts parents and their college-bound children that there's no time to waste when submitting a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application as soon as October 1 arrives. It describes how FAFSA works, and why time is of the essence.
A Timely Reminder on the Perils of Market Timing
Created: August 25, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Breaking News, Client Experience, Client-Focused, Economics, Evidence-Based Investing, General Letter/E-Mail, Scary Market Insights
Description: A 735-word client reach-out about the prospect that a trade war with China could lead to a recession. The piece covers four reasons why trying to engage in market-timing in reaction to the unfolding news remains as ill-advised as ever.
What Is Monte Carlo Analysis?
Created: August 23, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Client Experience, Financial Planning, General Audience, Retirement Planning, The "What Is ...?" series
Description: This 1,000-word article in our "What Is ...?" series describes how investors can benefit from a Monte Carlo Analysis, includes caveats on best use, and provides a basic illustration on how it works. An accompanying Monte Carlo Sample pdf file provides the assumptions used in the illustration.
You, Your Financial Well-Being and the Federal Reserve (UPDATED)
Created: August 1, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Client Experience, Economics, Evidence-Based Investing, Fixed Income, General Audience, UPDATED Content
Description: UPDATED FROM MARCH 2018: This 1,200-word piece puts the U.S. Federal Reserve's ongoing federal funds rate changes (especially the Aug. 1 2019 rate decrease) into sound, financial-planning context. Use this piece to inform prospects or clients about how the Fed operates, as well as what your role is in helping them manage debt, save, invest, and spend wisely through various interest rate climates and regardless of what lies ahead.
Protecting What’s Yours (While You’re Alive)
Created: July 25, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Estate Planning, Family Wealth, Financial Planning, General Audience, Protecting What's Yours, Report, Wealth Management
Description: Use this 1,300-word article in its entirety or broken into three parts to cover three tools an individual can employ to protect their health and wealth care interests while they are alive: (1) the financial power of attorney, (2) the trusted contact, and (3) the healthcare advance directive (including a living will and healthcare power of attorney). Includes a summary, when each applies, common scenarios and additional tips for each.
Quarterly Client Letter — 2019 Q2
Created: July 2, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Behavioral Finance, Client-Focused, Evidence-Based Investing, Quarterly Client Letter
Description: Use this 632-word quarterly client letter for Q2 2019 to describe Daniel Kahneman's research into decision-making "noise," and how it can be employed for improved investing.
The Viability of the Value Premium (Multi-Part Series)
Created: June 16, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Evidence-Based Investing, General Audience, Scary Market Insights, Viability of Value Investing
Description: This multi-part series segments the full-length 1,765-word report on the viability of the value premium into five shorter, quick-read pieces. It covers the origins of the value premium, historical precedents, additional evidence that the value premium likely remains viable, and the role global diversification plays in managing risks and expected returns. The five parts are bundled into a single zip file for simplified download.
The Viability of the Value Premium (Full Report Version)
Created: June 16, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Evidence-Based Investing, General Audience, Report, Scary Market Insights, Viability of Value Investing
Description: This 1,765-word document addresses investor concerns that the value premium may be "dead," since value stocks have underperformed growth stocks for approximately the past decade. It covers the origins of the value premium, historical precedents, additional evidence that the value premium likely remains viable, and the role global diversification plays in managing risks and expected returns.
Good Advice (UPDATED)
Created: May 27, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Evidence-Based Investing, Financial Planning, General Audience, UPDATED Content, Wealth Management
Description: UPDATED FROM 2016: This 605-word piece reminds your clients and informs prospective clients that the best-interest advice you offer goes well beyond stock-picking tips. It reinforces why a good financial adviser remains relevant even as low-cost funds, automated investing and simplified financial planning are on the rise.
What Is Asset Location? (UPDATED)
Created: May 27, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Client Experience, Evidence-Based Investing, General Audience, Tax Planning, The "What Is ...?" series, UPDATED Content
Description: UPDATED FROM 2013: This 710-word article is part of our ongoing "What Is ...?" series. It defines asset LOCATION, differentiates it from asset ALLOCATION, and provides an overview of both its benefits and challenges. Share this piece with clients or prospects as an article, post, or video script, or for similar purposes.
What Is Liquidity?
Created: May 14, 2019
Categories: Article, Evidence-Based Investing, Financial Planning, General Audience, Real Estate Investing, The "What Is ...?" series, Wealth Management
Description: This 768-word article is part of our ongoing "What Is ...?" series. It defines liquidity, offers some approachable examples of how it works, and considers it within the context of an overall investment portfolio. Share this piece with clients or prospects as an article, post, or video script, or for similar purposes.
Evidence-Based Investment Insights Series WHITE PAPER (UPDATED)
Created: April 25, 2019
Categories: Behavioral Finance, Evidence-Based Insights, Evidence-Based Investing, General Audience, UPDATED Content, White Paper
Description: UPDATED FROM 2014: This 25-page white paper compiles the entire Evidence-Based Investment Insights series into a single document you can use to design your own company white paper. Share the paper as a printed handout or in PDF/booklet form with clients and prospects. Use it as a give-away to collect e-mails on your website or for other similar purposes. A set of 14 individual installments for "dripping" the series, and an 8-page report version of this same material also are available for separate download.
Evidence-Based Investment Insights Series REPORT (UPDATED)
Created: April 25, 2019
Categories: Behavioral Finance, Evidence-Based Insights, Evidence-Based Investing, General Audience, Report, UPDATED Content
Description: UPDATED FROM 2014: This 8-page report strikes a happy medium between the full, 25-page white paper and the individual installments available in the Evidence-Based Investment Insights series. Compiling key messages from the entire series, this report offers a mid-length, single document overview of evidence-based investing. Share the paper as a printed handout or in PDF form with clients and prospects. Use it as a give-away to collect e-mails on your website or for other similar purposes.
Evidence-Based Investment Insights Series — 14 Parts (UPDATED)
Created: April 25, 2019
Categories: Article, Behavioral Finance, Evidence-Based Insights, Evidence-Based Investing, General Audience, UPDATED Content
Description: UPDATED FROM 2014: This is a series of 14 short pieces for explaining evidence-based investment principles in a step-by-step approach. Use the series for drip marketing via e-newsletter, e-mails, mailings or as video script to introduce your investment approach to prospective clients or to review key benefits with existing clients. Collection will download as a zip file containing 14 Word documents. A compiled, 25-page white paper and 8-page report also are available for separate download.
Quarterly Client Letter — 2019 Q1
Created: April 1, 2019
Categories: Breaking News, Client-Focused, Economics, Evidence-Based Investing, Quarterly Client Letter, Wealth Management
Description: This 520-word quarterly client letter reflects on the differences between breaking news and timeless investment tenets, noting in particular the contrast between Q1 performance and recent volatile returns just prior.
Money Management Lingo
Created: March 27, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Client Experience, Dimensional Fund Advisors, Financial Planning, General Audience, Real Estate Investing, Tax Planning, The "What Is ...?" series
Description: This 860-word document provides a beginner's guide intro to some of the most common terminology advisors tend to use when introducing prospective and new clients to money management services. For example, it differentiates assets, funds, accounts and custodians -- explaining which roles each play. (Note: Non-U.S. advisors might want to swap out some of the examples with illustrations of their own -- such as referencing your country's tax-advantaged accounts rather than U.S.-based IRAs.)
A Client Referral Reach-Out
Created: March 7, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Client Experience, Client-Focused, General Letter/E-Mail
Description: Use this 260-word piece to reach out to clients in an email or postal mailing, reminding them that you warmly welcome their referrals whenever they know of someone who may benefit from a conversation with you or your firm.
A Second Opinion Reach-Out
Created: February 25, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Client Experience, General Letter/E-Mail, Prospect-Focused, Wealth Management
Description: Use this 525-word piece to reach out to prospects (or, with minor revisions, to clients), encouraging them to schedule a second opinion meeting with you. The piece describes what to expect as well as red flags to avoid when seeking an objective second opinion about their investment portfolio. It could also be re-purposed as a general article.
What Is Asset Allocation?
Created: February 13, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Article, Evidence-Based Investing, General Audience, The "What Is ...?" series
Description: This approximately 750-word piece provides a working definition of asset allocation, to share with clients, prospects and others. It's the latest addition to an accumulating "What Is ...?" series, defining frequently used terminology for those who may not "just know" what it means.
An Homage to John “Jack” Bogle
Created: January 17, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Breaking News, Client-Focused, Expenses, General Letter/E-Mail
Description: Use this 340-word note to reach out to clients to celebrate Jack Bogle's life and remind them that you're here to help them pursue their own best pursuits in similar fashion.
Cover Intro for Dimensional 2018 Market Review
Created: January 8, 2019
Categories: Advisor Role/Value, Dimensional Fund Advisors, Evidence-Based Investing, General Audience, General Letter/E-Mail, Intro to Expert Commentary, Scary Market Insights
Description: This 565-word summary provides an introduction you can use to share Dimensional's 2018 Market Review, with an emphasis on remaining resolute and diversified during volatile markets. You can use the intro to be in touch with your clients or as a prospecting piece for those interested in evidence-based investing.
Quarterly Client Letter — 2018 Q4
Created: January 2, 2019
Categories: Breaking News, Client-Focused, Evidence-Based Investing, Quarterly Client Letter, Scary Market Insights
Description: This 515-word quarterly client letter offers two talking points on how to consider current market conditions in the context of long-term market performance. "Average" returns aren't the norm, and recency bias is a risk.