Before Your Clients Write that Tuition Check……

Now is the time of year that many clients are turning to you for advice about financing the jaw-dropping price of college tuition. Study after study confirms that a college education—one of the biggest legal rackets in America today--is still worth the price of admission and stress. But, several of our clients have been telling Forbes, US News and other national media outlets that wherever your child or grandchild attends, it’s important to get a well-rounded education, not just the prerequisites for a high-paying career.

Bottom line: Take courses that actually make you think, write communicate and create. That’s the only way to be adaptable in a constantly changing world.

Mark Rioboli, CFP, CFS  Director of Wealth Management at Independence Advisors  (Wayne, PA) said universities should take a page from Ben Franklin's book and focus on those things that make students “healthy, wealthy, and wise.” College curriculum should consist of nutrition and fitness training “because without health, you have nothing.” Rioboli also told me critical thinking, project management and sales skills are valuable in any career one chooses.  

Anthony Glomski, founder of Los Angeles-based AG Asset Advisory and author of the new book Liquidity and You: A Personal Guide for Tech and Business Entrepreneurs Approaching an Exit agreed. “When speaking with (and recruiting) young graduates, I’ve found their basic skills are not as far along as I’d like to see, especially reading, writing, organization, and attention to detail. Any degree that emphasizes those skills will add a lot of value in the job market. In a world in which everything is driven by artificial intelligence, the one thing we know that is irreplaceable is the human connection. Degrees that help student develop traits that strengthen human connections are going to be value in their careers,” added Glomski.

Blake Christian, CPA Partner at HCVT in Long Beach, CA said a student’s focus for the first two years should be on “a solid foundation that will help him or her regardless of major--basic finance, accounting and budgeting, for example. Who doesn’t benefit from those skills both personally and professionally?” asked Christian. He is also a strong advocate of business and technical writing, along with verbal communication. “When it comes to writing a business plan, even liberal and creative artists will have a more solid financial footing with a class or two in these subjects,” maintained Christian, author of the new book, Benefits of Becoming A CPA-Preneur.

Glomski, an undergrad accounting major, said he benefitted greatly from the liberal arts courses he took. For instance, “philosophy went really deep, which helped me in developing personal relations. Economics and other social sciences will always be applicable and accounting was invaluable. Sure, accounting is becoming increasingly automated, but it’s priceless training learning how to understand the mechanics and backbone of any business,” Glomski related.

Before junior year, Christian strongly recommends that students do an internship in their chosen field, along with an aptitude tests and counseling to ensure that the student “really wants to go down that path and has the general skills and drive.” 

“How do you teach wisdom?” asked Rioboli. “I suggest starting with meditation and all the principles in emotional intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry, Travis and Jean Greaves.”

Also consider Top 10 Life Advice Comments for Millennials by our client, Matt Topley, chief investment officer of Fortis Wealth in Valley Forge, PA.

Conclusion

Glomski said adaptability is the key ingredient for career success today. “It’s likely you’ll get of out college and be in a career for five to seven years, and then you’ll be in a completely different career. What prepares you for that?”

#college tuition #careeradvice #liberal arts #tuition ROI 

Anthony Glomski, AG Asset Advisory, Blake Christian, HCVT, Mark Rioboli, Independence Advisors, Matt Topley, Fortis Wealth

HB Clients Featured in National Media

It was another good week for those of you taking advantage of our Just in Time media relations services. Here are some highlights.

ANTHONY GLOMSKI, founder of AG Asset Advisory, was the featured guest on the Angel Investor Podcast with Jeff Barnes. Author of the new book, Liquidity and You: A Personal Guide for Tech and Business Entrepreneurs Approaching an Exit, Anthony discussed the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people to build your business on secure footing to produce a successful exit. Again, you can check out the episode here.

BLAKE CHRISTIAN, CPA, told US News & World Report that proper diversification not only applies to asset classes, but to working with more than one financial advisor if you have over $1 million in investable assets (see Should Investors Diversify Providers?)  "Each advisor has different style, expertise and biases," explained Christian, a partner at Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt, in Long Beach, California. Christian is the author of a new book we’re finalizing called Benefits of Becoming A CPA-Preneur.

KYLE WALTERS, a wealth advisor at L&H CPAs and Advisors in Dallas, TX, had another guest column published in Accounting Today entitled Red Teaming: Creating your perfect competitor makes you a better, more focused firm. Author of the new book, The Personal CFO, Walters said red teaming requires you to build of model of your perfect enemy/competitor before someone else does it for real.

Great work gentlemen. As our annual Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™ revealed, more than half of advisors expecting double-digit growth this year (54%), say press mentions are a “very” or “extremely important” component of their personal branding initiatives. That’s significantly higher than advisors who are expecting single-digit or flat growth over the next 12 months.

Where would you rather be?

TAGS: Anthony Glomski, AG Asset Advisory, Blake Christian, HCVT, Kyle Walters, L&H CPAs, Accounting Today, Angel Investors Network Podcast, Jeff Barnes

Short Sellers Stirring?

The stock market’s recent nosedive has many wondering if the near-record bull market is finally running out of steam. Some analysts say the reversal is a healthy correction bringing valuations in line with historical norms. But, plenty of media pundits are playing the doom-and-gloom card and counting the days until the yield curve officially inverts. Sure, trade wars, rising rates and natural disasters are playing a role, but what about short interest? Other than a few rants from Tesla’s tweeter in chief, Elon Musk, not much attention is being paid to short-sellers, those contrarians who could finally be getting the opportunity to pounce.

*** POLL: How much will the market go down before year end? Take our Poll. Single question.  Instant results! See how you stack up to your peers.

Our clients, Anthony Glomski (AG Asset Advisory) and Matt Topley (Fortis Wealth), have been handling lots of media inquiries lately to help folks understand the role that short sellers play in today’s capital markets. Below are some excerpts:

Glomski, founder of Los Angeles-based AG Asset Advisory told me the other day that short sellers are often “perceived as the enemy, naysayers who bet against companies and entrepreneurs.” In truth, he said short sellers are an important part of an efficient market. “They risk their capital and help to keep markets honest when Wall Street doesn’t.” 

Matt Topley, chief investment officer of Fortis Wealth in Valley Forge, PA had a similar take. “Short selling in the past was primarily a small cadre of esoteric fundamental research wonks who used forensic accounting to reveal holes in public company balance sheets.” Topley also said those folks would make big bets that required a huge amount of “patient capital.”  Today with 12,000 hedge funds operating (up from 500 a few years ago), “shorting is expressed through ETFs,” added Topley, a Philadelphia Inquirer Influencer in Finance award winner.

Glomski noted that short selling has evolved and benefitted over the past 20 years from the internet’s “democratization of information,” adding that “complication and wrongdoing” have also emerged from message boards and Twitter. “History shows us though that short sellers don’t determine outcomes. Market competition does.”

Glomski works with tech entrepreneurs throughout the business life cycle, from startup to exit. “As is the case with Tesla today, their battle is with highly capable and motivated competitors, not necessarily short sellers. In my book Liquidity &You, I discuss a quote from Warren Buffet, ‘In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.’ Entrepreneurs should focus on the weight and not the vote.”

According to Topley, “most hedge fund equity long books have a 90-percent correlation to the S&P then they fill the short book with ETF shorts to protect downside. Huge short bets on companies are harder to achieve because a massive amount of intellectual capital is chasing the same ideas and this capital is not patient. Why? Because managers are being measured on a quarterly basis.” 

What’s more Topley said companies with accounting fraud “keep a small float of stock which makes their shares very hard to short because firms can’t find enough borrowers…..and if they do, the rebate rate is too high,” added Topley author of the daily blog Topley’s Top 10.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, investing is about seizing opportunities, preferably where the rest of the crowd doesn’t see them yet. Don’t focus on whether the smart money is short or long. Focus on being right. Turn off your TV and unplug your computer. Focus on the long-term with the right advisor guiding your way.

TAGS: Short selling, market correction, Matt Topley, Fortis Wealth, Anthony Glomski, AG Asset Advisory, Liquidity and You