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

HB Clients Featured in Philly Inquirer, Advisor News and Accounting Today

From stock market forecasts, to the dollar’s impact on emerging markets, to getting your firm to the next level of growth, HB clients educated the national financial media last week.

With respect to the dollar’s impact on emerging markets, our client Matt Topley (@MattTopley), chief investment officer of Valley Forge, PA-based Fortis Wealth told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the greenback’s strength has hurt emerging markets where the majority of debt is dollar-denominated. As a result, emerging market stock markets sold off and are extremely cheap, explained Topley. “One fund we use for clients and which is my biggest position personally is DFA Emerging Market Value” (symbol: DFEVX), The fund trades at below book value, which is a buying opportunity,” Topley added.  The key takeaway is that if you think the president and other factors will push down the dollar, then this may be a point in time to start buying emerging markets.

Meanwhile, HB clients Bill Schultheis and James Nevers (Soundmark Wealth Management) told Advisor News last week that “There is nothing on the horizon that leads us to believe a bear market is imminent.” Soundmark’s forecast calls for muted economic global growth on the horizon as they explained in an Advisor News piece entitled Are Investors Losing Faith In The Stock Market?

Kirkland, Washington-based Soundmark expects common stocks to return somewhere in the 5 percent-to-7 percent range. “We have incorporated these conservative estimates into our clients' projections,” they added.

Meanwhile, our client Kyle Walters (@AtlasCFO), a partner at Dallas-based L&H CPAs and Advisors just published his latest guest column in Accounting Today (Are you committed to being a better firm or just interested?).

This is the time of year that CPA firms like to have their offsite retreats in which great ideas are bandied about, but rarely implemented upon returning to the office. To break through this inertia, Walters wrote that you have to set a realistic timeline for implementing change. “Start with a bite-size chunk that you can commit to implementing in the next 90 days—a change that will have a big impact on your firm and the value you’re delivering to clients. Call those your ‘90-day rocks.’ Don’t do five things—just do one.’”

Conclusion

Whether investing or overseeing a professional service firm, the winners today are those that set realistic expectations and always follow through on what they promise. That’s what our highest performing clients have figured out—and the media is taking notice. As Warren Buffet famously said, “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”

TAGS:  Soundmark Wealth, James Nevers, Bill Schultheis, Advisor News, Kyle Walters, Accounting Today, L&H CPAs, Warren Buffet

DOL Fiduciary Rule Overturned (Again)

Are you surprised?

As most of you know by now, a federal appeals court vacated the fiduciary rule late last week. On the surface, the decision was a setback for consumers, investors and their advocates and it was a win the broker/dealers, insurers and others in the financial product sales arena who’ve been increasingly under pressure to recommend investments that benefit their clients before themselves.

“It’s definitely a step backward, especially since the rest of the world is moving toward the fiduciary standard,” said our client, Kyle Walters, a partner of L&H CPAs in Dallas. “It’s like the Paris Climate Agreement in which the U.S. was the only major country in the developed world not to sign on.”

Another of HB client, Blake Christian, CPA, said the overturning of the Fiduciary Rule is a concern for larger investors who have significant dollars under management. “There are many games being played with respect to bond pricing, fund fee structures, annuities, Master Limited Partnerships and other investments,” observed Christian, a partner at Long Beach California-based HCVT. “There are a select number of investment advisors who already adopted the Fiduciary Rule before the old rule (now overturned) became mandatory.  These firms will likely leave their voluntary rules in place.”

Since the Fiduciary Rule provides investors with assurance that the investment advisor will be acting on the customer's behalf rather than on behalf of their firm, “there is less likelihood of self-dealing, conflicts and being directed to high-fee investments,” added Christian.

Michael Kitces, CFP, author of the popular Nerd’s Eye View blog, concluded that ultimately, “it’s not about the ‘right’ standard — suitability versus fiduciary — to apply across financial advisors and the brokerage industry. It’s about recognizing that brokers and annuity agents fulfill a sales role that is functionally different than actual advisors.” Job titles and disclosures should accurately reflect the nature of those relationships, Kitces added.

Once the distinction between advice and sales is truly clear, let consumers make their choice, Kitces argued, adding that there are times when the public just wants to talk to a salesperson to help them effect a sales transaction. “After all, when I walk into a clothing store in the mall, I’m not looking for a personal fashion consultant; sometimes I just want a salesperson to help me complete the process of buying what I want, and giving me the relevant product information I need to make the decision,” quipped Kitces.

“As I mentioned earlier, this ruling is definitely a step backward at a time when the industry needs to be moving toward being an advice industry,” noted Walters. “That’s where everything is going one way or the other. I’m not sure how big the impact will be since clients are becoming better educated. Whether [the fiduciary standard] is required or not, clients are asking the right questions of their advisors. If you’re an advisor of any kind, that’s not something you can hide from,” warned Walters.

HB client Pat Runyen, of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based Independence Advisors, said it will be hard to determine what will happen long-term if the fiduciary standard dies for good. “Many large brokerage firms already have begun to roll out changes to comply with the rules, and plan to keep some or all of these changes regardless of what happens. My best guess is if the rules go away, the affected firms will likely go back to operating under the ‘suitability’ standard given the lucrative incentives.”

Runyen believes this will ultimately be a “net positive” for individual investors over the long-term given the awareness it has raised. “Since last year, many new clients I’ve met with will ask if I’m held to a fiduciary standard (yes). Before that, no one asked such a question. Many CPAs have told me they’ve been asked the same question,” added Runyen.

Walters agreed with Runyen. “As clients get better educated, they can make the fiduciary standard a priority when choosing who to work with. It doesn’t matter from a legality standpoint. They’re going to vote with their feet.”

According to Christian, those who are acting in a trustee or administrator role will be wise to deal with investment firms that continue to operate under the Fiduciary Rule provisions.  “This will offer the trustee/ administrator added protection if a contingent beneficiary or other interested party brings an action against trustee/ administrator,” added Christian. 

Conclusion

Our Take—as always, the best educated consumers—and the most ethical advisors—will find each other eventually and they’ll win in the end.

TAGS, Kyle Walters, Michael Kitces, Pat Runyen, Blake Christian, L&H CPAs, Nerd’s Eye View, Independence Advisors, HCVT

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