Top news articles for financial advisors and personal finance
Week of 4/18
Each week, we are giving you Sora’s weekly report highlighting the top insights and relevant articles for financial advisors and personal finance. This week's recap focuses on inflation driven rising rates, the need to build relationships with clients, and importance of personalization in financial planning.
Money Management is Out, Personalization and Planning Are In: Fidelity Exec (Jeff Berman, ThinkAdvisor)
According to a Fidelity study, investors want advisors to spend more time on financial planning rather than money management. There is a large drive to personalize financial planning and in doing so, we can expect an astronomical increase in digital engagement. Read more to find out how personalized finance and digital advancement are ushering in a new age of financial planning.
Mortgage Rates Hit 5% for First Time Since 2011 (Matt Grossman, Wall Street Journal)
Just fifteen months ago, interest rates were at their all time low. Americans can expect rates to increase as the year goes on, but economists predict rates to balance out towards the tail-end of the year. Interestingly, the sharp rise in mortgage rates has not significantly deterred consumer behavior. The supply-constrained housing market is still hot and Americans are spending between $400-$500 more on their mortgages per month compared to this time last year. Read more to learn how mortgage rates are expected to respond to inflation, what you can expect in the coming months, and how each basis point matters for homebuyers.
The Value of Personal Advice: Wealth Management Through the Pandemic (Kieran Bol, Patrick Kennedy, Ryan Lee and John Vervoort, McKinsey & Company)
While COVID-19 put the relationship between wealth advisors and their clients to the test, the relationship emerged stronger than ever, as advisors achieved record client and asset retention despite the emergence of “robo advice”. Looking forward, it will be key for advisors to add younger clients and different methods of pricing for clients will be put to the test. Read more to learn about how the advisor-to-client relationship fared during the pandemic and what firms and advisors can do to prepare for the coming years.
Helping Clients Better Manage Cash Can Expand Relationships (Ashish Shah, Goldman Sachs Asset Management) With rising inflation, there
has been increased interest in how to manage cash effectively, given that now, money sitting in a bank account is actually losing money. Money market funds are diversified portfolios that may be good alternatives to cash as they offer a higher rate of return and high liquidity with low level of risk. Read more to find out how money market funds can help you help your clients.
Advisors Searching for New and Diverse Talent Should Cast a Wider Net (Jeff Benjamin, InvestmentNews) Firms have reported on the challenges in finding talent, with more than half of firms citing talent search as “challenging” or “very challenging” despite increases in applications, especially from traditionally underrepresented communities such as women, Latinx and African Americans. Read more for tips on how to attract diverse talent.