In 2020 the baby boomers have the assets of America. The flower children of the 60s are now the power seniors in their 60s. The vast majority of financial professionals want to do business with the boomers. They may very well be the richest demographic that ever lived in the U.S. Their 401(k)s are stuffed with stocks, bonds, ETFs, Mutual Funds, REITs and perhaps even annuities. But they know nothing about the assets they own, the risk that they bare and rebalancing of portfolios. This is a … [Read more...]
Mistakes, Errors, Omissions of the Partners in Your Firm
For whatever reason you have a partner(s). Shockingly, most business people fail to do due diligence on their partners before the join their individual practices into one firm. Personal finances of a partner(s) are just as important as their business holdings. Their liabilities both personal and corporate could impact you piece of the pie. As an example, your partner has a teenage driver who is reckless and causes a major accident and even worse a death resulted in the mishap. Your partner … [Read more...]
Outsourcing: Be Careful Who You Recommend
There are a few geniuses out there that know everything about anything. They have deep knowledge in many subjects. But they’re few and far between. Most of us are general practitioners who outsource our weak areas to those with expertise in their fields. The financial industry is a macro metropolitan sector than has multiple disciplines, some significant and others secondary…but all necessary. Often insurance agents are licensed to sell securities, but not knowledgeable enough to manage … [Read more...]
Did You Clear Your FaceTime/Skype Video with Compliance?
Schedule a face to face appointment is fraught with problems, not to mention seminars which are near impossible. Often financial professionals don’t record appointments or seminars. The general rule of thumb is to submit an outline or power point to compliance before the scheduled event. But these days, during the pandemic, much of the unapproved communication to consumers and clients is via FaceTime, Skype and Zoom. Somehow these forms of video contact seem to escape oversight. But they’re not … [Read more...]
Fraud Alert: Pandemic Creating “Window Tracing” Signatures?
Financial professionals are in a tough spot. They generate fees and commissions to earn a living. Most marketing strategies call for face to face appointments or seminars. Right now, that’s on hold. Some have used Facetime, Skype or Zoom to continue meeting with clients and prospects, but the administration of new and existing business has been exacerbated by social distancing and the fear of exposure to susceptible seniors to potential infection from outsiders. During this time, securing client … [Read more...]
The Movement to Preserve Principal is Shifting into High Gear
The pandemic popped the clutch and downshifted the mentality of investors and savers alike to principal preservation. If that indeed is the client’s psychonomics and is verified by a risk tolerance test, then ok. But to sideline everyone from market driven products to annuities and participating whole life insurance better be confirmed in writing or you’ll be open to the accusation of just selling insurance products and high commission contracts. On the other hand, if you’re telling seniors … [Read more...]
Second Opinion Marketing to Gain Prospects while Clients Lose
The online claims of advisers who said they had exit strategies ready to offramp from the broad road of the market destruction are way overblown. Marketing to new clientele by promoting exit strategies that your existing clients were “timed” out of the market, when in fact they lost like everyone else is fiction, fraud and prosecutable. By the time, the public observed the market’s accelerated decent, the institutional money managers had exited the building. Few if any small firms or … [Read more...]
High Compensation Products Trigger Suitability Scrutiny
The pandemic crisis of 2020 is generating more than just medical terror, it’s creating a cash flow crunch for advisers whether they’re fee based or commissionable salespeople. Often the temptation in these times is to sell high compensation products for your own survival against your fiduciary responsibility to your client or prospect. This is an agonizing environment to sell in, especially for those new to the financial services business who lack a book of business that generates a ongoing … [Read more...]
It’s Tough to Find Compliance Departments that Understand Insurance
I would gladly stand down from my complaint to submit my non-FINRA advertising and client communication if there was someone at the compliance department who knew what I was talking about. Keep in mind, and at that time, everything I’m addressing is non-securities. I’ve conducted thousands of live public seminars, wholesale workshops, radio talk shows, television and HD 1080p video interviews, as well as thousands of tweets, blogs and articles on the Internet. Over 90 percent of all of those … [Read more...]
Seminars, Workshops and Online Pics, Infographics, Power Points Review
Some of my office managers used regulatory guardrails like a prison cell to isolate me and other insurance producers. And more to the fact, they had no facts as they gutted our advertising and client communication on insurance products and their related topics. When live seminars became the marketing rage, it grew even harder. I just wanted to talk about the planning applications of non-FINRA life insurance to my seminar attendees — but I had to submit my presentation to compliance, again … [Read more...]
