Below please find a list of top 20 Family Office and Alternative Investment websites which are ran by the H Media Group and others in the industry:

1. Family Offices Group
2. Hedge Fund Blogger.com
3. Albourne Village
4. Third Party Marketing .com
5. Magnum Fund Articles
6. Family Office Database
7. Harvard Hedge Funds Guide
8. Hedge Fund Startup Guru.com
9. The Wealth Report by the WSJ
10. Private Equity Blogger.com
11. NY Times Dealbook – on Hedge Funds
12. Fund Administration .org
13. Fintag’s Hedge Fund News Site
14. Prime Brokerage Guide.com
15. SEC Website on Hedge Funds
16. Hedge Fund Certification.com
17. Google News on Hedge Funds

Tags: family office, family offices, alternative investments, hedge fund, hedge funds, private equity, wealth management, financial planning, investing, investor resources, top 10, top 5, top 20

Below is a short article on what family offices and some ultra high net worth investors are investing in right now:

Simon Mellon, who’ll be heading up Bonner & Partners Family Office, our soon-to-be-launched money management and tax optimization service, is keeping in close contact with Notes HQ.

Simon is a global finance insider with a decade’s worth of experience working in capital markets. And right now he’s advising investors to remain cautious until a clearer picture emerges about the market’s direction.

When I was a child I could never sit still on a long road journey. I was always asking, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? ARE WE THERE YET???” My father would always reply “Nearly, son… Nearly,” even though we were still miles from our destination.

This is exactly how the financial markets seem to me right now. It’s been more than two years since the credit crisis kicked off, and I’m getting itchy in my seat: I want to be back out there playing with the other financial (whizz) kids. But it feels like the end of this current rocky road is still on the distant horizon.

Wall Street wants you to believe things improving… that we are on the road to recovery… and that “green shoots” are starting to appear in the economy. Call me a cynic, but I’m just not convinced. Read more…

Related Resources

• Silver Bridge Advisors
• Fleming Partners & Family
• Family Office Jobs
• View 500+ additional Family Office Profiles
• Obtain family office contact details from FamilyOfficesDatabase.com

Tags: Ultra Rich Investing, investments, family office, family offices, wealth management, financial planning, financial, finance, business, investments, stock market, stocks

Advice about business and life often gets around to one of those “80-20” rules. As in, “80% of your business will come from 20% of your customers or activities.” Here’s my twist on this for publicity and marketing:

Build no more than 20% of your publicity and marketing activities around yourself.

I know. Sounds crazy. “What else besides me would I showcase in my promotions?” a sane person might ask.

But hear me out. Think of all the advertising and marketing messages you’re barraged with all day. Do you welcome them? Do you feel, right now, like hearing from one more person, one more time, about how great their product or service is?

Well, neither does anyone else.

So there’s the problem with building your whole marketing or PR campaign around your credentials, or the superb service or product you offer. Sorry to break the news, but most folks just don’t care.

So the question becomes, what do they care about? And what should you build 80% of your PR around?

Here’s my simple to answer. You even knew it all along, because it applies to you too. Most people care most about one thing.

Themselves.

And that’s why any financial planner should build 80% of their publicity around what the prospect cares about.

Here’s what I mean: Your service helps people. You help them solve a problem, or enable them to delegate a task they’d rather avoid. Every day, you share and apply the highly specialized expertise and professional knowledge you’ve acquired over years.

So that’s what your PR should be all about – 80% of it, at least. Especially your media publicity. Because in the media, information rules. It’s the fuel that drives our society’s vast media machine.

The media love only one thing more than information, and that’s people’s problems. And didn’t we just say that you’re an expert on solving those, too?

The formula’s simple: talk to your prospects–via the media–about their needs and the problems they face. Share the information and insights you have on these topics. If you do a lot of retirement planning, send information on the latest changes in IRAs. I you specialize in mutual funds, send them information about the newest and best places for people to put their money. If you do, the media will quote or interview you on the topic. Believe it or not, reporters can’t live without articulate experts to interview. Approaching them, and offering your services, is not difficult. Instant—and free—publicity for you!

And finally, if and when you are compelled to mention yourself, do yourself a favor. Skip the adjectives and superlatives. All of them. Because media folks aren’t impressed.

The remaining 20% of your PR? Go ahead and write some press releases about the awards you won, about the new office you opened, about your great skills. It can’t hurt. But don’t think for a minute the media will embrace it as big news.

So remember the 80-20 rule. Give the media and your prospects useful information they need, and let them reach their own informed decision that you’re a good resource. I have seen countless professionals and businesses become media successes following this route. Share your expertise and wisdom. A little bit of it, you’ll find, goes a long way.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele’s MediaImpact, he is the author of “102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice.” To learn more visit his website.

Article Source.

Tags: financial public relations, public relations, financial planning, PR

Below please find the Family Offices Profile for Majid Al Futtaim. If you need contact details for this family office please refer to FamilyOfficesDatabase.com

Resource #1: (6.8.09) Hedge fund manager, Majid Al Futtaim Asset Management, is launching its first Middle East and North Africa (MENA) equity fund, the Luxembourg domiciled ‘Elite MENA Equity Fund’.

Investors can invest alongside the family office of Majid Al Futtaim and gain access to the services of the portfolio management team responsible for the MENA equity investments. The Majid Al Futtaim family office has seeded the fund with Dh550 million ($150 million), making it one of the largest MENA equity funds available to investors. source

Related Resources

• Silver Bridge Advisors
• Fleming Partners & Family
• Family Office Jobs
• View 500+ additional Family Office Profiles
• Obtain family office contact details from FamilyOfficesDatabase.com

Tags: Majid Al Futtaim, Majid Al Futtaim family Office, Middle east family offices, family office, family office wealth management, wealth management, hedge fund, capital

Family Office Assets Growing

Below is an excerpt from an article discussing another recent survey pointing to the growing trend for HNW individuals and families to have their assets managed by a family office instead of a traditional financial planner or wealth management firm:

High-net-worth investors are moving their money to multifamily offices, according to a new study that will be released Monday by New York-based accounting and financial services firm Rothstein Kass.

Fully 40% of wealthy investors who moved money this year said they had chosen a family office as their new provider, according to the study, “The Multifamily Office Solution.”

High-net-worth families are “gravitating to the family office model because of the holistic approach to wealth management and personalized attention that they can provide,”

Related to: Family Office Assets Growing

• Family Office Jobs
• Philanthropic Giving
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Tags: Family Office Assets, Assets managed by family offices, wealth management, family office, family offices, alternative investments, financial planning

Family Office Assets Growing

Below is an excerpt from an article discussing another recent survey pointing to the growing trend for HNW individuals and families to have their assets managed by a family office instead of a traditional financial planner or wealth management firm:

High-net-worth investors are moving their money to multifamily offices, according to a new study that will be released Monday by New York-based accounting and financial services firm Rothstein Kass.

Fully 40% of wealthy investors who moved money this year said they had chosen a family office as their new provider, according to the study, “The Multifamily Office Solution.”

High-net-worth families are “gravitating to the family office model because of the holistic approach to wealth management and personalized attention that they can provide,”

This article was originally published on Family Offices Group.com.

Related to: Family Office Assets Growing

• Hedge Fund Tracker Tool
• Fund Marketing and Sales Advice
• Top Hedge Fund Managers
• Family Office Database
• Free Online Hedge Fund Videos

Tags: Family Office Assets, Assets managed by family offices, wealth management, family office, family offices, alternative investments, financial planning

Family Office Growth

Many business dinners over the past 18 months have revolved around the topic of “what does well during a deep recession or depression?” Here is a recent article about how family offices
have benefited from the events within the financial sector over the past few years:

Tumbling markets and redemption waves have been murder on hedge funds, but the turmoil will free up top-tier talent for a quiet but well-heeled corner of the market: family offices.

The world’s wealthiest, not content to hand their fortunes to brokers and banks, can afford to build their own money management businesses. These offices, which would never be considered by top fund managers during the go-go years, suddenly look attractive thanks to their stable capital and long-term investment horizon.

“You follow the money. Right now that is leading people to family offices,” said Greg Coules, a former hedge fund manager…source

Related to Family Office Growth During Recession

• Family Office Industry
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Tags: Family Office, Family Offices, Single Family Offices, Multi-family offices, wealth management, financial planning, wealth, ultra high net worth, high net worth

Family Office Growth

Many business dinners over the past 18 months have revolved around the topic of “what does well during a deep recession or depression?” Here is a recent article about how family offices
have benefited from the events within the financial sector over the past few years:

Tumbling markets and redemption waves have been murder on hedge funds, but the turmoil will free up top-tier talent for a quiet but well-heeled corner of the market: family offices.

The world’s wealthiest, not content to hand their fortunes to brokers and banks, can afford to build their own money management businesses. These offices, which would never be considered by top fund managers during the go-go years, suddenly look attractive thanks to their stable capital and long-term investment horizon.

“You follow the money. Right now that is leading people to family offices,” said Greg Coules, a former hedge fund manager…source

This article was first published by the Family Offices Group on FamilyOfficesGroup.com.

Related to Family Office Growth During Recession

• Hedge Fund Tracker Tool
• Fund Marketing and Sales Advice
• Top Hedge Fund Managers
• Family Offices Database
• Free Online Hedge Fund Videos

Tags: Family Office, Family Offices, Single Family Offices, Multi-family offices, wealth management, financial planning, wealth, ultra high net worth, high net worth

I just saw this recent article within the Washington Post and thought it was interesting and relevant to the focus on this site on family offices.
__________________________________

It’s early on a spring morning and Peter Kirsch is busily overseeing the fast-moving life of AOL founder James V. Kimsey. Seemingly everything that touches the mogul finds its way to Kirsch’s desk in his ninth-floor penthouse office overlooking the White House, from philanthropy to investments, from politics to friendships to the management of the sprawling Kimsey household.

As chief of staff in the Office of James V. Kimsey, Kirsch is a quiet force on the local scene.

He arrives at the office at 7:30 a.m. to prepare for another day of controlled chaos. At 9 a.m., he gets his daily briefing. Office accounting manager Stephanie Weir reports nothing amiss in Kimsey’s balance of payments big and small, be it DirecTV or NetJets, Burning Tree Country Club or Nationals baseball tickets, American Express (Black Card) or a utility bill.

Next up is receptionist Brie Hytovitz, the first person to greet office visitors, whether they be Ted Turner or Ted Leonsis. When the Potomac Conservancy wants to have a fundraiser at the Kimsey estate, Hytovitz makes sure the tent company, caterer and parking valet are there. She has recently been putting the final touches on Kimsey’s next monthly “boys’ lunch” with friends, scheduled for Oceanair, a seafood restaurant in downtown D.C.

On it goes, as the meeting melts into the day. Pinning Kirsch down on the phone or in person takes effort. He jumps from one call to another, holding discussions with Hytovitz and a visitor at the same time, while an entrepreneur who needs cash cools his heels in the conference room. One minute Kirsch is on the phone with a big hedge fund manager, the next he is sweeping down the elevator to attend his son’s sporting event. Read more…

- Richard

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• Family Office Services
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• Investing Book

Permanent Link: Family Office Example
Tags: Family Office Example, Family Office Services Example, Example of Family Office Services

Private Wealth Management

Private Wealth Management Trends

Below is a short excerpt from a recent article I wrote for Investopedia on family offices and private wealth management trends:
_______________________________

Family offices are private wealth management advisory firms that serve ultra-high-net-worth clients. There are more than 3,500 family offices based in the United States. By offering a complete outsourced solution to managing finances and investments, including budgeting, insurance, charitable giving, family-owned business, and wealth transfer and tax services, these offices set themselves apart from traditional wealth management firms. Although they vary in their level of service, most typically invest heavily in consultants, databases and analytical tools that help them conduct due diligence on money managers or optimize a portfolio of investments for tax purposes.

In this article, we’ll review the top three trends affecting family offices, including the rapid growth of the family office industry, the types of family office services provided, and the increasingly sophisticated use of hedge funds and alternative investments by both single and multifamily offices.

Family Office Facts
There are two types of family offices: single-family offices (SFOs) and multifamily offices (MFOs). Single family offices serve one wealthy family, while multifamily offices operate more like traditional private wealth management practices with multiple clients. Multifamily offices are much more common because they can spread heavy investments in technology and consultants among several high-net-worth clients instead of a single individual or family.

Tackling the Trends
Prominent trends fueling the growth of family offices include:

1. There is a growing number of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth classes around the world. In most developed nations, the wealthy are accumulating assets more rapidly than the middle class. At the same time, many emerging economies are thriving, with annual growth rates of 4-8%. Many experts have noted that by 2015-2020, China’s upper class will be larger than America’s middle class. Growth in countries such as China, Brazil, India and Russia will ensure that the family office format of wealth management services continues to grow in popularity over the next five to seven years. (To learn more about emerging economies, see What Is An Emerging Market Economy? and Demographic Trends And The Implications For Investment.)
2. Profitability is a growing challenge for family offices. As populations amass greater wealth, large wealth management firms are competing on a cost basis and moving a larger portion of their core services online. While the average person might appreciate saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars in fees each year, many affluent individuals would much rather spend $20,000 to $100,000 a year to ensure that experienced professionals are managing their investments and taxes to fit their specific financial goals and risk tolerances. Read more…

Free Daily Hedge Fund Newsletter

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• Hedge Fund Associations

Permanent Link: Private Wealth Management

Tags: Private Wealth Management, Family Offices, High Net Worth Banking, High Net Worth Wealth Management, Private Bank Wealth Management, Private Banking Wealth Management, Private Wealth Management Group, Best Private Wealth Management, Top Private Wealth Management, Family Office Private Wealth Management

A resource guide to finances in your 20s

What does it mean to be a young professional with money? What kind of strategies are available for young professionals to build wealth? How can I, as a young professional, take control of my income and expenses? What are some valuable tools I can use to track my finances?

The following articles look to answer these questions and provide tips for how young professionals might become wise stewards of their assets.

1. The first article we found is titled “Graduating to a happy, financially secure future.” It discusses some basic tips that may be useful to someone that is just entering the workplace out of college. We all know people that generate high incomes but are sucked into generating high liabilities to go with their high incomes. These people typically are good at looking and feeling and acting rich but hidden behind their financial glitz and glamour are poor financial foundations which can lead to mounds of debt that will take many years to repay. The goal of this article is to provide tips that should help you avoid these types of traps and build up financial disciplines that will benefit your long term financial goals.

2. The next article we found is titled “Planning for Retirement whether you are 20 or 59.” This article covers the whole spectrum from 20-59 and has some practical tips that can help young professionals make good choices as they enter into their careers.
3. The third article is called “How the Young Can Get Rich” and is a mock case study on two young professionals and their progression to retirement. The article compares “Early Shirley” to “Late Nate.” Early Shirley contributes less than Late Nate to her retirement plan over time but has the benefit of compounding interest and ends up with a much more healthy retirement fund than Late Nate who pours thousands of dollars a month into his retirement plan. The article focuses on how important it is to start contributing to your retirement plan as early as possible to reap the benefit of compounding.
4. This article talks about a broad plan for people who want to retire early. I think young professionals now; have a different perspective than their parents towards working and life balance. Young professionals don’t want to work until they are too old to enjoy their savings, so here is a quick guide on how to achieve that goal. Again I thought about timeless material. This article is titled “Retire Early“
5. This article relates to credit scores and the myths behind them. Surrounded by many college students (I live 4 miles from Michigan State), I constantly hear different theories about credit scores. Some theories are pretty far out there! Believe me, the craziest story that I heard was from a “finance major”; she said that the best way for you to have a high FICO score was to be late on a couple of payments to your credit card, so that the credit card companies make a little bit of money off of you and they like you more!This guide will help answer any questions you may have about how they are formulated. Many of the mistakes young professionals make come when they are just beginning to manage their own money and credit and don’t have a lot of experience yet. Read the article here to learn more about how a FICO score is formulated. What’s in your FICO score?
6. The final resource for Young Professionals we will cover in this entry deals with budgeting. Specifically, one personal finance tool that we have found to be particularly helpful in budgeting and money management is called mint.com. What is even better about this service is that it is free! Mint.com helps you understand how you spend your money, helps you track all of your accounts at once, including investments and liabilities and hosts very powerful and easy to use budgeting tools. When you add all of your accounts to Mint.com it automatically brings in approximately 3 months worth of transactions and also automatically categorizes them for you. The system for categorizing transactions is robust and easy to use as well, so if you do not like the category that the software selected for your transaction you can change it with a click of a button.

   Many times as young professionals, with increased purchasing power, we lean on debt instruments like credit cards to feed our desire for toys and luxuries. Often this use of credit can get out of hand because we don’t want to take the time to track our expenses. With Mint.com it becomes a much less painful task to stay on top of our accounts. It is an excellent service that anyone, young or old should check out! Here is the link: Mint.com

If you know of any other great resources on money management for Young Professionals please email us at christopher.hege@gmail.com so that we can share them with the Financial Planner Alliance community.

The articles in this post were found by our new contributor, Pedro Gallegos.

Permanent Link:Young Professional

Tags: Young Professional, Young Professionals,Money Management in your 20s,Managing your finances, Budgeting

In 5 months I will be releasing a free e-book on financial planning called the Financial Planning Blog Book.

This will be a free book that anyone can download to learn more about over 20 different areas related to financial planning. Please subscribe to the blog now to keep updated on the release of this book this upcoming winter/spring.

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Tags: Financial Planning Book, Best Financial Planning Book, Book on Financial Planning, Personal Financial Planning Book, Financial Planning Book com, Financial Planning Books

Single Country, Sector and Commodity ETF Articles

The following is a list of articles I have written on ETFs including articles on Single Country ETFs as well as Sector and Commodity ETFs. If you have any resources that you think would be valuable to the Financial Planner Alliance Community I would be glad to add them to the site. Please email us at christopher.hege@gmail.com if you have any to add. Thanks.

Single Country ETF Articles

Sector / Commodity ETF

Permanent Link:ETF List

Tags:ETF List, List of ETFs, ETF Funds,Single Country ETF, Sector ETF,Exchange Traded Fund,ETFs,ETF

Thailand ETF

iShares MSCI Thailand Investable Market Index Fund (THD) and other Thailand Investment Options

In 2002 I visited Thailand for about 5 weeks. Most of the time that I spent in the country was in Bangkok, a city that is estimated to have about 15 Million people. It was quite an amazing city to visit. The people that I met in Thailand were so friendly and hospitable! It was an honor to be able to spend some time there amongst such great people.

In the last couple of months I have started to do a lot of research on Exchange Traded Funds and learned that there is a Thailand ETF that recently became available to investors (inception date of 03/26/2008.) Thailand doesn’t have endless trading vehicles for US investors to use for investing in Thailand, but there are some trading instruments. The iShares MSCI Investable Market Index fund (THD) is one of them. Two other options, (although not ETF funds) for US investors are the Thai Fund Inc. (NYSE: TTF) and the Thai Capital Fund Inc. (AMEX: TF.)

The iShares MSCI Thailand Investable Market Index Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI Thailand Investable Market Index.

*Holdings are subject to change.

You may also review the iShares fund fact page for more information. If you would like more fund details you may find a prospectus on the iShares website.

If you would like to learn more about ETF Funds please see the following ETF Funds Overview. Another great resource is our list of single-country and commodity ETF Funds.

As always, please consult a licensed financial professional before making any investment decisions. Information within this blog is factual information only and is not a solicitation, promotion of any investment strategy, or form of financial advice in any way. The Financial Planner Alliance does not recommend any investment specifically. It intends to provide education on many financial planning and investment trends and options available to investors today.

-Chris

Permanent Link: Thailand ETF

Tags: Thailand ETF,Thai ETF, ETF,ETF Funds, ETF Fund,International ETF

Indonesia ETF: Coming Soon?

It looks as if an Indonesia ETF does not yet exist. Although Indonesia has yet to get its own exchange traded fund (ETF), an alternative would be its closed-end fund (CEF) by the name of Indonesia Fund(IF).

According to Yahoo.com:

“Indonesia Fund, Inc. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched by Credit Suisse Asset Management, LLC. It is managed by Credit Suisse Asset Management Limited (Australia). The fund invests in the public equity markets of Indonesia. It makes its investments across diversified sectors. The fund primarily invests in equity securities issued by Indonesian companies across all market capitalizations. It employs a bottom-up stock selection process to create its portfolio, focusing on global and local political, economic, and industry trends. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Morgan Stanley Capital International Indonesia Index. It was formed on March 9, 1990 and is domiciled in the United States.”

We will have to see how the country recovers as it continues to move on from the devastating tsunami of December 2004 that effected every part of its economy.

According to the food and agriculture organization of the United Nations:

“… Economic losses from the earthquake and resultant tsunami were severe, particularly on the West Coast. Agriculture and small traders were seriously affected. Infrastructure to support economic activity (was) devastated and its repair is critical to any rehabiliation effort. Current estimates indicate that as many as 92,000 farms and small enterprises (were) partially or wholly destroyed. Prior to the disaster, these enterprises provided employment for approximately 160,000 people.”

If you would like to learn more about ETF Funds please see the following ETF Funds Overview.

As always, please consult a licensed financial professional before making any investment decisions. Information within this blog is factual information only and is not a solicitation, promotion of any investment strategy, or form of financial advice in any way. The Financial Planner Alliance does not recommend any investment specifically. It intends to provide education on many financial planning and investment trends and options available to investors today.

-Chris

Permanent Link: Indonesia ETF

Tags: Indonesia ETFs, Indonesia ETF, Indonesia Closed-End Funds, Indonesia CEF,ETF Funds,ETFs,ETF

United States ETF: IYY and VTI

Two options for US investors who would like to invest in the US Market via United States ETFs are the Dow Jones U.S. Index Fund (IYY) and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI).

Here is a graph comparison of their performance over the last year. As you can see, their performance is nearly identical (as should be expected.)

Like other single-country ETFs, these two funds are a perfect example of how an investor could invest in a large number of sectors of their target country by buying shares in one of these ETFs.

If you would like more fund information you may find a prospectus on the iShares website. Here are the fund fact pages for IYY and VTI provided by iShares and Vanguard, respectively.

If you would like to learn more about ETF Funds please see the following ETF Funds Overview. Another great resource is our list of single-country and commodity ETF Funds.

As always, please consult a licensed financial professional before making any investment decisions. Information within this blog is factual information only and is not a solicitation, promotion of any investment strategy, or form of financial advice in any way. The Financial Planner Alliance does not recommend any investment specifically. It intends to provide education on many financial planning and investment trends and options available to investors today.

-Chris

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Tags: United States ETF,ETFs,ETF,Dow Jones ETF, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF

United Kingdom ETF

iShares MSCI United Kingdom Index Fund (EWU)

The only United Kingdom ETF that I could find is the iShares MSCI United Kingdom Index Fund (EWU).

The iShares MSCI United Kingdom Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the British market, as measured by the MSCI United Kingdom Index.

Here is a chart of the fund’s performance over the last year:

*Holdings are subject to change.

If you would like more fund information you may find a prospectus on the iShares website. The iShares MSCI United Kingdom Index Fund (EWU) fund fact page is also available here.

If you would like to learn more about ETF Funds please see the following ETF Funds Overview.

As always, please consult a licensed financial professional before making any investment decisions. Information within this blog is factual information only and is not a solicitation, promotion of any investment strategy, or form of financial advice in any way. The Financial Planner Alliance does not recommend any investment specifically. It intends to provide education on many financial planning and investment trends and options available to investors today.

-Chris

Permanent Link: United Kingdom ETF

Tags:UK ETF, United Kingdom ETFs, United Kingdom ETF, International ETF,ETF Funds

Brazil ETF

Brazil ETF: Video Series on Brazil ETF and ETF Funds

The following video series is an interview with Vinny Catalano – Chief Investment Strategist at Blue Marble Research. He discusses the ETF market and his opinions on ETFs as well as the Brazil ETF market. Please note that these are his opinions and should not be taken as advice from the Financial Planner Alliance. Vinny is a US based investor that attempts to find regions and countries that stand a good chance to beat the S&P 500. This video is from May 8, 2008.

The following Brazil ETF Fund is the only ETF Fund that I could find on the market available to the US consumer. If any of you know of any other ETF Funds available to the US consumer please email us at christopher.hege@gmail.com

1. iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ)

If you would like to learn more about ETF Funds, please see this overview of ETF Funds. If you would like to learn more about Brazil you can find more information on Brazil on the CIA Factbook Website.

As always, please consult a licensed financial professional before making any investment decisions. Information within this blog is factual information only and is not a solicitation, promotion of any investment strategy, or form of financial advice in any way. The Financial Planner Alliance does not recommend any investment specifically. It intends to provide education on many financial planning and investment trends and options available to investors today.

-Chris

Permalink:Brazil ETF

Tags:Brazil ETF,Brasil ETF,ETF Funds, ETF Fund,International ETF

Belgium ETF

Belgium ETF

Barclays Global Investors offers a Belgium ETF listed as EWK on the NYSE.

For people searching to invest in a part of Europe, the Belgium ETF might be an option to consider.

The iShares MSCI Belgium Investable Market Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the Belgian market, as measured by the MSCI Belgium Investable Market Index.

This fund’s inception date was 3/12/1996.

As of 06/30/2008 the top sector holdings of the Belgium ETF are the following:

As always, please consult a licensed financial professional before making any investment decisions. Information within this blog is factual information only and is not a solicitation, promotion of any investment strategy, or form of financial advice in any way. The Financial Planner Alliance does not recommend any investment specifically. It intends to provide education on many financial planning and investment trends and options available to investors today.

-Chris

If you would like to learn more about ETF Funds you can read my Overview of ETF Funds.

Permanent Link: Belgium ETF

Tags:Belgium ETF,Brussels ETF, Europe ETF,ETF Funds, ETF Fund,International ETF

Australia ETF

Australia ETF: iShares MSCI Australia Index (EWA)

ETF Funds that focus on a single country can be found all over the globe. One option for investors today is the Australia ETF listed on the NYSE and formally named the iShares MSCI Australia Index (EWA). This fund is offered by Barclays Global Investors.

The iShares MSCI Australia Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the Australian market, as represented by the MSCI Australia Index.

Here are the sector holding as of 06/30/2008

It is interesting to note that Australia’s neighbor, New Zealand (go Kiwis!) does not yet have an ETF fund that tracks its country as a whole but it may in the future.

If you are looking for more information on ETF Funds you can read my overview of ETF Funds. It discusses some basic trends that could help you understand the ETF Funds market.

As always, please discuss any investment options with a licensed financial professional before making any investment decisions. The information in this article is factual information and should not be construed as a recommendation of any kind.

Permanent Link: Australia ETF

Tags: Australia ETF,ETF Funds,Australian ETF,Single Country ETF,Australian ETFs

Russia ETF

Russia ETF: Market Vectors Russia ETF

Over the last couple of years ETF Funds have become a popular investment. ETF Funds hold a collection of stocks that share certain elements in common. If you as an investor would like to have a stake in the market in Russia it is possible for you to buy an ETF Fund that is based on the country as a whole sector.

You may have already read about the ETF fund that came available on the NYSE in 2007 called Market Vectors Russia ETF. If so, you know that Market Vectors Russia ETF tracks the DAXglobal Russia+ Index. On the NYSE it is listed as RSX.

As you might expect, the fund is heaviest in energy, at 40%. The fund also has exposure to telecom, 17%; iron/steel, 12% and electric, 11%. Like most single-country ETFs, RSX has a larger-cap bias. 92% of the fund is large-cap (6 billion or greater.)

I have not personally invested in an ETF Fund yet but am exploring the idea of investing in Gold or Silver ETF Funds. If any of you have invested in a single-country ETF Fund or sector-focused ETF Funds I would love to hear some feedback as to what you think of the investment and how it has benefited your portfolio. Feel free to leave a comment or email us at christopher.hege@gmail.com if you have any questions about ETF Funds.

If you would like to learn more about ETF Funds please see the following ETF Funds Overview.

As always, please consult a licensed financial professional before making any investment decisions. Information within this blog is factual information only and is not a solicitation, promotion of any investment strategy, or form of financial advice in any way. The Financial Planner Alliance does not recommend any investment specifically. It intends to provide education on many financial planning and investment trends and options available to investors today.

-Chris

Permanent Link: Russia ETF

Tags: Russia ETF,Russian ETF, Market Vectors Russia ETF, ETF Funds, International ETF Funds

Family Owned Businesses

Challenges of Family Owned Businesses

Many wealth individuals or families seek out single and multi-family offices while managing a family business or just after selling one or two family owned businesses. Since this is often the case it might help family office relationship managers to be well experienced or read within the niche of family ran businesses.

I just found a great PowerPoint presentation discussing the challenges of managing a family owned business enterprise and what one group has done to address these challenges. Please click here to read the PowerPoint presentation.

- Richard

Articles Related to Family Owned Businesses

1. Family Office Services
2. Family Office Wealth Management
3. Family Office Jobs
4. Multi-Family Offices Blog
5. Family Office Professionals

Permanent Link: Family Owned Businesses

Tags: Family Owned Businesses, Family Business Planning, Family Business Consulting, family business management, family business succession planning, family business succession, a family business, small family business

Wealth Management

Wealth Management Internship Available

I am pleased to announce the opportunity for two individuals to become interns of the Financial Planner Alliance Blog!

This could be a great opportunity for a college student that would like to learn more about Wealth Management, Search Engine Optimization and Professional Blogging. This opportunity could also be extended to individuals that are currently working in the Wealth Management Industry but would like to learn more about how to create a Professional Blog. The time period on this internship is flexible.

If this opportunity intrigues you please send me an email with a cover letter expressing your interest in the internship and a professional resume’ to christopher.hege@gmail.com. If you are selected for an interview, we will discuss more details of the internship at that time.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration of this opportunity and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Permanent Link:Wealth Management Internship

How to Pay Off Credit Debt

A case study on Debt Stacking

Over the last year or so my wife and I have been aggressively paying down our consumer debts. The method that we have used (successfully so far) is commonly known as Debt Stacking. The debt stacking method has been made known by the likes of Dave Ramsey, Ron Blue and other popular personal finance gurus that have helped thousands of families get out of debt and invest their money wisely. In the same way that debt can stack up quickly as you purchase more and more with the buy now- pay later mentality, it is possible to pay down your credit debt quickly (or at least a lot quicker than if you kept shopping without the means to pay it back.) There is no easy way to go about it and you must be disciplined in it, but it can happen. Just recently we eliminated our credit card debt completely (about 4-5k) and are now working on paying off our cars, school loans and mortgage.

There are a few steps to the Debt Stacking method that are necessary if you want to pay down your debt as quickly as possible while saving as much as possible on interest. The steps that we followed were the following.

1. Made a list of all of the credit debts that we held.
2. Sorted this list by size of debt (smallest to largest)
3. Gathered information on the interest rates of all of our debt
4. Organized high balance debts by their interest rates

The goal of this evaluation process was to come up with a ‘firing line’ for our debts to pay them off as quickly as possible, while saving the most we could on interest payments. Once we had our firing line we started to eliminate the small debts. Every month we would make minimum payments on every card except for the debt in our firing line (which we would pay as much as possible on). When the first debt was paid off, we would take the amount that we were paying on the first debt and add that to the payment of the 2nd debt and so on.

Here is an example of how it could possibly work for you – I have made up numbers for this illustration. I will walk through the steps I listed above so that it’s easy to create your own debt stacking plan.

Step 1.Make a list of all credit debts that you owe (Or whatever debts you would like to have included in your debt stacking – you can even include your mortgage or school loans) including their current balances, their minimum monthly payments and their interest rates.

Debt #1
Alaskan Airlines Credit Card
Balance: $2,500.00
Interest Rate: 12%
Minimum Monthly Payment: $85.00

Debt #2
Costco Visa Card
Balance: $400.00
Interest Rate: %7
Minimum Monthly Payment:$14.00

Debt #3
Sony Credit Card (New Plasma Screen TV)
Balance: $1,200.00
Interest Rate: %7
Minimum Monthly Payment: $42.00

Debt #4
Mortgage
Balance: $275,000.00
Interest Rate: 6%

Steps 2, 3 and 4 can all be accomplished in this example at once by sorting your debt list by size of debt (Smallest to Largest) and by interest rate. As you can see in this example, The Costco Visa Card, even though it had a higher interest rate than the Sony Credit Card, had a smaller balance so it was selected to be paid off first.

Debt #2
Costco Visa Card
Balance: $400.00
Interest Rate: %12
Minimum Monthly Payment:$14.00

Debt #3
Sony Credit Card (New Plasma Screen TV)
Balance: $1,200.00
Interest Rate: %7
Minimum Monthly Payment: $42.00

Debt #1
Alaskan Airlines Credit Card
Balance: $2,500.00
Interest Rate: 12%
Minimum Monthly Payment: $85.00

Debt #4
Mortgage
Balance: $275,000.00
Interest Rate: 6%
Minimum Monthly Payment: $2,500.00

Now that the list is in place let’s see how this would practically play out. For this example I am going to assume you have $3,000.00 a month available to pay off expenses ($359.00 more than these debt minimum payments.) The first month you would make the following payments.

Debt 2: Costco Visa Card – $359.00 + $14.00 (Minimum Payment) = $373.00
Debt 2: Balance After First Month = $27.00

Debt 3: Sony Credit Card – $42.00 (Minimum Payment)
Debt 3:Balance After First Month = $1,158.00

Debt 1: Alaskan Air Credit Card – $85.00 (Minimum Payment)
Debt 1: Balance After First Month = $2,415.00

Debt 4:Mortgage – $2,500.00 (Minimum Payment)
Debt 4: Balance After First Month = $272,500.00

Total Payments = $3,000.00

If you continue this strategy, in the second month you would pay off Debt 2: The Costco Visa card with a $27.00 Payment, and apply the rest of the payment that you made to the Costco Visa card in month one to Debt 3(The Sony Credit Card) for a total payment on the Sony Credit Card of $388.00. You would also continue your minimum payments on the Alaskan Air Credit Card and your mortage for a total of $3,000.00 in Monthly Payments. As you can see, every month you continue to pay as much as you can ($3,000.00) on all of your bills but are doing them in order as to save as much possible on interest and to hopefully pay down your debts much faster than if you just split up the payments evenly!

For my wife and I it took about a year to pay off our credit card debts but now that they are paid off we will apply the payments we were making on the credit cards to our cars until those are paid off, and then once the cars are paid off apply that payment to our 2nd mortgage and then to our first mortgage! If we stick to this strategy we should have all of our debt paid off by 2019. That is only 11 years from now!

I hope this article has been helpful to you and I look forward to writing more case studies on personal finances as I learn more and more. If you have utilized the debt stacking method in your own family or personal finances I would love to hear from you and I’m sure your story would benefit those who are trying to pay down their debts. Please leave a comment if you have been successful using this method!

Also, if you have any questions at all related to debt stacking please email me at christopher.hege@gmail.com and I would be glad to help.

Permanent Link:How to Pay Off Credit Debt

Planning For Retirement

Planning For Retirement: Video Series Part 1

I found this great video series put on by the National Retirement Planning Coalition that features Ben Stein talking about Planning For Retirement.

Here is an excerpt, and the video.

“There are a lot of things to worry about in this world…Terrorism, the Economy, Disease, but of the things we in middle-age worry about most, high on the list is Retirement. It is frankly scary to think about a time in the future when we’re going to have to live without a regular job or a regular paycheck. How do we prepare, how much do we need, what fraction of what we are living on when we are 50 or 55 do we need to live on when we’re 65 or 75? And how do we get that sum saved?”

Permanent Link: Planning For Retirement

Tags: Planning For Retirement,Financial Planning For Retirement,Planning for Retirement Calculator,Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits