Planning For Retirement

Planning For Retirement: Video Series Part 2

I found this great video series put on by the National Retirement Planning Coalition that features Ben Stein talking about Planning For Retirement. This is part 2 of 3 of the video series.

Here is an excerpt from Video 2:
“Generally, with some exceptions, an average couple will need at least 80% of what they have been living on before they retire when they do retire. Afterall, the only large expense they will not have after retirement is saving for retirement. They’ll still need to eat, have a home, dress and travel.”

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Planning For Retirement

Video Series Part 3: Variable Annuities

I found this great video series put on by the National Retirement Planning Coalition that features Ben Stein talking about Planning For Retirement. This is part 3 of 3 of the video series. In this final video, Ben discusses Variable Annuities in a succint manner that should help you understand what their purpose is as well as their risks and rewards.

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Chartered Financial Analyst

Chartered Financial Analyst: CFA

The following article I found on wikipedia gives a great overview of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

The CFA designation is a qualification for finance and investment professionals, particularly in the fields of investment management, investment banking and financial analysis of stocks, bonds and their derivative assets. The program focuses on portfolio management and financial analysis, and provides a general knowledge of other areas of finance.

From 1963 (when the CFA designation was first awarded) to 2006, approximately 78,000 people from at least 126 different countries have been awarded the right to use the CFA designation, 68,000 of them in the years since 1990. As of 2006, more than 116,000 more people are currently enrolled to take one of the examinations.

Please see the Official CFA Institute Website for more information on acquiring the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

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Multi-Family Offices

Multi-Family Offices

Single and multi-family offices are exclusive wealth management firms that usually only accept clients with at least $10-$25M of investible securities. They typically have less total clients but spend more time with each client often assisting with tax, estate planning, charitable giving, foundation, and even budget issues in addition to traditional wealth management services. The costs are typically a little higher than a traditional wealth management office but you get more personal comprehensive service and usually a more sophisticated view of portfolio construction with access to alternative investments.

We will be blogging much more on family offices and their impact on the financial planning industry this upcoming fall/winter as we start to partner more closely with a large family office association in the industry.

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Single Family Office

Starting a Single of Multi Family Office

I just found this whitepaper on starting a family office. It is a quick read (3-4 pages long) and covers the current state of the family office industry, how much money family offices typically manage and what services that most family office firms currently offer.

Here is the abstract from this family office startup whitepaper: “Many families who have experienced a significant liquidity event will consider setting up a family office. The purpose of this white paper is to discuss the reasons families consider establishing an office, to describe the typical duties of such offices and to suggest a basic framework for designing and setting up a successful family office.”

If you are starting up a multi or single family office let us know if we can help connect you with any resources.

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Personal Financial Advising

Personal Financial Advising

Many people are turned off by the ongoing trend of online brokerage and technology-enhanced portfolio optimization and customer service. I have spoken with dozens of well off individuals who would much rather work with someone they trust and know well instead of trusting in a system that is hopefully being kept up to date.

The recent trend in mainstream media on focusing on several of the quantitative-based hedge funds collapsing has also increased the demand for more personal one-on-one based financial planning.

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Financial Planner Jobs

Financial Planner Jobs

Here is a list of articles that I have found that might be helpful if you are looking for Financial Planner Jobs.

The following resources are related to the preparation stages of becoming a financial planner. They will help you navigate through the history of financial planning, some of the certifications related to financial planning and help you to think about some of the attributes of a successful financial planner.

1. Monster.com’s “Become a Financial Planner“
2. CareerOverview.com’s “Financial Analyst and Financial Planning Career, Job and Training Information“
3. An article I found on Ezine @rticles called “Become a Financial Planner“
4. Infoplease.com has an article on “Financial Planners” and the way in which they make their money
5. Here is the SEC’s guide to financial planners
6. The US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics has a thorough guide on the fields of financial analysts and personal financial planners
7. Wikipedia’s guide to financial planners

Here are some resources related to the industry-standard certifications and education you can acquire to become a professional financial planner

1. Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards provides information on the official CFP designation.
2. WorldWideLearn lists some online universities that provide coursework in financial planning.

Here are some of the larger firms that you could work for if you want to work for an institution rather than go out on your own.

1. Edward Jones
2. Ameriprise Financial
3. Primerica Financial Services
4. John Hancock Insurance and Financial Services
5. Raymond James

And here are some job boards that might be useful to you to search for financial planner jobs. Each of these should link directly to a financial planner positions.

1. Monster.com
2. Indeed.com
3. Yahoo.com
4. Myspace.com
5. Gojobs.com

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Tags: Financial Planner Jobs,Financial Jobs,Financial Advisor Jobs,Financial Planning Career

Personal Financial Planning

Personal Financial Planning: Why it is important!

Personal Financial Planning is vital to any individual or family that would like to take control of their cash flow, learn how to budget effectively and how to invest for their future. It can also include the knowledge of retirement planning, estate planning, debt elimination, financial forecasting and goal setting.

Those who are intentional about designing their own personal financial plan tend to be more proactive and more successful than those who just fly by the seat of their pants and spend whatever money gets into their hands. They will often succeed in other areas of life as well because they take education and personal growth seriously.

Personal Financial Planning is important because growing wealthy, for 99% of us, does not happen overnight and our money must be carefully managed over time to achieve financial freedom and security.

If you would like to learn more about Personal Financial Planning, please take a look at the many articles provided on this site.

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Bond ETF

Bond ETF: Bond Exchange-Traded Funds

Here is an article that I found on Bond ETF by Investopedia that I found to be particularly helpful in understanding the Bond ETF market. It describes the general trends in bond investing and introduces the Bond ETF as a possible tool for investors who would like to track bond indices without the typically higher expenses of an actively managed bond fund.

While some electronic bond trading is available to retail investors, the entire bond market remains an over-the-counter market. Unlike stock trading – for which automation has leveled the playing field for retail and institutional investors – the bond market lacks liquidity and price transparency except for the most liquid of bonds. For the self-directed bond investor, for whom it may make little sense to invest in expensive actively managed bond funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) which track bond indices may offer a good alternative. Overview Of Bond ETFs While similar to other ETFs, bond ETFs are unique in the world of fixed income because, as they are traded on stock exchanges, the current and historical prices of bond ETFs are available to all investors. Historically, this kind of price transparency for bonds has been available only to institutional investors.

The challenge for the architect of a bond ETF is to ensure that it closely tracks its respective index in a cost-effective manner despite the lack of liquidity in the bond market. Most bonds are held until maturity, so an active secondary market is typically not available for them. This makes it difficult to ensure a bond ETF encompasses enough liquid bonds to track an index. This challenge is bigger for corporate bonds than for government bonds. The suppliers of bond ETFs get around the liquidity problem by using representative sampling, which simply means tracking only a sufficient number of bonds to represent an index. The bonds used in the representative sample tend to be the largest and most liquid in the index. For example, the Lehman Aggregate Bond Index contains more than 6,000 bonds, but the Barclays iShare Lehman Aggregate Bond Fund (AGG) contains only a little over 100 of those bonds. And, given the liquidity of government bonds, tracking errors will be less of a problem with ETFs that represent government bond indices.

Bond ETFs pay out interest through a monthly dividend, while any capital gains are paid out through an annual dividend. For tax purposes these dividends are treated as either income or capital gains. (However, the tax efficiency of bond ETFs is not a big factor because capital gains do not play as big of a part in bond returns as they do in stock returns.)

Finally, bond ETFs are available on a global basis. Barclays Global Investors, for example, has created ETFs that are available in the U.S., Europe and Canada.

The rest of this valuable resource on Bond ETF is available on the Investopedia website.

If you would like to learn a little bit more about ETF Funds, you can read my overview of the ETF Funds market.

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

Source: Investopedia

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Financial Planners

Financial Planners: Certified Financial Planners

The top Financial Planners in the industry often carry the CFP® designation.

According to the official CFP® website…

“The mission of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. is to benefit the public by granting the CFP® certification and upholding it as the recognized standard of excellence for personal financial planning.”

Often individuals with the CFP® designation are able to get their foot in the door with clients quicker because their achievement of the CFP® designation is recognized as being valuable.

To learn more about how to obtain the CFP® designation please visit the official Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards website.

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Related Designations:

1. Chartered Hedge Fund Associate (CHA)
2. Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
3. Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA)

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Best ETF

Best ETF: Exchange Traded Funds

If you are searching for the Best ETF for you, then there are a set of common guidelines that will help you determine what might be a good investment. Hopefully these criteria will help you navigate through the evaluation of the ETF Funds you are considering. Please keep in mind that you should always do your own research and discuss any investment decisions with a licensed financial professional.

Expense Ratio : An expense ratio is the fund’s annual operating expenses divided by the average annual net assets. All else being equal, if you compare two funds with the same % return and one fund has a lower expense ratio, the fund with the lower expense ratio will be usually be better.

Performance: A measurement of a fund’s returns, whether the returns are consistent, and how they compare to the returns of comparable funds.

Volatility: A statistical measure of a fund’s price movements over time. Funds with sharp spikes in the direction of a gain or loss could be considered volatile funds.

Assets: The current dollar value of the pool of money that shareholders have invested in the fund.

Length of Existence: How long the fund has been traded on the market.

Average Daily Trading Volume: The average amount of individual securities traded in a day or over a specified amount of time. Trading activity relates to the liquidity of a security; therefore, when average daily trading volume is high, the stock can be easily traded and has high liquidity. As a result, average daily trading volume can have an effect on the price of the security. If trading volume isn’t very high, the security will tend to be less expensive because people are not as willing to buy it. (definition found on Investopedia)

Diversification: A risk management technique, related to hedging, that mixes a wide variety of investments within a portfolio. Because the fluctuations of a single security have less impact on a diverse portfolio, diversification minimizes the risk from any one investment. (definition found on Wikipedia)

Trust: Do you know anything about the company that is providing the ETF Funds you are evaluating? What have other investors said about the company? What kind of track record do they have? Are they good stewards?

These are just a few of the criteria you may want to use to weigh your ETF Fund options. Please read my Overview of ETF Funds if you would like more information on the ETF market.

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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Certified Financial Planner

Certified Financial Planner: Designation for Financial Planning Professionals

The industry standard for Financial Planning Professionals is the Certified Financial Planner designation. The requirements for the CFP® designation are rigorous and the standards to pass the exams help to define the financial professionals who stand above the rest in their knowledge and dedication to the field of Financial Planning. Candidates for the CFP® designation must have a bachelors degree, must complete the education requirement (Complete a CFP-Board registered education program), pass the 10 hour exam, complete at least three years of qualifying full-time work experience, pass the Candidate Fitness Standards and Background check and pay the certification fees. They are then issued the CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™; and marks.

As you can see, there is a lot that goes into the acquisition of the CFP® designation and individuals who have achieved this designation have attained a high level of knowledge and experience in the financial planning field. Families and individuals looking for a financial planner to help organize their financial lives can consider a CFP® as an option to help them navigate their way to their financial goals and dreams.

For more information on the Certified Financial Planner designation you can read my post on Financial Planners.

Related Designations:

1. Chartered Hedge Fund Associate (CHA)
2. Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
3. Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA)

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International ETF

International ETF

I have recently seen a trend in the market of more people wanting to invest internationally to hedge their investments against any home country volatility. One way that people may do this is through an International ETF. An international ETF is basically any ETF that focuses on one country’s market sector in general. International ETF Funds may consist of a diversified portfolio of securities related to the country of interest. For example, it is possible to invest in many different countries or regions including Australia, Canada, USA, China, Finland, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Japan,Singapore, South Korea, Sweden and Turkey. There are most likely other countries with ETF Funds available as well.

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

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Wealth Managers

Wealth Managers

Content coming soon on Wealth Managers please check back soon for more details.

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Financial Planning Software

Financial Planning Software: Tools for Advisors

If you are looking for Financial Planning Software I have discovered a list of financial planning software programs that might be helpful to service your clients. A feature of the software is the ability to create goal based or cash-flow driven models that you can present to your clients. These pieces of software can also assist with estate planning, the creation of asset allocation models, tax planning, charitable planning, retirement planning and college savings planning.

1. NaviPlan
2. MoneyGuide Pro
3. WealthTec
4. MoneyTree Silver Planner
5. Master Planner

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Become A Financial Planner

Become A Financial Planner

Content coming soon on Become A Financial Planner please check back soon for more details.

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Wealth Management Services

Wealth Management Services

Content coming soon on Wealth Management Services please check back soon for more details.

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Estate Tax Planning

Estate and Gift Tax Planning

If you give someone money or property during your life,you may be subject to federal gift tax. The money and property you own when you die (your estate) may be subject to federal estate tax. Estate Tax Planning is important for many different reasons. If you want to learn more, Publication 950 from the IRS gives a good introduction to estate and gift taxes.

It explains how much money or property you can give away during your lifetime or leave to your heirs at your death before any tax will be owed. Gifts you make during your life or bequests from your estate can also be subject to an additional tax, the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax, if the gifts or bequests are to a person, such as a grandchild, who is more than one generation younger than you.

As with any other form of financial planning, it is important to get the opinion of a licensed financial professional that can help you navigate your way through the gifting process.

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ETF Funds

ETF Funds: Exchange Traded Funds

ETFs are also known as exchange traded funds. ETF’s are basically a mix between an index fund and individual stock. Most ETF Funds are diversified like an index fund but trade like a stock on an exchange. They often track a specific part of the market and usually represent a particular asset class, sector, market cap or geography. This gives you the ability to target different sectors and expose yourself to indices without buying each of the individual stocks of the index you want to follow. ETFs can be traded any time or anywhere stocks are traded and prices fluxuate according to changes in their underlying portfolios and according to their supply and demand.

In a traditonal mutual fund, buying and selling happens once a day at the day’s ending NAV (Net Asset Value.) With ETFs, they can be bought or sold at any time during the day. Also, shares are created on demand by “Authorized Participants.” These “Authorized Participants” are made up of large institutional investors and other approved market makers. They are authorized to create shares and release them into the secondary market at a price equal to the cost of purchasing the basket of securities that make up the index that the ETF is tracking.

Many ETFs have the benefit of diversification. ETFs are designed to track a specific market index made up of many stocks and bonds. They give you the ability to invest in a specific sector or country while downplaying the risks of being invested in just one stock. ETFs also tend to carry lower expenses than actively managed mutual funds.

Other features of ETFs are the ability to purchase on limit orders, trade on margins and to short sell.

Most of the information in this article I obtained by listening to and outlining a great educational podcast series on ETFs provided by Barclay Global Investors. Feel free to check out their ETF podcast series on the iShares 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

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Gold ETFs

Gold ETFs: Gold Exchange Traded Funds

If you are looking to expose yourself to the Gold market one option to consider is Gold ETFs . In case you haven’t read this already, I found this great article on wikipedia that talks about Gold ETFs. Sometimes wikipedia has outdated information but this one is worth taking a look at.

The first gold exchange-traded fund actually launched was in March 2003 on the Australian Stock Exchange under Gold Bullion Securities (ticker symbol “GOLD”). Gold Bullion Securities (GBS) are fully backed by gold which is both deposited and insured. GBS was launched to give financial institutions and private investors the ability to own gold and gain exposure to the price, without the inconvenience of storing physical bars.

Since the launch of the GBS in 2003 there have been many other Gold ETFs to rise up. These are located on stock exchanges around the world.

The following are just a few of the ETFs available, the exchange they are found on and the ticker symbol to identify the fund. They should not be construed as recommended ETFs in any form. These are simply some of the funds that are currently available around the world.

* Gold Bullion Securities (ASX: GOLD)
* Lyxor Gold Bullion Securities (LSE: GBS and Euronext: GBS)
* SPDR Gold Trust (formerly streetTRACKS Gold Shares) (NYSE: GLD, SGX:GLD 10US$ and TYO: 1326)
* New Gold Issuer (JSE: GLD)
* The iShares COMEX Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU)
* The Central Gold Trust (TSX: GTU.UN, TSX: GTU.U and NYSE: GTU))
* ETFS Gold (LSE: BULL)
* ETFS Physical Gold (LSE: PHAU)
* Gold BeES (ticker symbol “GOLDBEES”) on the National Stock Exchange of India.
* UTI Mutual Fund listed Gold Exchange Traded Fund (ticker symbol “GOLDSHARE”) on the National Stock Exchange of India.

If you would like to learn more about ETF Funds in general you should read this Overview of 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

Source:Wikipedia

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China ETF

China ETF:Chinese Exchange-Traded Funds

Looking to invest in the Chinese Market? One way you can invest in the Chinese market is through a China ETF.

The rapid expansion of single-country ETFs has made this possible and has broadened investor options significantly. This expansion of single-country and single-region ETFs has included areas such as Australia, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Europe, Finland, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Turkey and the USA. One thing to be aware of is that some ETFs are only available exclusively on that nation’s stock exchange and cannot be purchased on a foreign stock exchange.

There are a few Chinese ETF Funds available that we know of including the following:

1. FXI – A Barclay’s iShares investment vehicle which tracks the Xinhua 25 Index featured in London
2. PGJ – Listed on the AMEX and is based on the Halter USX China Index
3. HAO – Claymore/AlphaShares China Small Cap Index ETF
4. SNO – NETS Hang Seng China Enterprises Index Fund
5. GXC – SPDR S&P China ETF

If you would like to learn more about ETF Funds in general you should read this Overview of 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: China ETF, China ETFs, China ETF Fund, Best China ETF Fund, China 25 ETF, China 50 ETF, China Currency ETF

Real Estate ETF

Real Estate ETF

Content coming soon on Real Estate ETF please check back soon for more details.

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Investment Advisors

Investment Advisors

Content coming soon on Investment Advisors please check back soon for more details.

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Welcome to the Financial Planners Alliance wealth management blog. This blog is updated once a week with additional interviews, book reviews, white papers, and news stories related to financial planners. This content is being placed here to serve financial advisors who are seeking additional education, market insight and sales tips.

Please email us at christopher.hege@gmail.com if you have any questions or suggestions on what kind of posts you would like to see here in the upcoming weeks.

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