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The Acts of LiberationTM Blog
The Acts of Liberation are thinking processes about the
ideas and issues affecting today's Financial Services practice. They are
designed to raise your awareness, consciousness, and even outrage over the
current state of affairs in the industry. The Acts of Liberation are designed to
give you the intellectual, legal, and courage framework to begin your own
journey toward practice freedom. The Acts of Liberation are designed to inspire
you, motivate you and propel you toward a Future Practice where you are in
charge of the regulators and bureaucrats. The Acts of Liberation are about your
ability, your practice, and your future. Enjoy!
"The only thing that is necessary for liberty
to perish is for good men to do nothing".
- Edmund Burke
"Pop Quizzes are insulting and expensive and useless"
The proposals to subject financial advisors to pop quizzes on rules and processess makes little or no sense. The issue here in terms of consumer protection is not what the advisor is able to recall about the Investment Advisors Act, but what he or she is doing to comply with it.
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Clueless: The Mary Shapiro Story
There may be another group of regulators and a regulator on the planet that is more clueless than Mary Shapiro, the new SEC head, but if there is, I haven't seen them. Her attempts at reforming the industry, protecting the American Investor, and encouraging Advisors are almost as misguided and diffuse as those of her boss, Barack. In fact, the one thing they've got in common is that neither one has ever had real jobs where they are accountable for anything.
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Create a Family Resource Center
Your new business as an advisor is not going to be your old business going forward. It will include asset management but not be limited to it. Limit yourself to conversations about just the markets going forward and you will limit your market.
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THE SEC CALLING RIA CLIENTS IS A REALLY STUPID IDEA
Mary Stupido's newest idea of calling RIA clients to verify their account balances is just another example of regulators not undertanding clients, advisors, or preemptory measures of protection. Her predecessor was warned 9 times of the scheme Bernard Maddoff was most likely perpetuating. What did he do? Nothing. What will Mary do? Nothing? What she will do is stir up a hornet's nest for legitimate advisors who have enough regulatory nonsense to deal with.
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Why The New Frugal Is Not Even a New Trend
As much as we'd like think we are going to enjoy reading by firelight and listening to the sound of the thrush on Walden Pond, it is Depression Era Nostalgia that is driving the current unsustainable emphasis on returning to the simple life. The same impetus appeared in the late 70's, during the high interest rates of the early 80's, the bottom part of the "Masters of the Universe" phase of corporate take overs and the tech wreck. We get tired of mac and cheese and rama noodles after just a little while. It's human nature to want something new, exciting, and different after a while. My suspicion is that's why the Amish have such a high drop out rate.
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