Managing Personal Productivity When Telecommuting From A Home Office

With the rise of internet connectivity, it is increasingly feasible to work from anywhere, and simply rely on technology to accomplish key tasks and facilitate important communication. Which for many, is appealing simply to escape the distractions of the busy office environment. Not to mention the opportunity to reduce what for many is a 15-mile driving commute down to a 15-foot walk down the hall!

The caveat, however, is that the traditional office environment provides a lot of structure that is actually very important to maintain personal productivity. As a result, shifting to a home office environment may increase available time – by eliminating the commute and the work colleague distractions – but may not necessarily improve productivity, given the introduction of all the distractions of home and family!

Consequently, to maintain personal productivity in a home office environment, it’s necessary to establish some “office” structure of your own. Including having an office space that is physically separate – at a minimum, with four walls and a door that you can close – to establish (both to family and in your own head) when you’re really “at work” and should not be interrupted with the distractions of home. Similarly, even though you’re at home and can work “anytime”, it’s more effective in practice to have set Office Hours when you intend to be in your office and working… both to set expectations (for yourself and family), and so that you can draw the line of when to stop working (or else, for workaholics in particular, a home office can become all-consuming!).

In addition, it’s important to recognize that while working from home can eliminate the distractions of work colleagues, most people will ultimately crave at least some human interaction with others. Which means those who choose to work from a home office need a plan to deal with the loss of human interaction. From using technology for video conferencing to conduct team (and client) meetings, to using chat tools to maintain inter-office conversation and social interaction, engaging in social media (as a true social engagement channel), and even joining a local association or networking group to have opportunities outside the house, it’s vital to have a plan to maintain your social connections, as one of the most common reasons that people stop working from home is the feeling of social isolation.

And for those who are happy working from home, and intend to do so for a long time to come – be certain to (re-)invest into making your home office into a real space of your own for work, from buying quality office furniture and a comfortable work chair, a good keyboard and mouse, well-sized screens, and even creating multiple workspaces in your home office (to the extent that space allows)… as even though the office may be in your home, you should still treat it like a real office, especially since you may spend a lot of cumulative hours of time there in the years to come!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/home-office-telecommuting-managing-personal-productivity-work-structure/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=home-office-telecommuting-managing-personal-productivity-work-structure

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Apr 28-29)

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the news that while it appears the Department of Labor is not going to defend itself against the recent 5th Circuit Court of Appeals loss that would vacate its fiduciary rule, a coalition of three state attorney generals (from California, New York, and Oregon) are petitioning the court to be allowed to defend the fiduciary rule in the DoL’s stead, and mega advocacy organization AARP has also filed a similar petition to take up the case, requesting an en banc review of all 17 appeals judges (beyond just the 3 who made the original ruling). Also in the news this week is turmoil in Australia over its fiduciary rule that took effect several years ago, as it turns out that just banning commissions and having a best interests obligation may not be enough to protect consumers, without actually breaking up vertically integrated product manufacturers and distributions that, even without commissions being paid, are still finding ways to incentivize their advisors to give overly conflicted advice (and providing a potential roadmap for the next stage of the fiduciary debate in the 2020s!?).

From there, we have several practice management articles this week, from a look at why the top producers are the least happy in broker-dealers (when normally businesses would try their hardest to make their top producers the most satisfied!), to a discussion of the key issues to consider in finding a new broker-dealer that might make you happier in the long run, why it’s a bad idea to focus on trying to be the “best” at what you do (and instead focus on the standards, process, or habits that will get you to being the best), and why even great financial advisors often hit a wall in their businesses (because eventually, it’s not actually about being a great/better financial advisor, but learning to be a great/better business owner and CEO of an advisory business!).

We also have several tax-related articles, including: a discussion of the confusion that has emerged since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the entertainment deduction for businesses but kept the meals deduction (leading to questions of when a meal is “entertainment” and when it’s just a meal); an analysis trying to quantify the economic value of using retirement accounts (finding that it’s mostly about the ongoing tax deferral of interest, dividends, and capital gains, and not about the tax deduction you get up front for contributing!); and the last looks at how estate planning is changing since the adoption of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (or RUFUDAA for short) to facilitate digital estate planning.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of behavioral finance and decision-making: the first looks at how natural selection appears to favor getting larger (in both nature, and in business), yet ultimately larger species (and businesses) tend to get so large they accelerate their own demise and extinction, which means that while the key when you’re small is to get bigger (for safety and economies of scale), the key when you’re big is to be paranoid about avoiding the potential extinction event you may not otherwise be able to adapt to quickly enough; the second explores our human tendency to explain “lucky” events with narratives, to the point that we seem to discount the value of efficient algorithms in part because they’re so efficient there’s no compelling narrative to explain them; and the last looks at fascinating research that finds the decisions we make actually change our own preferences, causing us to repeat similar decisions in the future (even if we don’t remember the original one), which helps to explain why small bad choices can often compound into big ones, but similarly suggests that making small positive choices can compound into highly favorable long-term outcomes!

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/weekend-reading-for-financial-planners-apr-28-29-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=weekend-reading-for-financial-planners-apr-28-29-2

What “Works” In Digital Marketing And Social Media Advertising For Financial Advisors

As social media usage continues to grow amongst financial advisors and their prospective clients, advisors are growing increasingly interested in whether spending money on digital advertising can provide a good return on investment. As many readers know, Kitces.com is very involved in the world digital marketing and social media, so I wanted to share some of my own thoughts on digital marketing and social media for financial advisors – and particularly when it comes to actually spending money on digital advertising. Because, as I’ve learned through many years of testing and experimenting with social media, while it can be a powerful tool, it can also be easy to waste money if not done properly.

In this week’s #OfficeHours with @MichaelKitces, my Tuesday 1PM EST broadcast via Periscope, we explore how financial advisors can use digital marketing and social media to grow their business, and particularly why it’s important to have a clear understanding of what you are trying to accomplish in the first place (e.g., awareness, engagement, or acquisition) in order to use digital advertising effectively!

The first question to consider is what, exactly, you’re trying to accomplish with social media. Because the reality is that digital marketing, like any kind of marketing, is actually a multi-step process. And at a high level, I like to think of it in three phases: Awareness, Engagement, and Acquisition. The Awareness phase is simply about making people aware that your business exists in the first place. The people you reach are not necessarily ready to do business with you, but you want to make them aware that you exist. The Engagement phase is where you try to actually help a prospective client begin to know, like, and trust you. There’s a famous saying in the marketing world that people need to engage with your brand 7 to 9 times before they’ll be ready to do business with you, and that’s what’s happening in the engagement phase. The Acquisition phase is where you actually try and acquire a client. In other words, this is where you transition from marketing into an actual sales process, because the prospect is ready to do business, is interested in doing business with you, and now you just have to convince them to actually take that action.

And these phases (Awareness, Engagement, and Acquisition) matter in a social media context, because they influence what you are trying to do through social media in the first place. Social media can be great for building awareness. For instance, if you broadcast useful content on Twitter, it tends to get retweeted and shared with others, who become aware of what you’re providing, follow you, and now you have more people who are aware of what you’re doing and can amplify your content. The caveat, though, is that Twitter is a short-form medium (280 characters or less), so you’re not going to convince someone to give you their life savings based on a 280 character tweet. Facebook can also be effective for building awareness, particularly if you share content through a company page. So it may make sense to spend some dollars to try to further build your audience. Paying for awareness on Twitter is less effective (since relevant content that gets shared is far more useful in the first place), but Facebook – with their ad tools specifically built to help you target people who are not already following your page but would likely be interested in learning more about you with – can be particularly effective for gaining awareness through paid ads tightly refined specifically to your audience.

However, building awareness alone isn’t enough to actually get new clients. You actually have to engage prospects in order to get them to know, like, and trust you enough to want to do business with you. On social media, engagement means doing something that prompts people to take a further action. Maybe you run a TweetChat on Twitter or ask a provocative question on Facebook, but the key is that you have to get them to do something. In a social media context, you may want to promote a particularly popular tweet, or perhaps on Facebook you might pay to boost an article, survey, or an ad that prompts individuals to come to your website and do something. These aren’t necessarily big ad spends. You spend money to get your engagement opportunities in front of your prospects on your social media channels, but the key here is that there must actually be some element of engagement.

The third part of the funnel is acquisition. Here, a different set of strategies are relevant. This is the domain where you’re most likely to do very targeted ads, that really invite people to actually hire you and do business with you. Notably, this doesn’t mean just plastering ads out for the whole world to see. Your targeted messages should go to the people who are already engaged with you. This could mean paying to target a particular offer or invitation to do business with you sent to the already-engaged audience that has ‘Liked’ your Facebook page, but you aren’t asking people to ‘Like’ your Facebook page at this stage. You’re paying to make them an offer to take a next step towards actually becoming a client of yours.

Ultimately, though, the key point is to recognize that any digital marketing advertising you do has to align with what you’re trying to accomplish. There are lots of strategies which may or may not be effective – from keywords and organic search, to SEO and retargeting (all discussed in greater depth in today’s office hours) – but the key is that you need to do more than just throw ads out into social media. Digitial advertising can work great, but it’s almost never about sending out a magic ad or Tweet. You need to build awareness, find ways to engage your audience, and then prompt them to take action that allows you to acquire them as a client. If you don’t have a well thought out process, digital advertising will likely not provide the return on investment that you want!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/financial-advisor-social-media-advertising-pay-per-click-digital-marketing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=financial-advisor-social-media-advertising-pay-per-click-digital-marketing

5 Ways to Boost Next Year’s Tax Refund Now

It’s oh-so-nice to get a tax refund in the spring – wouldn’t it be great if you could get one in the summer as well? Sorry, tax refunds come but once a year, but the next best thing is to get a bigger tax refund next year so it lasts into summer. Here are five tips on how to do just that.

source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/5-ways-to-boost-next-years-tax-refund-now-17107/

The Problem With Benchmarking To Financial Planning Goals: Investor Results vs Advisor Results

Benchmarking the results of an investment manager is a basic form of accountability that helps to determine whether the manager is really adding value with their investment process. For which the evolution in recent decades of ever-more-finely-sliced benchmarks – from the Morningstar Style Box to factor regression analysis – applies an ever-increasing focus on determining exactly which managers are really adding value, and which are simply benefitting from the underlying results of a well-performing asset class (or factor) they happened to already own.

Of course, benchmarking has a dark side as well. For underperforming managers, it can literally cause them to be fired – arguably for a justified reason of underperformance, but an outcome that incentivizes at least some managers (including some financial advisors who manage portfolios) to become closet indexers… while others are always in search of alternative “benchmarks” that are less prone to (potentially) unfavorable outcomes in the first place.

In this context, a recent “innovation” suggested by some advisors and managers is to benchmark results relative to the investor’s (financial planning) goals in the first place, rather than the manager’s comparable benchmark. After all, the whole purpose of the portfolio is (usually) not merely to grow for the sake of growing, but to grow for the purpose of achieving a goal. Which means, arguably, the real focus should be on the investor’s progress towards their goals, not their (potentially short term) performance relative to some investment benchmark.

Yet in practice, benchmarking investment managers and financial advisors to goals may simply give them “credit” for favorable results that were really nothing more than the market delivering whatever the market was going to return – which is beyond the control of the manager anyway. And in a world where most financial projections are done with a straight-line return assumption, benchmarking to goals can actually quickly become the equivalent of a (relatively high) absolute return benchmark that is even more likely to lead to disappointing results that makes the manager look even worse (at least in the short term when the next inevitable bear market occurs).

More generally, though, the key is to recognize that even though investors should care about their investment results relative to a goal, the process of evaluating an advisor or manager and the value they do (or don’t) add to the process still needs a proper investment benchmark. In other words, there’s a difference between benchmarking the investor’s results to their goals (driven by the markets) and benchmarking the advisor’s or manager’s results (driven by their own investment decisions). And while benchmarking relative to goals may be appropriate to measure the former, it is still not an appropriate way to evaluate the latter!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/problem-benchmarking-to-goals-investor-vs-advisor-performance-results/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=problem-benchmarking-to-goals-investor-vs-advisor-performance-results

How Will Tax Reform Affect My Refund Next Year?

We know that you work hard for your money and often a tax refund may be the biggest check you get all year, so we’re here to let you know how the new tax reform legislation may affect your tax...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-reform/how-will-tax-reform-affect-my-refund-next-year-33055/

Did You Miss the Tax Deadline? 3 Steps You Can Take Next

The tax deadline has come to pass, unless of course you filed a tax extension.  If you missed the tax deadline and didn’t file your taxes or an extension there are some things you can still do. Here are 3...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/did-you-miss-the-tax-deadline-3-steps-you-can-take-next-19629/

#FASuccess Ep 069: Interrupting The Pattern With The Philosophy That Each Client Is The Only Client with Barry Glassman

Welcome, everyone! Welcome to the 69th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today’s podcast is Barry Glassman. Barry is the founder and president of Glassman Wealth, a wealth management firm in the Washington DC area that serves 250 affluent families and has grown to nearly $1.2 billion in AUM in barely 10 years since Barry broke away from his former hybrid broker-dealer firm.

What’s unique about Barry, though, is the amount of time and energy he spends focusing on building his advisory business as a business, including why, even though he’s been nominated to most of the industry’s “Top Advisor” lists, he’s most proud of the purposeful culture that’s allowed Glassman Wealth to win a local Washingtonian “Best Places to Work” award.

In this episode, we talk about Barry’s approach to differentiating his firm by doing what he calls “interrupting the pattern” from what clients and prospects are typically used to, which includes his website home page that leads with the message “It’s not about pie charts” and even lists some of the competing firms he refers prospects out to, how he records a quick personal video for every prospect before he meets with them, why he doesn’t give out gifts with the firm’s logo, and how he differentiates himself in his relationship with attorneys, accountants, and other centers of influence by engaging them more proactively than the pattern they’re used to with most other advisors.

We also talk about Barry’s unique philosophy in deciding how to service his clients and connect with prospects in the first place, where he starts with the mental exercise of pretending they’re the only client or prospect the firm will meet with all year, figures out what that client would want and expect, and then working backwards to figure out what the firm can systematically execute on and deliver, using technology to help personalize the experience, for each and every client of the firm’s 250 affluent clients.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Barry talks about where he goes to get inspiration as an entrepreneurial business owner, why he doesn’t go to more than one financial advisor conference every year, and why he thinks it’s so important for advisors to look outside the industry for real perspective on entrepreneurship.

So whether you are interested in learning more about growing a firm after breaking away from a broker-dealer, why it is important to “interrupt the pattern” of what your clients and prospects are used to, or how you can differentiate yourself by engaging with centers of influence more proactively than they’re used to, I hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/barry-glassman-wealth-management-podcast-interrupt-pattern-one-client-philosophy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=barry-glassman-wealth-management-podcast-interrupt-pattern-one-client-philosophy

SEC Advice Rule Proposals: Regulation Best Interest, Disclosure Form CRS, & Title Reform

After years of debate over the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, and a nascent movement of states adopting their own fiduciary standards, the SEC has finally issued the first proposal of its long-awaited “Advice Rule” to reform the standard of conduct for broker-dealers, after being authorized under Section 913 of Dodd-Frank nearly 8 years ago to harmonize the regulation of brokers and investment advisers with a uniform standard.

As it turns out, though, the SEC’s proposal is not actually a uniform standard that would require brokers to be fiduciaries, but instead would only partially lift the conduct standards for broker-dealers, with a new “Regulation Best Interest” requirement that would obligate brokers to act in the best interests of their customers when making an investment recommendation… but only at the time they actually make the recommendation. And not at all if the broker is implementing recommendations that were crafted while wearing his/her investment adviser “hat” under a dual-registered B/D-RIA firm.

To help further clarify the nature of the relationship between customers and their brokers, and investment advisers and their clients, given that the SEC is not harmonizing fiduciary regulation for investment advisers and brokers, the regulator also proposed establishing a new Disclosure Form CRS – short for customer/client relationship summary – which would provide a “simple, plain language” 4-page explanation of the consumer’s relationship with the broker or adviser, albeit with wording that will likely be hotly debated in the coming year.

In addition, the SEC’s Advice Rule would formalize an RIA fiduciary’s expectations under the Duty of Care and the Duty of Loyalty, proposes several new potential requirements for RIAs where their standards are actually lower than broker-dealers (in particular, for investment adviser representatives to have a Continuing Education obligation, and for RIAs to potentially have basic Net Capital requirements to ensure they can make good to clients in the event the firm must be liquidated and unwound), and raises the question of whether it’s finally time for “title reform” by proposing that brokers would no longer be permitted to use any title with the word “advisor” or “adviser” (though dual-registered brokers would still be permitted to do so given the RIA “adviser” hat).

Ultimately, the good news of the SEC’s Advice Rule proposal is that it does aim to at least partially lift the standards for brokers, with an aim to further clarify the nature of the broker’s relationship with the customer (and how it differs from an advisor’s relationship with its clients). Yet at the same time, introducing a “Regulation Best Interest” may be so on-the-nose that consumers will actually just be more confused about the difference between a “Best Interests” standard for brokers and a “fiduciary” standard for RIAs… which the SEC defines as the RIA being obligated to act in the Best Interests of its clients, too. And by exempting dual-registered brokers from both the obligations of title reform, and Regulation Best Interest itself, it’s not entirely clear if the SEC is really aiming to clarify the differences between brokers and investment advisers… or to simply induce all broker-dealers to launch corporate RIAs as a safe harbor for their advice-related activities to avoid ever really facing greater scrutiny of the broker-dealer model and how their advice is implemented in the first place?

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/regulation-best-interest-sec-advice-rule-advisor-title-reform-disclosure-form-crs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=regulation-best-interest-sec-advice-rule-advisor-title-reform-disclosure-form-crs

Happy Earth Day! 5 Easy (and Free!) Ways to Protect the Environment

How would you like to save some serious cash, get healthy, and do some good for the earth? Sounds awesome, right? With Earth Day here, I want to show you that you can make a difference and build your finances....

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/income-and-investments/happy-earth-day-5-easy-and-free-ways-to-protect-the-environment-40633/

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Apr 21-22)

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the the official release of the SEC’s new Advice Rule, which aims to lift the standards for brokers giving advice recommendations with a new “Regulation Best Interest” but stops short of imposing a full (and uniform) fiduciary rule, while also raising the possibility that brokers would at least be restricted from using the “advisor” or “adviser” labels (but not for hybrid B/D-RIA firms that actually comprise the overwhelming majority of all brokers in the first place).

Yet also in the news this week is the acknowledgement that advice itself continues to be increasingly central to both the investment adviser and broker-dealer model, with a research study from Cerulli Edge showing that the majority of clients are now receiving some kind of financial planning services from their investment adviser or broker (up from 1/3rd just 5 years ago), and a consumer study from J.D. Power finding that even as Millennials demand higher quality technology from their financial institutions, it’s still the financial advisor relationship that actually drives Millennial loyalty to a firm!

From there, we have several articles about the insurance industry, including a recap of the highlights from the recent Intercompany Long-Term Care Insurance (ILTCI) conference about the latest trends in the LTC insurance industry (including that traditional LTC insurance is stabilizing but carriers are still rolling out more flexible hybrid life/LTC policies as well), a discussion of the rules regarding the important but often overlooked 2-year Incontestability Period for life insurance policies, and a look at how the fact that most people have declining needs for life insurance over time means that layering multiple life insurance policies with separate time horizons may be more cost efficient than just buying one large 30-year term policy.

We also have several advisor-technology articles, including a look at how some firms are starting to try to proactively leverage artificial intelligence to support the productivity of financial advisors, a second that looks at the growth of the new United Capital “FinLife CX” platform (which can be bundled to an advisor’s existing CRM instead of requiring the advisor to use theirs), and the (re-)emergence of FinFolio 2.0 as a competitor in the space of portfolio accounting and reporting solutions for advisors.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of financial independence and retiring early: the first explores the growth of bloggers that show consumers (especially Millennials) how to live frugally in order to retire early, with the caveat that the most successful bloggers in the space may be achieving early retirement primarily because they earned a well-above-average income, not because of their frugal spending habits; the second goes deeper in exploring the “FIRE” (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement that is attracting more and more interest from Millennials in particular; and the last is a fascinating discussion about whether and at what age someone should try to retire early to balance out their earnings and life potential with their desired standard of living and freedom… at least, for those who have the incomes that make it possible to save enough to do so in the first place!

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/weekend-reading-for-financial-planners-apr-21-22-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=weekend-reading-for-financial-planners-apr-21-22-2

When Do I Amend My Tax Return?

What if we missed a form? What's the procedure for that? In that case we may need to amend our tax returns. For anyone who thinks that may have to do that, here is some information to help it be as painless as possible.

source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/when-do-i-amend-my-tax-return-10524/

Why Prospects Need Help Preparing To Leave A Soon-To-Be-Former Advisor

In the past, financial advisors encountered many prospective clients who were either previous do-it-yourselfers who didn’t already have an advisor, or individuals who had just gone through a “wealth creation” event like selling a business or retiring and getting a lump sum rollover from their pension. Which means they didn’t already have an advisor. Increasingly, however, financial advisors are encountering prospects who already have a relationship with another financial advisor. And this distinction between working with prospects who already have an advisor and those who do not is important, because the dynamics of winning a new client away from an existing advisor are different than just winning a new client who has never worked with an advisor before!

In this week’s #OfficeHours with @MichaelKitces, my Tuesday 1PM EST broadcast via Periscope, we explore why it is difficult for some prospective clients to fire an existing financial advisor (even when that advisor is not doing a good job), and what financial advisors can do to help prospective clients prepare themselves to switch away from an existing financial advisor!

Many financial advisors have had the experience of talking to a prospect who was not being served well by their existing advisor (or “advisor” who was actually just a product salesperson selling them a bunch of stuff that may not have even been very good for them in the first place), where the prospect says they want to work with you, but then, at the last minute, decides to stay with the former advisor or broker after all. Oftentimes these prospects may abruptly cancel meetings, start to communicate sporadically through only email or voicemail, or simply just stop communicating at all. Unfortunately, in many of these cases, it is likely that the prospect is struggling with how hard it is for most people to “fire” their former advisor. After all, this is a relationship business, and most people don’t like to terminate relationships and fire people they have a relationship with (regardless of whether it was the healthiest relationship to begin with). The key point: we often underestimate how uncomfortable it will be for prospects to fire former advisors, and, as a result, don’t do anything to help prepare these prospects for such potentially difficult conversations.

So what should financial advisors do about this? First and foremost, if you’re talking to a prospective client who is going to be leaving a soon-to-be-former advisor or broker to come work with you, then you have to prepare them for that conversation. One approach is just to say, “I’m so glad you’ve agreed to work with us, and we’re excited to start working with you. But I need to warn you that when you tell your former advisor you’re leaving, he’s going to try to keep your business and win you back. Have you given any thought to how you’re going to handle that situation?” And let the prospect talk through the challenge. Additionally, financial advisors may want to help clients think through scenarios such as what the client would do if the existing advisor offering to cut his or her fees to retain the client.

Because the reality is that by merely getting the client to talk through these scenarios (even without the advisor providing recommendations, which the prospective client could see as biased anyway), an advisor can still help a client better prepare themselves for that conversation. And, as a result, the client may be less likely to get caught off guard by an aggressive advisor who tries to retain their business (even after not serving them well in the first place), and less likely to be tempted to back down. Alternatively, prospective clients may even decide that it’s best to start the transfers or the new financial planning process with the new advisor now so that they don’t even have to confront the soon-to-be-former advisor, who will only learn once the money leaves.

Ultimately, though, the key point is to recognize that there is a real challenge and pressure that clients feel, in the moment, when they have to break the news to a soon-to-be-former advisor that he or she is being fired and the relationship is being terminated. Which means anything you can do to help them prepare in advance, even if it’s just to point out that it will be a challenge and invite them to think through how they’ll handle it – can make a big difference in bolstering their courage and confidence to actually do it, terminate their former advisor, and follow through on hiring you, when the time comes!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/how-to-fire-your-financial-advisor-terminating-a-broker-relationship/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-fire-your-financial-advisor-terminating-a-broker-relationship

Goodbye Tax Season! But Wait, What Records Should I Keep?

The tax deadline has come and gone – time to breathe a sigh of relief! But before you throw all of your tax documents up in the air to celebrate the occasion, we need to discuss just how long you...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/goodbye-tax-season-but-wait-what-records-should-i-keep-19660/

5 Things You Need to Know About Filing a Tax Extension

Many people believe that a tax extension is somewhat of a cure-all. Don’t have the money to pay taxes? File an extension. Still trying to get everything in order? File an extension. However, the tax extension isn’t exactly what it...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-filing-a-tax-extension-14166/

10 Commonly Overlooked Tax Deductions

April brings showers, flowers…and taxes!  The tax filing deadline is here, and if you’re in need of motivation, we have 10 money-saving tax deductions (and credits) to keep in mind. They just might motivate you to get started! Education Expenses: Tuition is...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-deductions-and-credits-2/10-commonly-overlooked-tax-deductions-19501/

Happy Tax Day!

*Today is the last day to file your taxes, which means you have until 11:59 PM local time to e-file your tax return. For those of you who have already filed your taxes, congratulations on getting your #TaxesDone! If you’re...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-news/happy-tax-day-22882/

Understanding TWR vs IRR Return Calculation Methodologies In Performance Reporting Software

As one of the more common processes developed in advisory firms, there is a high level of interest by both advisors and clients in how investment performance is actually calculated. While it may seem straightforward in determining the ups and downs of a portfolio, there are actually quite a bit of assumptions and factors that take into consideration time periods, account values, and especially deposits and withdrawals, in addition to the actual performance of the underlying investments in a portfolio.

On the surface, it may seem straightforward in how these calculations are developed; however, in practice, there are often many areas and methods that are not as understood, and can become a source of confusion as advisors select a method for providing this critical information to clients, regulators, and other industry bodies such as GIPS.

In this article, Chris Hastings of Panoramix (a portfolio performance reporting software solution for advisors) provides a detailed reference for the different methods of calculating performance, why the various methods can produce substantially different return results (especially when there are substantial cash flows in/out of the portfolio), and some of the pros and cons of each method.

Ultimately, the reality is that there is no “right” choice for how to compute performance – because the “right” methodology actually varies depending on the context in which it’s being used – but advisors should be familiar with the different methods, and when they are most appropriate, so they can adequately defend their choices, and identify performance reporting software solutions that are capable of providing the return calculations they need.

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/twr-dwr-irr-calculations-performance-reporting-software-methodology-gips-compliance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=twr-dwr-irr-calculations-performance-reporting-software-methodology-gips-compliance

Actualización de Tax Day: Turbo Tax está aceptando declaraciones de impuestos presentadas electrónicamente

Hoy el IRS anunció que está teniendo dificultades al momento de aceptar la presentación de impuestos electrónica. Aunque esto afecte las declaraciones de impuestos hechas hoy, debes continuar preparando y presentando tus impuestos de manera normal con TurboTax. El servicio...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-news/actualizacion-de-tax-day-turbo-tax-esta-aceptando-declaraciones-de-impuestos-presentadas-electronicamente-40662/

Tax Day Update: TurboTax is Accepting E-Filed Tax Returns

Today the IRS announced that they are having technical difficulties accepting e-filed returns.  While this is impacting tax returns filed today, you should go ahead and continue to prepare and file your taxes as normal with TurboTax.  TurboTax has uninterrupted...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-news/tax-day-update-turbotax-is-accepting-e-filed-tax-returns-40650/

#FASuccess Ep 068: Becoming A Non-Revenue-Producing Partner In A Multi-Niche Financial “Design” Firm with Heather Fortner

Welcome, everyone! Welcome to the 68th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today’s podcast is Heather Fortner. Heather is a partner and the Chief Operating Officer of Signature FD, an independent RIA that calls itself a “financial design” firm and now serves more than $3 billion of AUM for nearly 1,000 clients.

What’s unique about Heather’s firm, though, is not just the nature of its holistic “financial design” process that aims to help clients with all their types of wealth – both money, time, and relationships – but serves its clients by organizing the firm and its advisory teams into “communities”, or what essentially are a series of various niches, all under the Signature FD umbrella, including SignatureLaw, SignatureHealth, SignatureEntrepreneur, and more.

In this episode, we talk in depth about why and how Signature FD transitioned from a broad-based generalist firm into a series of niche communities, the way it has adopted Angie Herbers’ “Diamond Teams” structure to grow and develop their advisor talent, the Entrepreneurial Operating System it uses – built from Gino Wickman’s book “Traction” – to help ensure that every employee understands how they connect to their department’s 1-year goals, the firm’s 1-year goals, and the long-term outcome for the firm, and why SignatureFD uses an Industrial Psychologist as a part of the final screening process for everyone the firm hires to help really ensure they’re a good long-term fit.

We also talk about Heather’s own career track in the firm, from joining as a “client care associate” in the operations team nearly 15 years ago, to becoming the Director of Operations and later the Chief Operating Officer, getting involved in several industry Executive Leadership programs, and eventually making partner in the firm… in a world where it’s still relatively rare for such “non-revenue-producing” members of the firm to have an opportunity to become a partner, especially women, despite the value that good executive leadership in operations can create for a firm.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Heather talks about how advisors can identify the “right” firm to stick with in the long run, and the skills that she believes are most important for everyone, but especially women, to develop to climb the career track in an independent advisory firm, and why she believes that the challenges of family dynamics and caring for children may be one of the biggest and most understated issues limiting the career growth of women in independent advisory firms today.

So whether you are interested in learning more about how large firms can serve multiple niche markets, how to best structure teams to grow and develop talent, or are interested in how non-revenue-producing employees can progress to executive leadership positions in an advisory firm, I hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/heather-fortner-signature-fd-podcast-niche-partner-chief-operating-officer-leadership-financial-design/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=heather-fortner-signature-fd-podcast-niche-partner-chief-operating-officer-leadership-financial-design

Tomorrow is the Tax Deadline: 7 Things You Need to Know to File on Time!

The tax deadline is upon us! Most people who are due tax refunds file early in the year, so you might be one of the taxpayers who hasn’t filed because you will owe. But no matter whether you are due...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/tomorrow-is-the-tax-deadline-8-things-you-need-to-know-to-file-on-time-22834/

Why It’s Easier To Market To A Financial Advisor Niche

Most financial advisors spend relatively little on outbound marketing – which isn’t entirely surprising, given how hard it is to differentiate and stand out in a crowded marketplace. To the extent that financial advisors spend at all on marketing, it tends to be little more than 1% to 2% of revenues, most commonly on client appreciation events for their existing clients (and, perhaps, a few potential referrals).

Yet arguably, the primary reason that it’s so hard to market as a financial advisor is that we choose to market ourselves as undifferentiated generalists, rather than targeting a particular niche or specialization. Because the reality is that once you choose a specific target market, it becomes far easier to identify specific, targeted marketing strategies that can have a favorable return on investment. Once the financial advisor doesn’t have to fight as hard to differentiate in the first place.

For instance, an advisor targeting retiring architects might join the American Institute of Architects, write a guest post for the EntreArchitect blog, speak on the Business of Architecture podcast and for conferences of architects, while volunteering on Architect association committees and forming relationships with architect-specific centers of influence. For which the financial advisor will likely have little competition at all… because few other financial advisors go deep into the architect (or any other) niche.

In fact, one of the key benefits of targeting a specific niche is the opportunity to take advantage of unique marketing channels that may be highly effective at reaching that particular niche. And in a more cost-effective manner than the broad-based, generalized marketing that most financial advisors have long since found to be ineffective. Because whatever the niche is, there will be some combination of association and/or community organizations, conferences and events, magazines and blogs, and other marketing channels that are specific to that niche, where the financial advisor can focus their marketing efforts for greater return on investment.

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/niche-financial-advisor-sample-marketing-plan-template-tactics/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=niche-financial-advisor-sample-marketing-plan-template-tactics

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Apr 14-15)

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the news that the SEC will be conducting an Open Meeting of all 5 commissioners next Wednesday, April 18th, specifically to discuss its widely anticipated proposals regarding new fiduciary requirements for brokers and investment advisers. Also in the news this week is a series of proposed “principles” that SIFMA is advocating the industry should adopt for best practices around account aggregation.

From there, we have several articles about how advisors charge for their services, including a new study from Cerulli Associates finding that the use of fixed financial planning fees is on the rise, the announcement that Fidelity is converting its entire financial advisory services to retail clients into a single unified (AUM) fee schedule, a survey from Pershing finding that leading advisory firms that focus on holistic planning are not feeling pressure to cut their fees (but are feeling pressure to offer new services to justify the fees they do charge), and a new Risk Alert from the SEC on RIAs that are failing to engage in proper billing practices with clients (usually not out of intended malfeasance, but simply lax processes and procedures for executing their billing in the first place).

We also have several tax-related articles, including suggestions on the key points to review on clients’ 2017 tax returns as tax filing season comes to a close, the rise of the DAPT (Domestic Asset Protection Trust) for both estate planning and asset protection benefits, and the challenges of tax reporting on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions (for which active cryptocurrency traders may have a very large volume of individual lot transactions, and the IRS is increasingly scrutinizing whether such investors are actually properly reporting their transactions and gains).

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all looking at the changing landscape of both industry standards and the organizations that serve advisors, including: a challenging article raising the question of whether the FPA is really fulfilling its vision to be a professional organization with local chapters, or is operating more like a trade organization that consolidates power to its national headquarters; a look at whether the CFP Board is doing enough to provide guidance to CFP certificants about how, exactly, they should be complying with the CFP Board’s new fiduciary standards to manage and mitigate conflicts of interest; and a look from Bob Veres at how it seems increasingly inevitable that the entire future of financial advice will be fiduciary… the only question is which regulator will make the rules to enforce it.

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/weekend-reading-for-financial-planners-apr-14-15-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=weekend-reading-for-financial-planners-apr-14-15-2

How to File Taxes from Your Mobile Device in 4 Easy Steps

Did you know that you can file your taxes from your phone or iPad with TurboTax? In the last minute tax deadline crunch, TurboTax can help you easily make it across the finish line and file your taxes using your...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/turbotax-news/how-to-file-taxes-from-your-mobile-device-in-4-easy-steps-40548/

1099-MISC or 1099-K: What’s the Difference?

Self-employment comes with many perks – being your own boss, making your own hours, and even including deserved business expense deductions. Did you drive during the course of the work you performed? You can take a mileage deduction. Did you...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/self-employed/1099-misc-or-1099-k-whats-the-difference-29903/

Why Your Financial Planning Fees SHOULD Be Too Expensive For Some Of Your Prospects

Historically, financial advisors didn’t actually have much control on the prices they charged clients, as financial plans were compensated by the products implemented pursuant to the plan… and the commission payout rates on those products were set by the product manufacturers (insurance companies or asset managers) with payouts controlled by broker-dealers and insurance agencies. It’s only been in recent years, with the rise of the Registered Investment Adviser, where RIAs can actually control and set their own AUM and financial planning fees, that suddenly advisors must actually figure out if their AUM, hourly, retainer, or other pricing model is “competitive” to the marketplace and appropriate given the services they provide!

In this week’s #OfficeHours with @MichaelKitces, my Tuesday 1PM EST broadcast via Periscope, we explore how to determine if you have the “right” pricing for your services by tracking your prospect conversion rates, why your fees should be too expensive for at least some of your prospects, and why there is such thing as having “too high” of a close rate with prospects!

Though the marketplace has increasingly converged on the “common” price point of a 1% AUM fee, when it comes to fee-for-service financial planning (e.g., hourly, standalone projects, and retainer fees), it’s hard to look at what other advisors are charging, because there aren’t many advisors doing fee-for-service planning in the first place, and we’re all so varied in the services that we do provide, that it’s difficult to compare anyway. Some advisors will back into a price based on the income they desire and the time (billable hours) they can put into the business. Others will price based on the perceived value to the client. But another approach still is to look at what your clients (or really, prospects who become clients) are willing to pay, based on what they actually decide to pay (or not) in hiring you!

The key metric to track to understand whether your financial planning fees are priced appropriately is your prospect conversion rate – i.e., how many of your prospects become clients. Notably, this doesn’t include leads who were not “qualified” (e.g., those who do not meet your asset or other fee minimums), because it’s really about how many people who are qualified to work with you ultimately choose to do so. Thus, if you meet with 15 prospects, of which 10 are qualified, and 3 of them do business with you, your conversion rate is 30% (which is 3 out of 10 qualified prospects). And this number matters because it’s a direct statement about whether your value proposition is being perceived as worthwhile by your prospects. Simply put – if your pricing is compelling, you tend to have a pretty high close rate!

In this context, you can think about prospect conversion rates in four tiers: Tier 1 (<25%), Tier 2 (25-50%), Tier 3 (50-75%), and Tier 4 (>75%). For those in Tier 1 (<25% conversion rate), there is a real problem; it may be that your pricing is too high for your value proposition (a pricing problem), or it could be that you’re not doing a good job conveying your value proposition (a sales problem), but something needs to be changed. Tier 2 (25-50% conversion rate) is where most advisors are, and the fact that you’ve gotten to at least a 25% conversion rate is evidence your pricing is reasonable. The caveat, though, is that many advisors in this category don’t feel very good about their conversion rate (since more than half of people you talk to are telling you “No”), but the reality is that your pricing can’t be that far off if 25% of people are telling you “Yes”, so the key here is to focus on improving sales skills to boost this conversion rate (but don’t cut your pricing to grow faster, since your fees are reasonable!).

When it comes to Tier 3 (50-75% conversion rate) advisors, there are really two types. The first is an advisor with some kind of recognized niche or specialization. This type of advisor is arguably in the conversion rate “sweet spot”, as it is virtually impossible to get everyone to do business with you, but the majority of prospects really are hiring you and demonstrating they see value relative to your fees. However, the second type of advisor in this category is an advisor who was a Tier 2 advisor, but rather than refining their marketing or sales process, simply cut their fees to increase their conversion rate. This type of Tier 3 advisor is in a problematic long-term situation, as pricing aggressively low just means you are eventually going to have trouble being able to afford to hire more staff and scale your business.

The final category of advisors, Tier 4 advisors (>75% conversion rate), can also be surprisingly problematic. Most advisors who close “virtually all” of their prospects are proud of it, but my advice for advisors in this category is to raise your fees! Because, in practice, the reality for these advisors is that if clients are this happy with your pricing, they’ll probably still be pretty happy with a higher price… and an increase in fees should boost revenue from clients who are willing to pay more far more than it will reduce revenue from a few more clients who might say no. Which means these advisors can end up making more money (as higher fees more than offset the slight reduction in new clients) but doing less work (because there are fewer new clients!) if they adjust their pricing.

Ultimately, though, the key point is to recognize that your prospect conversion rate is an important metric for determining whether you are priced properly. And if you aren’t keeping track of this metric, it only takes three numbers to keep track going forward: the number of leads you get, the number of qualified prospects amongst those leads, and the number of those prospects that turn into clients. From those numbers, you’ll be able to tell if you are pricing your services appropriately, and, if you need to make some adjustments, what those adjustments might be!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/best-financial-planning-fee-pricing-based-on-conversion-close-rate/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=best-financial-planning-fee-pricing-based-on-conversion-close-rate

Last Minute Tax Tips for Self-Employed Filers

With warmer weather comes the end of tax season: the deadline to file your taxes is Tuesday, April 17th. Between work, family and everyday responsibilities, it’s possible to leave your taxes for the last minute, but that doesn’t mean you...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/self-employed/last-minute-tax-tips-for-self-employed-filers-30379/

Sweepstakes: Become the #MasterOfAdulting This Tax Season

Tax Day is almost here, and what better way to adult than by getting your taxes done! Whether you’ve filed your taxes yet or not, there are plenty of ways you can master adulting on a daily basis. As Tax...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-news/sweepstakes-become-the-masterofadulting-this-tax-season-40572/

2018 Roth Conversion Planning After The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) eliminated the recharacterizations of Roth IRA conversions made in 2018 or later. Unfortunately for financial planners, this change eliminates one of the most useful strategies they have been able to help clients take advantage of for the past 20 years. Nonetheless, Roth conversions can still be successful tax planning tools for helping clients reduce their long-term tax liabilities. In fact, Roth conversions may now make sense for more clients than ever given current tax rates, if they know how to use them effectively.

In this guest post, Jeffrey Levine of BluePrint Wealth Alliance shares some Roth conversion planning strategies and considerations after the TCJA, including the even greater importance of due diligence before completing Roth conversions, a potential shift in the best time of year to complete Roth conversions, Roth IRA conversion-cost-averaging, and Roth IRA conversion “barbelling”.

Notably, recharacterizations of Roth contributions are still permitted, so clients who contribute to a Roth but end up with income above the contribution limit can still change their Roth contribution to a traditional IRA contribution, but recharacterizations of conversions that happen in 2018 and beyond are no longer permitted (2017 conversions can still be recharacterized until October 15th of 2018). The elimination of all recharacterizations of conversions puts even greater emphasis on getting a conversion right the first time, as the most common reasons for wanting to complete a recharacterization (e.g., market decline, client income was higher than expected, or a client simply changing their mind) could result in considerable client dissatisfaction if a conversion isn’t done right the first time (or if the client doesn’t understand the implications of new changes). Further, less commonly noted implications of Roth conversions, such as the potential to increase Medicare Part B/D premiums, should not be overlooked!

The elimination of recharacterizations of Roth conversions also has a considerable impact on the ideal timing of Roth conversions. In the past, completing Roth conversions as early as possible in the year was generally ideal, as a means to both maximizing the time available to consider a recharacterization and because of the general trend for markets tend to go up more than they go down. Now, however, the inability to undo Roth conversions may mean that conversions are more valuable towards the end of the year, when income can be projected with greater confidence. Nonetheless, clients may want to consider various timing strategies, as Roth IRA conversion-cost-averaging (to diversify conversion timing risk), Roth IRA conversion “barbelling” (to balance both growth potential and over-conversion risk), or simply still making a full conversion as soon as possible (to maximize Roth growth potential), can all be prudent strategies.

Ultimately, the key point is to acknowledge that Roth conversion strategies are still useful after the TCJA. Although many popular Roth conversion strategies are no longer viable after the elimination of the recharacterization of Roth conversions, the attractiveness of current tax rates can mean that Roth conversions are still an effective strategy for many!Read More…

source https://www.kitces.com/blog/2018-roth-ira-conversion-planning-tcja-conversion-cost-averaging-barbell/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=2018-roth-ira-conversion-planning-tcja-conversion-cost-averaging-barbell

TurboTax Answers Most Commonly Asked Tax Questions

The tax deadline is almost here, and with the tax deadline comes a wide range of tax questions from filers. These questions range from those asked perennially (“can I claim my boyfriend as a dependent?”) to those specific to the...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/turbotax-answers-most-commonly-asked-tax-questions-13667/

#FASuccess Ep 067: The Future Of The Broker-Dealer Model As Advisor Support Without FINRA Or Products with Elliot Weissbluth

Welcome, everyone! Welcome to the 67th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today’s podcast is Elliot Weissbluth. Elliot is the founder and CEO of HighTower Advisors, a back- and middle-office support platform for independent advisory firms that now oversees more than $50 billion of assets under management with nearly 600 employees.

What’s unique about HighTower, though, is the way they built their own data platform that houses all of the data of all of their advisors and clients, making it possible for them build deeper integrations between popular independent advisor software programs than what virtually any other advisory firm can accomplish on its own… yet still be able to easily swap out for a newer best-in-class software solution in the future should one come along.

In this episode, we talk in depth about how HighTower structures its service model, why platforms like HighTower have been successful by leveraging their size, scale, and sophistication to reduce costs for independent advisory firms while bringing new capabilities, and why even at a cost of 15% to 20% of the firm’s revenues, the HighTower model can ultimately produce a significant cost savings relative to the overhead expense of the typical large independent advisory firm.

We also talk about HighTower’s unique structure with a subsidiary broker-dealer – used not to implement new commissionable products like mutual funds and annuities – but instead for the original purpose of a broker-dealer, to help facilitate the implementation of trades, and the way that HighTower leverages the control it has through its broker-dealer subsidiary structure to pit RIA custodians and clearing firms against each other, as a way to ensure the vendors compete for HighTower’s business by offering better service and lower execution prices for advisors and their clients.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Elliot shares his own personal background, as a child who was diagnosed with and struggled with severe dyslexia when he was young, yet was still able to find ways to not only cope with the challenge, but turn it into skills that have ultimately allowed him to excel in the business world.

So whether you are interested in learning more about how platforms like HighTower reduce costs for independent advisory firms, how HighTower pits RIA custodians and clearing firms against one another to achieve better execution prices for advisors and their clients, or are interested in how Elliot turned adversity into skills that allowed him to excel in the business world, I hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/elliot-weissbluth-hightower-advisors-podcast-fee-only-fiduciary-broker-dealer-finra/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=elliot-weissbluth-hightower-advisors-podcast-fee-only-fiduciary-broker-dealer-finra

Surveying The Advisor FinTech Landscape And The 2018 Advisor Software Survey

Historically, the best financial advisor software was available from the largest advisory firms that had the size and scale to develop best-in-class proprietary software solutions… while independent advisory firms languished with a small subset of “homegrown” solutions that one advisor might have made for themselves and then sold to other independent advisors. But with the rise of the internet, the ability to deploy software efficiently through the cloud, and the availability of APIs to easily facilitate cross-software integration, a boom has emerged in the world of independent advisor software.

In fact, the greatest problem for many advisors today is just keeping track of all the choices that are available in each of the various categories, and figuring out how they potentially fit together! Accordingly, we’re excited to announce what will become the first of a continuously (monthly) updated map of the advisor FinTech landscape… so advisors have a reference tool to identify the potential options in various categories!

In addition, the rise of independent surveys like the T3 Advisor Software Survey is now providing, for the first time ever, some perspective on not just what software is available, but what software is actually “good”, based on User Ratings from real advisors who actually use the software. Revealing that there is still substantial room for improvement in many advisor software categories (in particular, portfolio performance reporting tools), while others that have received a lot of buzz – like “robo” digital advice tools – may actually just be overhyped (with both poor user ratings and poor advisor adoption!).

Nonetheless, with more venture capital than ever coming in to support advisor software startups, and a wider range of solutions than ever, arguably we’re seeing the Golden Age of financial advisor software today. And in fact, with more and more competitors entering the space, the pace of advisor software innovation may only accelerate from here!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/financial-advisor-software-survey-ratings-market-share-fintech-wealthtech-landscape-chart/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=financial-advisor-software-survey-ratings-market-share-fintech-wealthtech-landscape-chart

Had a Life Change? TurboTax CPAs and EAs Will be by Your Side with Our New Offering TurboTax Live

Whether you got married this year or you are purchasing your first home, changes experienced in your life can bring about many questions and uncertainties. Although you may have questions about how life events affect you, one thing is certain,...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/turbotax-news/had-a-life-change-turbotax-cpas-and-eas-will-be-by-your-side-with-our-new-offering-turbotax-live-32047/

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Apr 7-8)

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the big announcement that FPA National has dissolved its affiliation agreement with its New York chapter and spun up a new alternative FPA chapter entity in its stead, in what started out as a dispute about whether certain local chapter board members were inappropriately using lists of consumer contacts from the chapter’s public awareness events to prospect for clients, but has now turned into concerns about whether FPA National is taking too much control of its independent chapter entities.

Also in the news this week is a look at how state efforts on fiduciary standards appear to be slowing (now that the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule is in limbo, and the SEC is expected to propose their own in the coming months), the announcement of a class action lawsuit against Edward Jones alleging that the firm was too aggressive in shifting clients out of commission-based accounts and into fee-based advisory accounts (compounded by the fact that those advisory accounts may have been investing into Edward Jones’ own proprietary products), and a discussion of some of the talking points that other advisors are using when talking clients through the recent market volatility.

From there, we have several practice management articles this week, including: a review of advisor compensation (and the rising impact of the young-advisor talent shortage) from the latest Schwab and Fidelity benchmarking surveys; tips on how to properly structure partner compensation (broken into base compensation, incentives, and profit distributions) for firms that must transition into more formal partner roles given their growth; how employee turnover can cause poor performance (and how to get control of a turnover problem with clearer definitions of the work, the worker, and the workplace); why advisory firms should be more specific about their vision, mission, and strategy, to avoid what sound like “phony” slogans; and a hard look at the consequences of taking “too much” cash out of your advisory firm instead of reinvesting for growth.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all looking at the changing landscape of broker-dealers in an increasingly fiduciary future: the first is a review of the latest 2018 Financial Advisor magazine broker-dealer survey, with interviews from most of the leading B/D executives who themselves note that the entire broker-dealer model is going through a big “rethink” for the future; the second looks at how broker-dealers need to re-engineer their technology for managing broker commissions into a more holistic “advisor compensation management” platform that provides business intelligence and workflow support as well; and the last explores how, ironically, it was the independent broker-dealer movement that really helped financial planning to first gain traction 20-30 years ago, even as it’s now the fiduciary financial planning movement that is forcing broker-dealers to reinvent entirely in order to survive (or, alternatively, to simply become giant national RIAs instead!?)!

Enjoy the “light” reading!

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source https://www.kitces.com/blog/weekend-reading-for-financial-planners-apr-7-8-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=weekend-reading-for-financial-planners-apr-7-8-2

A Guide for Self-Employed Filers that Haven’t Tracked Their Expenses This Year

I still remember the first year I did my taxes and had self-employment income. Similar to many first-time self-employed people, I didn’t go into the year knowing that I’d have self-employment income. One common mistake that many first time self-employed...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/self-employed/a-guide-for-self-employed-filers-that-havent-tracked-their-expenses-this-year-40500/

Pre-Tax Dollars: What Does It Mean and How Can I Use It?

Pre-tax, after-tax, who cares? Everything gets taxed, right? Well, not always. There are some employee benefits that are never taxed, and you can also benefit from deferring taxes for many years. Benefits That Aren’t Taxed: If an employer pays the...

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source https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/income-and-investments/pre-tax-dollars-what-does-it-mean-and-how-can-i-use-it-33850/

How To Choose The Best Independent RIA Custodian (For You)

Advisors who are interested in starting their own advisory firm, or breaking away from an existing one, face a number of important business decisions – from how they want to structure their firm, to what clientele they will target, what software they will adopt, and when/whether they want to hire staff or outsource certain responsibilities. For advisors who want to provide investment management services to their clients, though, and intend to play an active role in managing and implementing client portfolios, one of the most important decisions they face is which RIA custodian they should work with.

In this week’s #OfficeHours with @MichaelKitces, my Tuesday 1PM EST broadcast via Periscope, we explore how to choose the best independent RIA custodian for your business, including the advantages of working with one of the “Big Four” custodians (Schwab, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, and Pershing Advisor Solutions), as well the reasons why some firms may find a better fit among smaller “second-tier” custodians with more niche offerings for certain types of RIAs! 

The first thing to consider when contemplating an RIA custodial relationship, is whether a custodian is actually needed in the first place. For advisors who are simply going to charge financial planning fees, and bill clients with a third-party payment processing solution for those finanical planning fees, and while letting clients continue to be self-directed with their actual portfolios (or serve clients who simply don’t have portfolios to invest), then the advisor does need to become an RIA, but doesn’t necessarily need an RIA custodian. However, given the dominance of the AUM model, and the number of advisors who do want to manage investments, most independent RIAs will ultimately form a relationship with one or more of the top RIA custodians.

For those independent RIAs that do need to use an RIA custodian, the overwhelming majority ultimately custody their assets at one of four major firms: Schwab, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, and Pershing Advisor Solutions. Due to their sheer size and market reach, these providers all already provide the core technology necessary to trade in client investment accounts, hold a wide range of standard investment assets, facilitate the advisor’s AUM billing, and do it all at an incredibly low cost. In fact, there is generally no platform fee to work with these custodians at all, and instead these platforms make their money indirectly through ticket charges, asset-based wrap fees, 12b-1 and similar revenue-sharing fees via their NTF (No Transaction Fee) platform, receiving a fee for serving as the transfer agent, or making a small spread on the money market or other cash positions that clients hold.

Notwithstanding how commoditized the core services of an RIA custodian have become, though, each does still have its own style or area of focus. Pershing Advisor Solutions aims to work primarily with larger RIAs that are specifically focused on growing a large enterprise business. TD Ameritrade is known best for their VEO One platform, which essentially functions as an open architecture hub that most other advisor technology can integrate into. Fidelity is increasingly being known for their Wealthscape platform, which is increasingly being positioned as a “true” all-in-one platform, especially for comprehensive wealth management firms that combine together investment management and financial planning. And Schwab, as the largest of the four, is arguably the least differentiated, but handles the widest range of firms with what is usually the lowest cost, in part because they’ve literally been doing it longer than (and are larger with more scale than) any of the other RIA custodians.

Despite the popularity of the Big Four custodial firms, there are also a wide range of  “second-tier” custodial firms (meaning “second-tier” in terms of size, not necessarily quality) that offer solutions for many independent RIAs. Shareholders Service Group (SSG) is a platform that is actually built on top of the Pershing platform, but SSG specifically services the “small RIA” marketplace, and may be of particular interest to newer firms which do not meet the typically $10 to $20 million AUM minimums of many custodians (including zero-AUM startups). TradePMR is particularly well known for their EarnWise mobile solution that allows you to manage most of your investment needs as the advisor directly from a smartphone or tablet. Trust Company of America is best known for their really efficient model-based trading tools, appealing to both advisory firms that systematize their investment process, and TAMPs that serve other RIAs. Folio Institutional is also known for being a particularly tech-savvy platform, for advisors that want to be completely paperless, and have good tools to manage model portfolios, as well as those who work with smaller clientele where Folio’s ability to trade fractional shares is very appealing. Apex Clearing is a newcomer that is actually so “tech-savvy” that they’re basically just a giant lattice-work of technology APIs that communicate with other advisor technology APIs, but without much of an “interface” layer on top (and as a result, most independent RIAs that work with Apex will work with them through another middleware provider like RobustWealth, AdvisorEngine, or InvestCloud to replace the kind of advisor dashboard and workstation that most of the other RIA custodians already provide). Other notable firms include Millennium Trust Company for RIAs that do a lot of alternative investing, and National Advisors Trust Company for firms that do a lot of trust business (and/or want the opportunity to be a shareholder in their platform).

Of course, even once you narrow down your potential RIA custodian options based on fit, it’s important to spend some time really looking at their technology, and their investment options, and make sure that their core systems really do fit what you do, how you serve your clients, and how you want to do business. But the key point is to acknowledge that no single custodian is best for all advisors, and given the substantial costs of switching from one RIA custodian to another, it is worthwhile to try to figure out upfront which custodian is the best for you, and not just in the short-term, but ideally in the long-run too!

Read More…

source https://www.kitces.com/blog/best-ria-custodian-top-4-independent-platforms-and-second-tier-niche-providers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=best-ria-custodian-top-4-independent-platforms-and-second-tier-niche-providers

CIS Sub-contractors – Claim Your Tax Refund Now!

[Updated 5 April 2018]: It’s now time to start the process of claiming your tax refund if you are a sub-contractor working within the Construction Industry Scheme (‘CIS’). The good news is that refunds usually take around only 2 weeks through Taxfile if you come in to see us before the rush.

Why you're due a tax refund

CIS construction workers like you are usually taxed at source before being paid, and this usually results in a tax overpayment. That's because you were taxed on the first £11,500 of your income even though that part falls within your 2017-18 'Personal Allowance', i.e. the part of your income that should be tax-free. In addition, by pre-paying the tax, you will not have offset any allowable expenses such as tools etc. To rectify this, Taxfile will help you get the figures right, offset all allowable expenses and maximise your tax refund! Most sub-contractors receive their tax rebate within just 3 to 4 weeks, through Taxfile.

What you need to do

Don't delay - book an appointment with Taxfile today by calling 0208 761 8000 and we'll sort it all out for you. We have staff who speak English, Polish, Pashto, Dari, Russian, French, and Dutch, should you need them on the day.

Choose our Tulse Hill (SE21) or Battersea office (SW8)

Tulse Hill Office: You can either bring your records and figures to our Tulse Hill office at 25 Thurlow Park Road, London SW8 4BG or, if it's more convenient, choose our brand new Battersea office, which is at Studio 4, Cloisters House, Cloisters Business Centre, Battersea Park Road, London SW8 4BG. Call 0208 761 8000 for an appointment at either office.

Office hours now include Saturday mornings and early evenings!

Our Tulse Hill office is open 6 days a week during April and offers Saturday morning appointments and early evening appointments on Mondays and Tuesdays if standard office hours do not suit you (please call for details). Our Battersea office is open Monday to Thursday, 11am to 7pm.

Check List

• Book an appointment by calling 0208 761 8000;
• Bring in records of your invoices, whether they are self-billed or your own. If any are lost, try to bring copies.
• Bring in all your CIS statements and receipts for the period 6th April 2017 to 5th April 2018;
• Even if you don't yet have your most recent CIS statement, we can still make a start;
• Show us receipts for things you use for work including tools, equipment and plant hire – the law expects you to keep proof so don’t throw anything away;
• Bring receipts for materials too, as some can be offset to maximise your tax refund;
• If you had any equipment or tools stolen during the year, make sure you bring a crime reference number so we can obtain tax relief on those items;
• Bring in bank statements — if any records for income or expenditure have been lost, bank statements can prove vital to fill in the gaps and give us a better view of your overall tax situation;
• Lastly, if you have any payslips from any employment during the year, please do also bring in those.

Introduce a friend and receive a discount*

You will receive a discount if you introduce a friend or colleague to Taxfile, who then becomes a new, paying client; * T&Cs apply (please discuss with our tax agents during your appointment).

Contact Taxfile to get your CIS tax refund fast!

Taxfile are experts at claiming back CIS tax refunds - we do over 500 of these per year and usually sub-contractors receive their refunds in just 3-4 weeks (often sooner for those who beat the rush and come in early). Taxfile are also very well trusted by HMRC so our sub-contractor CIS submissions and refund requests are rarely questioned. And currently we're open 6 days a week at the Tulse Hill branch! Come and see us. Our offices are ideally located if you're in Tulse Hill, Battersea, Brixton, Dulwich, Elephant & Castle, Streatham, Camberwell, Peckham, West Norwood, Clapham, Stockwell, Herne Hill, Clapham, Pimlico, Vauxhall, Balham, South Lambeth, Earlsfield, Southfields, Wandsworth, Chelsea, Fulham & beyond.

• Need a Saturday morning appointment? No problem - call us on 0208 761 8000 for latest staff availability.
• Need a late afternoon/early evening appointment on a Monday or Tuesday? Again, no problem — call 0208 761 8000.
• Live or work nearer Battersea? No problem - come to see us at our new Battersea office instead — call 0208 761 8000 for an appointment.

Working through a Limited Company?

Perhaps you a sub-contractor working through a limited company? If so, that's also no problem! Call Taxfile on 0208 761 8000. We look forward to seeing you soon!

source https://www.taxfile.co.uk/2018/04/claim-your-cis-tax-refund/