Archive for June, 2007
So I was walking through The Advisor Dashboard
Every once in a while I will hear this term. Whoever says it is generally talking about the panacea of integration. There has been a lot of progress in this area over the years and the growth is generally coming from Broker/Dealers.
Outsourcing the PMS
The latest article by Joel Bruckenstein is pretty good. It’s covering what the major custodians are doing to help their Advisors reign in technology. It’s interesting for a couple of reasons, number one, it shows that custodians really are trying to provide value added services, number two it highlights what the major recommendations are from the custodians.
Should an Advisor write their own PMS?
This might seem like an odd question to ask. However, I get this question two to three times a week from various Advisors. Frustrated with what is available on the market and the price of the big boys products; many Advisors think that they can create their own PMS and sell it.
My knee jerk answer is always no. It’s not as easy as you think and if you think the big products are expensive wait until you write your own. Once you start putting this all down on paper in the form of a business plan you will see that it is generally not a good plan.
Changes in development methodology
I realize that this is probably not something advisors need to know about. However, it does impact all of you when it comes to your software and how it is delivered.
I was reading this article that talks about development methodologies and how they are changing in the big firms. Here is the short of it, the big firms are moving away from traditional development methods.
Unexpected benefit of ETF’s
There are many people like me that are leery of ETF’s. I can’t really explain why that is, they just seem like an odd investment. I have done research on ETF’s and I do understand them. But it still feels a bit like a sleight of hand. We already have index funds, why do we need ETF’s?
CFP adopts new ethics standards
The CFP officially adopted new ethical standards May 31, 2007. I think it’s a move in the right direction but it’s still not enough. The new ethics require more disclosure, clarify that saying “fee only” must mean fee only and that a CFP must let the CFP board know of any criminal allegation against them.