Practice

The election results, while no surprise, have pretty much left us where we were in terms of tax policy, according to Roger Harris, president of Padgett Business Services.

With the election over, when members of Congress return to Washington next week, the task awaiting them will be to hammer out what has been an elusive compromise on taxes and expenditures to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, a combination of tax increases and deep spending cuts set to take effect in January should lawmakers fail to act.

“Advisors talk about Black Swan events and tail risk – you didn’t hear retail planners talking about tail risk 10 years ago, or if you did it was the top 1% of the group. Now, it’s the new nomenclature,” said Jeff Montgomery, head of AFAM/Innealta Capital.

56% said that it is “challenging” to “very challenging” to discuss such information.

Among investors aged 21 to 50, 72% report that saving for retirement is their top financial goal, a priority applauded by T. Rowe Price’s resident retirement guru, senior financial planner Christine Fahlund, but most investors are unwilling to take on the necessary risk to improve their retirement savings.

PIEtech, Inc., maker of the popular planning software product MoneyGuidePro, has settled a patent infringement lawsuit brought against it and UBS Financial Services by its competitor, Wealthcare Capital Management.

Defined contribution plan participants for the most part seem largely unaffected by updated fee disclosure requirements.

WisdomTree Investments has dodged a legal bullet.

Retirement accounts and contributions are growing bigger, according to Fidelity Investments.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” Franklin was right. While it may seem obvious that business growth is central to any advisor’s ultimate success, in today’s highly complex and competitive marketplace, the importance of growth cannot be overstated.