Investment insights

If you have clients who have already retired, make sure their portfolios can absorb the most violent shocks.

Classic investment style boxes are out and themes are in, Burt White, LPL Financial’s managing director of research, told advisors.

Stock funds took in an estimated $6.35 billion in inflows for the week that ended Jan. 23, down 31% from the $9.2 billion they took in a week earlier. Still, the inflow is almost twice as large as a year earlier.

Of the adults who believed their parents set good financial examples, 66% said they had a financial plan and 71% said they felt confident in their financial future.

North America led the rise in global confidence, jumping 7.8 points to 86.3.

Professor John Grable touched a nerve when he suggested in Financial Planning’s current issue that a mandatory AUM tax on advisors could help make financial planning available to all American families. Actually, he touched a lot of nerves.

Where would a successful trader invest a hypothetical $100,000 windfall? In energy, information technology and utilities, according to Fidelity Investments’ inaugural survey of its top online traders. The survey polled customers who made at least 36 trades over the past 12 months and whose total portfolio performance during this time was at least 20%. …

Foreclosure filings fell in 2012, yet more foreclosed homes are likely to come up for sale in 2013. This increase could be good news for prospective home owners and investors, according to Daren Blomquist, vice president at Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

Recent events make fundamental tax reform, already a heavy lift, much less likely.

Investors in mutual funds rushed to bond funds in 2012, shunning stock mutual funds.

Legg Mason Inc., the money manager best known as home to stockpicker Bill Miller, is folding Miller’s Legg Mason Capital Management division into its ClearBridge Investments equity unit as assets have tumbled.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to introduce a simplified way for small business owners and home-based employees to claim the home office tax deduction.

Almost one-third (32%) of the approximately 100 institutional investment managers surveyed think corporate earnings will grow in the first quarter of 2013, while the same percentage believe earnings will decline.

Actively managed stock funds had the best performance over 20 years, edging passive stock funds 8.14% to 8.11%. And actively managed mutual funds of all types have done the best in the last five years, coming in at 1.98% where, for instance, passively managed exchange-traded funds lost 1.17% a year. Which just goes to show, when it comes to investing, active management versus passive management "is not an either-or" proposition.

The current economic recovery, while slow, is on track. Fiscal cliff fears have been grossly exaggerated, to the detriment of investors and planners. And sometimes there’s an upside to a modest recession.

Nuveen Asset Management’s newly minted Chief Equity Strategist Robert Doll unveiled his 10 predictions for markets in 2013.

Almost half of the 1,127 investors polled said it is a good time to invest in equities, with one in five seeing blue-chip stocks as having the most potential.

IPO volume reached $43 billion in 2012, the highest amount since $49 billion in 2007, reports Renaissance Capital, which tracks IPOs. What can advisors expect for 2013?

Advisors can start the year off on a positive note by going over clients’ insurance plans. Here are some tips from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Annuities are a form of insurance and insurance companies are good at pricing risk. Here's how to tell if they are right for your clients.