Wealth Think

Ed Slott, Your IRA Expert, examines the question of whether or not it is acceptable to convert an IRA to a Roth IRA and leave it to grandchildren, who are minors.

It’s a well-worn a cliché, mostly used in association with professional team sports and meant to convey a cutthroat but fundamental reality: You’re only as good as your last game. It may be harsh, but such is the nature of professional sports, a world where high-stakes games are played by extremely wealthy, though frequently unsophisticated young men who all too often have a meteoric rise to stardom, only to have it be accompanied by a sudden, abrupt fall from grace.

Now that President Obama has been re-elected, Wall Street is weary of the future. How will the financial sector respond? When will it fully recover? Will the election results embolden regulators and inspire a greater degree of oversight? Will the President introduce new forms of regulation?

The financial planning world has a serious problem. There are not enough financial advisors being trained and coming through normal channels to replace all those advisors who want to retire and sell their practices. If you are a buyer, well things are about to get really good. There will be a lot, again, a lot of practices up for sale.

It is absolutely impossible for a client with a fundamental fear of the future to become a successful investor, or even to formulate a rational long-term financial plan.

The world today is filled with coaches of every type. So many, in fact, you may question what a coach really does (and if a financial advisor needs one.)

The hyper-partisan nature of this last Presidential election was guaranteed to create a long, unhappy hangover for half of the American population, and it created a particular challenge for financial planners and investment advisors. Billions of dollars were spent to tell investors and clients that America is going to hell in a handbasket. People were emotionally invested in the outcome

As we see Washington posturing over the fiscal cliff, we are right to wonder where the Statesmen (and women) are. But what to do from an advisor’s perspective?

Ask Ed Slott, Your IRA Expert, answers your questions about 401(k) and IRAs.

What is different about you? Why should prospective clients choose you over any other advisor with whom they may speak? To successfully attract clients, there needs to be some reason for those particular people to choose your offering from among all of their options. So, what is it about you?