Practical analysis for investment professionals
02 August 2013

Weekend Reads for Financial Advisers: Neuroscience, Gold, and Martin Scorsese

Posted In: Weekend Reads

If you think CFA charter holders are a boring lot, here is one piece of video evidence to the contrary: “Volatility at World’s End: Two Decades of Movement in Markets.”

The credit for “concept and creative direction” goes to — the envelope, please Christopher Cole, CFA, managing partner at Artemis Capital Management. (The video was first shown in conjunction with Cole’s speech at the 2012 Global Derivatives and Risk Management Conference in Barcelona, Spain.)

Now on to some interesting reads you may have missed.

Behavioral Finance/Neuroscience

Investing/Risk Management

Gold

Energy

The Financial Crisis

Practice Management

  • A recent study apparently found that 44% of advisors are over age 55. Which wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that so are many of their clients. What this means is that the financial industry is at a “generational crossroads,” writes Johann Snider, program director of capital market insights for Russell Investments. While this “trend represents a great concentration of wisdom, life experience and wealth” it also “represents a risk: at a certain point, the firm’s future profitability and growth potential is hampered by older clients impacting the revenue that the advisor may eventually be able to generate.” What can you do about this for your own firm? For starters, read Snider’s post: “The Perils of an Aging Book.” (Helping Advisors Blog)
  • In the wake of the Supreme Court’s historic rulings on gay marriage, legally married same-sex couples are now entitled to the same federal benefits as their straight counterparts. Married gay couples can file joint federal income taxes for the first time, and as spouses they won’t have to pay inheritance taxes when one partner dies. But as a recent Associated Press article notes, “the decision still leaves a lot of unanswered questions. What do couples who move to states that don’t recognize gay marriage do? Can they file taxes jointly? (Thirteen states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington — and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriage.)” Gay married couples will be checking in with their financial advisers. For an overview of the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); a preliminary checklist of areas to address with same-sex clients; and a list of additional resources, see: “Financial Planning for Same-Sex Married Couples.” (Tom Tillery’s blog)
  • Here’s something that many professionals wrestle with: email overload. And as a recent NPR story points out: “In the high-profile civil case against Wall Street titan Steven Cohen, federal authorities accuse the hedge fund head of allowing insider trading within his ranks. Cohen’s lawyers offered up a defense fit for the digital age: They claim he didn’t see a key, incriminating email because he gets too many messages — an estimated 1,000 a day, and opens only 11 percent of them.” That got the journalists at All Tech Considered wondering “about the people who probably get much more email than the rest of us — CEOs and entrepreneurs — and their systems for managing their inboxes.” For some ideas, read or listen to: “The Reply To Email Overload? Prioritize — Or Turn It Off.” (NPR)

Retirement

Philanthropy


And Now For Something Completely Different


Please note that the content of this site should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute.

Photo credit: ©iStockphoto.com/JLGutierrez

About the Author(s)
Lauren Foster

Lauren Foster was a content director on the professional learning team at CFA Institute and host of the Take 15 Podcast. She is the former managing editor of Enterprising Investor and co-lead of CFA Institute’s Women in Investment Management initiative. Lauren spent nearly a decade on staff at the Financial Times as a reporter and editor based in the New York bureau, followed by freelance writing for Barron’s and the FT. Lauren holds a BA in political science from the University of Cape Town, and an MS in journalism from Columbia University.

1 thought on “Weekend Reads for Financial Advisers: Neuroscience, Gold, and Martin Scorsese”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *



By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close