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Dear Reader,
July 10, 2012 - Vol 6 No 28
Every advisory firm has no doubt asked itself: Should we consider outsourcing the investment management of our client assets? The decision, the evaluation of providers and the ongoing assessment of the experience is one of the most dynamic issues facing the advisory business today. We invite you to take this survey, which seeks to uncover the experiences and insights of financial advisors-those who are outsourcing, are considering outsourcing and have decided against outsourcing. With your help, we hope to provide the business with a comprehensive, point-in-time report. You'll need no more than 10 minutes to complete the survey, and your comments will be confidential.
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 Why Are Advisory Fees Lower Than They Have To Be? By Bob Veres
How much should you charge for your services? Is there any way to objectively calculate a fair price? Doctors, lawyers and accountants all charge relatively similar prices for their services. Why does the financial planning profession have fees that are all over the map?
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Benchmarking Your Retirement Portfolio With a Risk-Free Strategy
By Laurence B. Siegel
Making the savings from 35 or 40 years of work pay for a retirement of the same length is a real challenge. At a zero real rate of return, you would have to save half of your income to enjoy a retirement that long without taking a cut in your living standard. There is, of course, a better way - judicious use of TIPS and annuities. A riskless strategy using those asset classes can safeguard one's retirement assets and can serve as a benchmark against which riskier portfolios can be measured.
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A Mid-Year Client Letter: Wisdom from Three Wall Street Veterans
By Dan Richards
Here is a template for a letter to serve as a starting point for advisors looking to send clients an overview of the past 90 days and the outlook for the period ahead.
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Recession is Not Imminent
By Dwaine van Vuuren
Perma-bears are bombarding us with alarm bells, sounding the doom of the US economy. We find ourselves in yet another 'summer slowdown scare,' for the third year running. In 2010 and 2011, the purported slowdowns turned out to be soft landings. Investors who ran to the sidelines stared in disbelief as the stock market roared ahead, leaving them behind. We are likely in the same position now.
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The Plight of the Conservative Retiree
By Michael Nairne
Today's extraordinarily low rates on top of a lower equity premium leave conservative retirees with the risk of heightened capital depletion as poorer portfolio returns may be inadequate to offset the combined impact of withdrawals and inflation..
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Are You Ever Asking for It: Client Referrals
By Wendy J. Cook
Are you in the habit of routinely asking for client referrals? If so, fantastic. Consider this a pep talk. If not, well, it's still a pep talk. But it's also a call to action.
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The Disruptive Rainmaker
By Beverly Flaxington
We brought a new advisor into our firm two years ago - a rainmaker. In the beginning he added a lot of value and we were excited to have him. Lately he has been disruptive - boldly and publicly questioning some of the decisions my partners and I have made. Should I put up with the behavior?
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Career Opportunities
As a service to our clients, we are posting career opportunities for firms that seek to add financial advisors and planners to their staff. We've added two new job listings since last week.
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Insights into the First Half of 2012
By Ron Surz
U.S. stock markets at mid-year have earned a respectable 9.5% return. A euphoric first quarter 12.6% gain gave way to a 2.8% minor setback in the second quarter. Foreign markets have not fared as well, earning only 3.4% over the first half of the year. The graph below provides the details, and adds a look at gold's performance.
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Highlights from Market Commentaries
Here are the top three commentaries from last week.
 Nightmare on Wall Street: This Secular Bear Has Only Just Begun
Secular bull markets are great parties. Investors arrive from secular bears really wanting to take the edge off. As the bull proceeds, above-average returns become intoxicating. By the time it is over, the past decade or two has delivered bountiful returns. In contrast, secular bears seem like hangovers. They are awakenings that strip away the intoxication, leaving a sobering need for an understanding of what has happened.
Tags: Bearish US Investment Themes
Nightmare on Wall Street: This Secular Bear Has Only Just Begun by Ed Easterling of Crestmont Research
 Anatomy of a Bear
The unusually bad outcomes of similar historical precedents help to convey why we retain such a durable sense of doom, even after last weeks scorching risk on advance. A moderate continuation of constructive market action would likely be sufficient to move us to soften our presently hard defense by retreating from a staggered strike option hedge. At present, conditions remain aligned with those that have preceded some of the most negative consequences in market history.
Tags: Bearish US Investment Themes
Anatomy of a Bear by John Hussman of Hussman Funds
What's In A Name?
Not only banks and insurance companies but sovereign nations as well cannot all be counted on to guarantee a return of principal, let alone a return on investment. An authentic debt crisis which the world is now experiencing can only be ultimately cured in two ways: 1) default on it, or 2) print more money in order to inflate it away. There are very few clean dirty shirts in this world. Timing in investment markets is critical and at the moment the U.S. is considered to be the cleanest.
Tags: US Sovereign Debt Investment Themes
What's In A Name? by Bill Gross of PIMCO
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