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In my last article, How to Waste Time and Influence People, we covered productive ways to wander on the Internet. You also can benefit from harnessing the Internet as it relates to your advisory practice.
As a professional service provider for advisors, I have a business model that shares much in common with yours. There are three overlapping areas in which I use the Internet to see and be seen:
- Research — remaining abreast with the latest ideas about wealth and investing
- Presence — managing Internet appearances to reflect the “me” I try to be
- Networking — connecting with key audiences, including clients, prospective clients, industry colleagues, service providers and appropriate media outlets
The Internet for information
If you’re like me on this (and, if you’re an investment advisor I hope you are), you find endless fascination in all things investing. Of course there are print publications worth keeping an eye on, but I mostly use the Internet to remain informed. And fascinated.
You can’t read everything. To remain abreast with the swift current, without getting lost in it::
- Scan headlines and then dig deeper if it’s a subject or author of interest. A scan offers an efficient way to find lots of good stuff, and by spotting patterns among various sources, you can get a reading on major issues of concern.
- Seek articles and conversational threads among those with whom you agree and those who challenge your thoughts. (I read far more conversations than I actively participate in, but here’s a related article for engaging in constructive, online critique of your own.)
- Prefer forums that offer fact-based, respectful conversations instead of emotional name-calling. Seek these qualities in both the articles and the comments, since some of the best material is in the conversation threads.
I could easily numb you with all the possible information sources, and you probably already have many favorites of your own, but here are a few financial news sources that I routinely track:
- Passive Investment Professionals LinkedIn group – a must-have for any passively minded advisor
- Trade publications (and their e-blasts, LinkedIn groups, Facebook pages or tweets): Investment News, RIABiz, Financial Advisor and of course Advisor Perspectives.
- News blogs – CBS MoneyWatch Wise Investing (Larry Swedroe), The Wall Street Journal Intelligent Investor (Jason Zweig), The New York Times, Bucks blog (Carl Richards and others)
- Specialty resources – Some of my favorites: Ramit Sethi for younger generation investors; Vanguard Diehards, for the often-interesting debate and discussion on the evolution of passive investing, and The Coffeehouse Investor
Again, these are like a few random pinecones in the vast forests of knowledge (as we might say here in beautiful Oregon), but perhaps it will serve as an entry point to help you explore new resources beyond your usual favorites.
