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Articles & insights
Dan Solin on investing, advisor marketing and turning prospects into clients. Page 9.
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Sep 25, 2018Don’t Plan to Fail
As a registered investment advisor, you extoll the virtue of your planning skills. You explain to prospects and clients the value of having a comprehensive wealth management plan.
Sep 19, 2018Why You’re A Sucker For Active Management
Knowledge of how data is presented to you may be your best defense when evaluating the track record of active fund managers.
Sep 18, 2018My Massive Misunderstanding About Risk
I assumed that if I marshaled the facts better than those taking a different position, I would be persuasive. But that assumption is dead wrong.
Sep 17, 2018Stop Talking
For your prospect, what they have to say takes precedence. Of course, if you’re asked a question, the prospect has signaled an interest in your opinion.
Sep 12, 2018The Solin Star Ratings
Here are my 10-star rated funds for mutual funds that track the U.S. stock market using various indexes.
Sep 11, 2018A Foolproof Way to Differentiate Yourself
Let’s say you’re meeting with a prospect. I want you to discard everything you typically do at these meetings (talk about yourself, your firm, your expertise, spin the conversation to financial goals, pursue an agenda, assume you are in charge of the meeting, etc.).
Sep 10, 2018How the Spotlight Effect Will Blindside You
We assume that prospects will carefully scrutinize every detail of our appearance, the ideas we present and the depth of our technical knowledge.
Sep 5, 2018Straight Talk On Factors
I can define factor-based investing simply, but implementing is complex.
Sep 5, 2018The Quickest Way to Lose a Prospect
I’ve gained new insights working with advisors rewriting and redesigning your web pages. I want to share some of the most notable ones with you.
Sep 4, 2018The Wrong Ball
There’s only one surefire way to get people to like and trust us: Empower them to talk about themselves. Let them guide the conversation.
Sep 3, 2018The Risk You Never Saw Coming
There’s one type of risk that seems positive, but can have very negative consequences. This might explain why many investors don’t see it coming until it’s too late.It’s called longevity risk.
Aug 29, 2018New Research on What Makes Us Happy
It should be comforting for you to know that, by giving your clients a sense of control, you increase their level of happiness.
Aug 29, 2018The Rap Sheet Attraction
Given a choice between brokers with an extensive rap sheet and advisors whose ethical conduct is unblemished, what’s the appeal of the rap sheet?
Aug 27, 2018You’re No Angel
Rather than denying the existence of conflicts, a better approach would be to adhere to the fiduciary Best Practices formulated by the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard.
Aug 22, 2018Ignorance Can Increase Your Returns
This is probably the first article you’ve read that extolls the benefit of ignorance.
Aug 22, 2018Your Understanding of Risk is Misguided
The most glaring example is risk from huge competitors, with far greater resources, who charge much lower advisory fees. Vanguard is your biggest threat. Its hybrid services charges only 0.30% of AUM.
Aug 20, 2018“Value” is Relative
With investments becoming a commodity, advisors have shifted to demonstrating value by offering a wide range of other services. At their core, these services involve comprehensive financial planning.
Aug 15, 2018A Disruptive Approach to Your Website
I’ve reviewed hundreds of websites since I formed my digital marketing company. Most of them look like they were designed by an army of robots.
Aug 15, 2018Active Fund Managers Are Losers
Those of us in the financial media make big deal out of the results, which always show significant underperformance by actively managed mutual funds across almost all asset classes in both stocks and bonds.
Aug 13, 2018An Empathetic Misunderstanding
A recent study described my flawed process as “perspective mistaking.” Through an elaborate series of experiments, the authors concluded our assumptions about the perspectives of others – including people we presumably know really well – are often incorrect.
Aug 8, 2018A Hidden Investing Pro
The financial media loves to reference the wisdom of "investing pros." This article is representative. Here’s the headline: Opinion: ‘No disrespect’ to Warren Buffett—but some investing pros says he’s dead wrong about this stock. The “pros” quoted are editors of “top performing newsletters."
Aug 8, 2018The Small but Powerful Changes that Build Trust
In last week’s article, I shared some insights on building trust from The Trust Mandate, by Herman Brodie and Klaus Harnack. The book is a valuable resource. Its principles are applicable to you and your relationships with prospects and clients. Especially powerful are some small changes you can make to your office and the way you present yourself that will quickly inspire trust.
Aug 6, 2018You May be on the 8th of your 9 Lives
If you’re like most of your competitors, you’re still charging a fee based on assets under management. Here’s where I see trouble on the horizon.
Aug 2, 2018The Surprising Traits that Inspire Trust
Brodie and Harnack identify the two dimensions of trust as “warmth and competence.” They define “warmth” as “a benevolent orientation that puts others before self” and “competence” as “the ability to make desired outcomes happen.”