Displaying items by tag: clients

Kestra Investment Management recently announced that it has launched two new model portfolio series, expanding its offerings for advisors and their clients. The new multi-manager strategies follow the team’s first two model portfolio series, launched in June. The first series is the Active Income Series, which is a new addition to Kestra’s core portfolio offerings. The Active Income Portfolio is a diversified, multi-asset portfolio that incorporates actively managed funds. The portfolio is designed to maximize risk-adjusted total returns while providing additional yield and is available in seven different risk profiles. The second series, the Satellite Series, includes three distinct model portfolios designed to be paired with a core portfolio to address nuanced client needs for income and risk management. The first Satellite Series model portfolio is the Multi-Asset Income Portfolio, which aims to generate higher income than the broad U.S. bond market through a diversified mix of fixed income, equity, and nontraditional assets and strategies such as equity derivatives. The next portfolio, the Tax-Aware Income Portfolio is a diversified fixed-income portfolio designed to generate higher after-tax income than the broad U.S. bond market through a focus on tax-exempt bonds. The third portfolio, the Liquid Alternatives Portfolio aims to diversify sources of risk and return beyond long-only equity and fixed-income exposure by combining a mix of low- and high-volatility alternative strategies that can invest opportunistically in changing market conditions.

Finsum: Kestra expanded its model portfolio offering with two new model portfolio series, including the core Active Income Series and the Satellite Series.

The competition for prospective clients is as high as ever, which means advisors need to find a way to stand out. One solution is to build out your professional contacts lists through networking. Rebecca Lake authored an article for SmartAsset on some of the best ways to network. Her first suggestion is to join a professional association. They can be a great place to network, as they can facilitate connections between members. For instance, The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) has a “Community” feature where advisors can join open discussions. Advisors can also network at NAPFA’s annual spring and fall conference events. The next tip is to participate in community events. Events in your area may provide opportunities to meet other advisors and increase your visibility in your community. This could include meetup groups or attending a local small business fair. Lake also recommends that advisors utilize social media, as it can be a powerful tool for networking. For example, LinkedIn is a great resource for building professional connections with advisors and other professionals. If your audience is younger, advisors can make short compliant clips with valuable tips on TikTok. In addition to meeting new people, Lake also recommends that advisors ask questions to the people they meet, listen to the answers they provide, and make sure to follow up with them. Plus, advisors should also become facilitators and make introductions for other advisors as networking isn’t a one-way street.

Finsum:Rebecca Lake, a contributor for SmartAsset, provided seven networking tips for advisors, including joining a professional association, participating in local community events, and utilizing social media.

Advisors today not only have to compete against each for business, but they also have to keep up with an endless stream of eye-catching content pushed to consumers. That’s why Merrill Lynch, in an effort to keep their advisors front and center, is rolling out a suite of new tools to help advisors become content creators. The brokerage firm recently launched Merrill Video Pro, a virtual video studio for advisors to create clips and connect with clients and prospects at scale. Video Pro is billed as a turnkey video creation tool. It provides access to a template library of topics to help advisors quickly craft compliant clips. Advisors can either personalize one of the scripts already in Video Pro or start from scratch. Once a script is approved by compliance, advisors can record videos up to a minute in length. Video Pro also offers tools such as a scrolling teleprompter and support for selecting the right thumbnail to make things easier for advisors not used to filming. Kirstin Hill, chief operating officer at Merrill Wealth Management, had this to say about the new tool, "Video is an engaging medium for advisors to connect in a modern, simple way. The new tool is the latest example of how Merrill is modernizing the way advisors communicate with clients and connect with prospects."

Finsum: To help their advisors stay in the mix amid an endless barrage of sharable content, Merrill Lynch launched Video Pro, a virtual video studio for advisors to create clips and connect with prospects.

With market volatility still a concern among clients, private equity firms are positioning themselves as an option for advisors looking to minimize the impact of volatility in their client’s portfolios. Steve Brennan, head of Private Wealth Solutions at Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based Hamilton Lane, told Financial Advisor magazine, “A benefit to a private equity fund is that it is a long-term investment vehicle that gives an investor an extended period to invest their money and protect it from the turbulence of the markets.” Private equity proponents say that the lower volatility typically outweighs the negatives of private equity, including high fees and illiquidity. Brennan said “The time horizon for investors in the private markets is ... a much longer time period so you’re not seeing the volatility in the private markets that you would see in the public markets.” Alexis Weber, chief investment officer and founder of PM Alpha told the magazine that a client’s private equity allocation should be fluid. He suggested a range of 5% to 20%, but also cautioned advisors that it depended upon the client’s risk tolerance. He also mentioned that private equity can be a benefit to an advisor looking to distinguish themselves from their competitors. He stated, “Really having the right level of allocation to these instruments allows them to differentiate their services and their portfolio construction approach from other peers.”

Finsum:Private equity firms are positioning themselves as an option for advisors looking to minimize volatility for their clients as well as differentiate themselves from their peers.

With direct indexing continuing to gain steam, the strategy isn’t just for the ultra-wealthy anymore, according to two panelists at the recent ETF Exchange conference in Miami. According to Randy Bullard, global head of wealth management at Charles River Development, any investor with more than $150,000 can benefit from these custom portfolios. Bullard stated that “Today an advisor might use direct indexing for clients with complex and unique investment policy requirements, but in the future, direct indexing won’t be such a niche thing.” Ben Hammer, head of client development for Vanguard Personalized Indexing, agrees and said “personalized indexing” can benefit many investors. For Hammer, direct indexing is simple, “It’s an individual account that’s managed to track an index. The individual owns the securities, which gives them flexibility to do things that they can’t with a fund. For example, when individual stocks are down, the investor can tax-loss-harvest them to offset gains elsewhere in their portfolio.” Hammer also noted that direct indexing can give advisors an “additional edge“ in their business. He stated, “They can utilize this to really establish an excellent tax profile for a client that might have some complications or give them an extra bit of customization.” However, Bullard acknowledged that direct indexing right now is for equities, not other asset classes.

Finsum:According to two panelists at the recent ETF Exchange conference, any investor with over $150,000 in assets would benefit from direct indexing, as would advisors by providing them an “additional edge“ in their practice.