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FPPad Turns 100!

Posted on December 8, 2008 by in General

Just a little over 10 months ago, I launched FPPad.com with the help a study group partner, Ben Gilbert.  Now here we are at 100 posts (hey, that’s a lot for one guy with a full time operations job and many outside interests!).

I must be honest: it’s challenging for me to make time to put together content for the blog.  More often than not, I try to provide some insight or thought-provoking questions when covering developments in the financial planning technology space.

I don’t have all the answers, but I try to offer solutions to problems that matter to a financial planner’s bottom line.  Hopefully you find FPPad to be a unique resource of technical and operations information on financial planning in the gigantic blogoshpere.  If so, be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed.

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Financial Thrift from Andy Rooney

Posted on December 3, 2008 by in General

In case you missed it, here are some tips to be thrifty from the master of thrift, Andy Rooney.

I don’t imagine advisers would consider giving these tips to clients that may need to reduce their spending habits.  I guess there’s more than one way to ensure a portfolio isn’t spent down during retirement.

(Hat tip: JD Drake)

Top Posts at FPPad for November 2008

Posted on December 1, 2008 by in General

With nearly 100 posts online at FPPad.com since its debut on January 28, 2008, I want to begin sharing the top monthly posts according to traffic reported by Google Analytics.

“The Wall Street Journal has a good article titled Feds Rethink Rules on Retirement Savings that discusses proposed changes Congress (or the Treasury, who knows?) may make to minimum required distribution laws for qualified and individual retirement accounts.”

“Finally, after many years of preparation, studying, and experience, I can now call myself a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certificant!”

“Here’s my not-so-bold prediction for challenging times: In less than 5 years, AUM fees will no longer be the main compensation mechanism for independent registered investment advisory firms.”

Once I hit 100 posts on FPPad, I’ll provide a top ten list of the most popular content over the last ten months.

IARD System Fee Waiver Extended

Posted on October 31, 2008 by in General

ADVHere’s a quick note that will make RIAs happy in light of volatile markets.

The SEC and NASAA have announced that Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD) set-up and annual fees will be waived for 2009.

Here’s a clip from their announcement:

Washington, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) today announced they will waive the initial set-up and annual system fees paid by investment adviser firms to maintain the Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD) system. Separately, NASAA announced that for next year it will also waive those system fees paid by investment adviser representatives (IARs).

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Is It Different This Time?

Posted on October 10, 2008 by in General

A colleague of mine I follow on Twitter posted a tweet with a link to the DFA website.

DFA recently published a 17 minute presentation titled “Is It Different This Time?” that is available for the general public.

I enjoyed the presentation and have subsequently shared it with many people I know.  It also appeared on the FPA NexGen email group.  If you haven’t seen it yet, go look at it.

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What Will Brokerage Turmoil Mean to Advisers?

Posted on September 14, 2008 by in General

dominoEach week it seems another financial giant with brokerage subsidiaries is going under and experiencing a bailout or a buyout/merger.  First there was Bear Stearns, then Lehman Brothers, and now Merrill Lynch (then possibly AIG’s brokerage division!).

So much news is released on a daily basis that it’s becoming difficult to keep up with the developments and consequences of the unprecedented actions.

What is an adviser to do?

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Historical Charts of Interest

Posted on September 9, 2008 by in General

chartI find myself often turning to Yahoo! Finance or BigCharts to access charts on certain historical data.

Yesterday I came across a useful site that contains a fairly abundant amount of historical charts ranging from domestic equity through precious metal and commodity performance for quite a few periods. 

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WealthFly Reviews Wealth Simplified Blog

Posted on August 19, 2008 by in General

RSSWhen you have a moment, check out Matt Abar’s WealthFly blog and his review of Russ Thornton’s Wealth Simplified blog.

In the review, Russ provides an excellent list of software and other websites and blogs that Russ turns to on a regular basis.  I thanked Russ for highlighting FPPad.com in his list of blogs.

Thanks Russ!

Weekend Reading: Taleb at Portfolio.com

Posted on August 15, 2008 by in General

NNTThis morning I saw Tim Ferris’ tweet (Tim, author of The 4-Hour Work Week) about an interview of Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Portfolio.com.  Most members of the Financial Planning Association should know by now that Taleb will be one of the keynote speakers at the FPA Boston 2008 annual convention.

Click here to read Taleb’s interview at Portfolio.com.

It’s an excellent interview, if not a little lengthy, but definitely put this on your weekend reading list.

 

FPPad.com in Financial Planning’s NexGen Coverage

Posted on August 4, 2008 by in General

Financial Planning MagazineDuring the FPA NexGen conference, I had the privilege of meeting Gabrielle Whelan from SourceMedia, Inc.  Stacy Schultz of Financial Planning Magazine also attended the conference, but I didn’t have the opportunity to speak with her.

Gabrielle recently posted her review of the FPA NexGen conference on Financial Planning’s website.  Click here to read her article titled Notes on NexGen.  I’m very thankful that she included a link to FPPad.com in her review.

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