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Blog

Sep 16 2020
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data-dashboards

Data Dashboards: How Advisors & Advisory Firms Can Use Business Intelligence to Improve

By Blog
My job, as well as the business intelligence I use every day, are about collecting and sharing meaningful information with the leaders managing Wealthspire Advisors and the advisors who serve our clients. With the advent of big data, more meaningful information is available than ever before. In the past, we maintained massive spreadsheets to track multiple datapoints, manually updating row after row of numbers. We were lucky if we were able to share that data monthly, let alone weekly. Today the data we track is automated with crawlers pulling information from multiple sources to update dashboard reports we look at…
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Sep 01 2020
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2020 internship program

Our 2020 Internship Program

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Like many others, we are now almost five months into a remote work environment, a shift that continues to require flexibility, creativity, and commitment from our team. We have all had to adjust and adapt to working differently in a COVID-19 world. Beyond the daily impact on our normal work routines, the current extended period of telework also called into question the viability of some of our traditional talent management programs, like our summer internship program. Going into this summer, the simplest path would have been to cancel our intern program, given our inability to conduct it in person. The…
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Aug 25 2020
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biden tax proposal

Back to the Future? A Look at Biden’s Tax Proposals

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Somehow lost in all of the news coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest, Joe Biden, the former Vice President and current Democratic nominee for President, has proposed a number of individual, payroll, and corporate tax increases to fund new or expanded government programs. The proposal comes as Biden has partnered with Vermont senator Bernie Sanders to further attract progressives to his campaign and allure voters in November. These proposals will have a material impact on higher-income taxpayers. Individual Taxes Summary In general, higher-income taxpayers would face significantly increased income and payroll taxes. The changes would repeal the income…
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Aug 18 2020
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fiduciary advisor

The Importance of Working With a Fiduciary Advisor

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Deciding to work with a financial advisor can be a stressful decision. It requires sharing intimate financial details with a stranger and implies a deep level of trust that takes time to build. A reasonable assumption would be that the advisor on the other side of the table is required to act in your best interest over their own. In today’s fractured advisor marketplace, however, the simple truth is it is not always so. What is a Fiduciary? A fiduciary is a person (or entity) acting on behalf of another party who must put that party’s interests ahead of their…
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Aug 06 2020
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inherited IRA

What To Do With an Inherited IRA

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Losing a loved one can bring not only an emotional burden, but also significant financial responsibilities related to settling the estate. If you are a beneficiary to retirement plan assets, you may inherit control of all or part of a retirement plan account. So, what exactly can one do with an inherited Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or a Roth IRA? What responsibilities do you have to the newly inherited account? The answers to these questions may depend on your relationship to the deceased. Here I will discuss several factors that will determine what you can do with inherited retirement assets.…
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Aug 04 2020
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military benefits

Integrating Military Benefits into Your Financial Planning

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As a financial advisor for over three decades and a former U.S. Navy officer with a daughter on active duty and several veterans in the family, a recent conversation I had with a client brought my two worlds together. The client’s son was beginning their military service and had several financial questions about military benefits. This reminded me of the importance of working with an advisor who understands these benefits and can help weave them into a greater financial plan. Whether you are retired military, established in your career as an active duty or reserve member of the military, or…
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Aug 01 2020
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ria rebrand

Are You an RIA Considering a Rebrand? Don’t Overlook These Important Details

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(as previously published here by Financial Advisor Magazine) The RIA industry has seen unprecedented growth and M&A activity. With this rapid level of change, it’s only natural that more firms are exploring changes to their corporate identities or even totally new brands. The road to a rebrand can be a massive, expensive undertaking, but if done right, it can not only raise your firm’s profile in a crowded marketplace, but also clarify exactly what value you offer to clients and prospects. About a year ago, when Bronfman Rothschild was acquired by Sontag Advisory, we undertook the daunting task of identifying…
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Jul 28 2020
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employee benefits

Understanding and Maximizing Your Employee Benefits

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While salary is one of the most important benefit considerations for any job, it certainly isn’t everything. Whether you’re evaluating job offers or simply reviewing options at your current workplace, understanding everything available to you is the key to properly evaluating a job opportunity and ensuring that you don’t leave anything on the table. Though many of our clients and readers are well-versed in their own benefits options, it can be challenging to consider all angles of a benefits package at the early stages of your career, or conversely, difficult to re-assess as life progresses and your needs change. To…
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Jul 14 2020
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avoid outliving assets

How to Avoid Outliving Your Assets

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According to the Social Security Administration, average life expectancies for current retirees are now 86.5 for women and 84 for men. While this means people can expect to enjoy more than 20 years in retirement, it also means that their retirement savings must sustain them for decades. But for many, the idea of living off one’s savings is terrifying. In its 2019 “Retirement Planning Survey,” Financial Advisor Magazine reported that 45% of advisors said outliving assets is one of the biggest threats that their clients face in retirement. Another 2019 study from Employee Benefit Research Institute found that only 42%…
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Jul 09 2020
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student-loan-planning

Student Loan Planning

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As of May 2018, per StudentLoanHero, 75% of graduates from private, non-profit colleges held student loan debt, while 66% of graduates from public non-profit colleges did. As the cost of college continues to rise (well in excess of broader cost-of-living inflation), student loans are often a hotly discussed topic, with planning around them affecting an ever-larger group. The conversation on college and graduate school funding often evolves around which savings vehicle to contribute to (i.e. 529’s), the tax benefits associated, and withdrawing funds in a way that won’t adversely impact financial aid benefits. However, the other side to this conversation…
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