Intelligent Investing

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The Paradox of Skill

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The Paradox of Skill

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On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview Larry Swedroe on the paradox of skills. This is the third issue that makes Alpha become elusive. Larry explains two thoughts that need to be considered. First, most people fail to understand the difference in competition. In a one-on-one competition, the successful competitor wins, or outperforms, by a significantly higher percentage than his opponent.  The collective wisdom of the market, however, is the tougher competition. Second, Larry expounded on the increase in education within financial institutions. Interestingly, this increase in skill level is needed to generate Alpha. Larry states that this is a big problem consequently for the active world.

At Intelligent Investing, we believe that no advisor can consistently deliver outperformance. As Nick Murray says in one of his books, “Adam and Eve were goal-focused investors…until the serpent told them they could be–with just a little guidance from him–smart enough to outperform. Remember, outperformance is the apple. Don’t bite into it. To learn more about the other reasons Larry believes the Quest for Alpha is so difficult, visit out blog section at investedwithyou.com/blogs

We’ll be interviewing Larry on several podcasts regarding markets, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Larry was among the first authors to publish a book that explained the science of investing in layman’s terms, “The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You’ll Ever Need.” He has since authored seven more books.

Larry Swedroe Bio

Since joining the Buckingham Strategic Wealth in 1996, Chief Research Officer Larry Swedroe has spent his time and energy educating investors on the benefits of evidence-based investing.

In his role as chief research officer and as a member of the firm’s Investment Policy Committee and Board of Directors, Larry regularly reviews the findings published in dozens of peer-reviewed financial journals, evaluates the outcomes and uses the result to inform the firm’s formal investment strategy recommendations.

Larry’s dedication to helping others has made him a sought-after national speaker. He has made appearances on national television shows airing on NBC, CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg Personal Finance. Larry is a prolific writer, contributing regularly to multiple outlets, including Advisor Perspectives and ETF.com.

Before joining Buckingham, Larry was vice chairman of Prudential Home Mortgage and senior vice president at Citicorp.

Larry holds an MBA in finance and investment from NYU, and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Baruch College.

Practical Tips for Pre-Retirees

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Rick Ferri Practical Tips for Pre-Retirees

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On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview Rick Ferri on practical tips for pre-retirees. During this episode, Rick provides helpful insight for those who want to set themselves up for retirement. He explains the value of automation because it removes typical investment hinderances.  At Intelligent Investing, we can set up automatic contributions and rebalancing alerts. Above all, we believe that having a disciplined process is one of the best ways to grow one’s wealth. Read more about our wealth management philosophy here.

Check out our previous podcasts with Rick on Three Military Discipline Investing Values and The Impact of Investment Expenses. We’ll be interviewing Rick on several podcasts regarding index investing, behavioral finance, and practical tips for retirees, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Rick Ferri is a fellow CFA Charterholder, Marine veteran, author, and owner of Ferri Investment Solutions. He continues to write books and articles, provide educational webinars, and teach financial lectures.

Rick Ferri Bio

Rick Ferri earned a B.S. in Business Administration and an M.S. in Finance. He also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter through the CFA Institute. After college, Rick served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer and fighter pilot for 20 years of active duty and reserve service.

Rick’s investment career spans three decades and offers a history of empowering people to achieve their goals. He landed in the brokerage industry in 1989 where he learned the wrong way to invest. As a result of 10 frustrating years, Rick founded one of the country’s first low-fee investment advisory firms. Rick’s firm grew to a sizable business over the next two decades due to the explosion of interest in low-fee investing. This growth provided good-paying jobs to dozens of people and allowed Rick to take on business partners with whom he generously shared his equity.   

Ferri Investment Solutions is Rick’s new firm. This modern concept provides even greater value to investors by “unbundling” adviser services whereby clients pay only for the time it takes to assist them. In addition, Rick’s industry consulting firm helps other advisers build their investment practices, and he has launched Core-4 Portfolios to provide simple model portfolios for use by a wide variety of investors. 

Growth: The Second Stage Of Widowhood

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Growth: The Second Stage of Widowhood

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On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview Kathleen Rehl on the second stage of widowhood: growth. Previously, we interviewed Kathleen on grace: the first stage of widowhood. Kathleen continues the discussion by sharing the process of growth. Because a widow’s cognitive functions have normalized, she is now able to do more general financial planning. Some of the decisions mentioned are basic estate planning, reevaluating investments, taxes, and retirement. A widow may also need to update her documentation, due to the fact that many of her documents may be in her husband’s name. Kathleen discusses the important change in mindset for the widow to make “our home” into “my home.” Many factors considered, there is no definite time period for the growth stage.

You may be a recent widow or know of a widow who is in this second phase of widowhood called Growth, or you may still be in the first phase of Grief. Regardless of which stage you are in, we’d love to help you. You may need help deciding what options you have regarding the proceeds from your late husband’s life insurance proceeds or annuity. You may need help with retirement decisions as Kathleen mentioned. Perhaps you need help updating your financial goals or estate planning documents, or just need someone to talk with regarding your financial questions. We have a page dedicated to widows and you can find it here. Please be sure to join us as Kathleen talks about the third stage: grace.

On upcoming podcasts, Kathleen will talk about the three stages of widowhood- Grief, Growth, and Grace, so be sure to subscribe by clicking here.

Kathleen Rehl Bio

Kathleen M. Rehl, Ph.D., CFP®, CeFT® wrote the multi-award-winning book, Moving Forward on Your Own: A Financial Guidebook for Widows. Experiencing widowhood herself, Dr. Rehl empowers widows financially™ and inspires their advisors. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, AARP Bulletin, CNBC, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Journal of Financial Service Professionals, Journal of Financial Planning, and other publications. Rehl owned a financial planning firm for 17 years before retiring to her “encore” career. She walks an hour daily, practices yoga, enjoys art and music festivals, writes poetry and makes art, loves her grandsons . . . and continues to evolve on her journey.

 

An Overview of the National Christian Foundation

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An Overview of the National Christian Foundation

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On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview John Putnam on an overview of the National Christian Foundation (NCF). John Putnam is the president of the National Christian Foundation Carolinas. Beginning today’s episode, John gives the background of NCF. Larry Burkett, Ron Blue, and Terry Parker found NCF in 1982. Their goal was, and still is, to assist families and encourage them to have an impact with what they have. NCF comes alongside families, their advisors, and the organizations they love. Using innovative and creative ways, NCF helps donors give more wisely to these organizations. The founder’s initial desire was for one billion dollars of giving to flow through their doors. Today, however, over ten billion dollars have been granted by NCF and families locally and around the world.

The National Christian Foundation (NCF) is a U.S. non-profit organization that helps donors give more wisely and tax-efficiently to support their favorite charitable causes. In 2018, NCF ranked as the 8th largest non-profit organization in the U.S. At Intelligent Investing, we strive to align your charitable gifts with your strategic, philanthropic and financial goals. Whether you need to develop gift-giving strategies, create a foundation or endowment, or receive overall philanthropic guidance, we deliver the right level of expertise with a focus on maximizing your tax efficiencies and protecting your wealth while you generously share it with those you love.

More From John

We’ll be interviewing John Putnam on future podcasts on creative ways to give charitably, how to use a donor-advised fund, and charitable giving with young children, so be sure to subscribe.

John Putnam Bio

John is an author, speaker, Kingdom entrepreneur and non-profit leader of NCF Carolinas. He grew up on a cattle farm in Cherryville, NC (that’s ‘Churvul’ for you locals ☺), and attended college at N.C. State. Above all, John is married to his wife Anne and the father of three children. 

John led a thriving financial services practice for over 20 years. Following his passion for stewardship, he launched a Charlotte, NC affiliate of National Christian Foundation. On January 1, 2018, the office merged with NCF Raleigh to become NCF Carolinas. To His glory alone, God has used the NCF Carolinas team to help mobilize hundreds of millions of dollars for Kingdom impact. John’s professional background is as a former Certified Financial Planner, a trained Life Planner through The Paterson Center and a graduate of Charlotte Leadership Forum. He has worked alongside the Halftime organization, a two-time graduate of The Masters Program and a past Strategic Coach participant. He enjoys sharing through media, workshops and his website at JohnPutnam.com. 

Three Military Discipline Investing Values

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Rick Ferri Three Military Discipline Investing Values

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On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview Rick Ferri on three military discipline investment values. During this episode, Rick recounts his military days and how they shaped his financial career. Also, he provides three valuable advisor skills he gained from his service:

  1. Learn to trust people.
  2. Develop keen precision.
  3. Speak the truth regardless of the consequences.

At Intelligent Investing, we establish clear expectations with our clients because we value transparency. We use state-of-the-art technology to determine a quantitative number that visually demonstrates your risk tolerance. Learn more about our investment philosophy here.

Check out our previous podcasts with Rick on The Impact of Investment Expenses and Dangers on Backtesting & Performance Managers. We’ll be interviewing Rick on several podcasts regarding index investing, behavioral finance, and practical tips for retirees, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Rick Ferri is a fellow CFA Charterholder, Marine veteran, author, and owner of Ferri Investment Solutions. He continues to write books and articles, provide educational webinars, and teach financial lectures.

Rick Ferri Bio

Rick Ferri earned a B.S. in Business Administration and an M.S. in Finance. He also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter through the CFA Institute. After college, Rick served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer and fighter pilot for 20 years of active duty and reserve service.

Rick’s investment career spans three decades and offers a history of empowering people to achieve their goals. He landed in the brokerage industry in 1989 where he learned the wrong way to invest. As a result of 10 frustrating years, Rick founded one of the country’s first low-fee investment advisory firms. Rick’s firm grew to a sizable business over the next two decades due to the explosion of interest in low-fee investing. This growth provided good-paying jobs to dozens of people and allowed Rick to take on business partners with whom he generously shared his equity. Rick left the firm a few years ago and is no longer an owner.  

Ferri Investment Solutions is Rick’s new firm. This modern concept provides even greater value to investors by “unbundling” adviser services whereby clients pay only for the time it takes to assist them. In addition, Rick’s industry consulting firm helps other advisers build their investment practices, and he has launched Core-4 Portfolios to provide simple model portfolios for use by a wide variety of investors. 

The Shrinking Pool of Victims

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Shrinking Pool of Victims

Reading Time: 2 minutes

On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview Larry Swedroe on how the shrinking pool of victims makes it difficult to outperform. In his book Why Alpha is Becoming More Difficult, this is the second issue. Referencing William Sharpe, Larry notes that if one investor outperforms the market, consequently somebody else has to underperform. Larry points out the high percentage of trading done by individual investors in the 30s, 40s, and 50s.  Today, more trading is done by institutional investors, high-frequency traders, etc. Two problems have arisen because of this switch. First, people are abandoning active management due to its bad history. Second, and consequently, those who have underperformed are abandoning active management. Larry states that there’s not enough alpha to go around, and he asks the question, “Who is left to exploit?” As the pool shrinks, it is becoming harder and harder to outperform.

At Intelligent Investing, we believe that no advisor can consistently deliver outperformance. As Nick Murray says in one of his books, “Adam and Eve were goal-focused investors…until the serpent told them they could be–with just a little guidance from him–smart enough to outperform. Remember, outperformance is the apple. Don’t bite into it. To learn more about the other reasons Larry believes the Quest for Alpha is so difficult, visit our blog section.

We’ll be interviewing Larry on several podcasts regarding markets, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Larry was among the first authors to publish a book that explained the science of investing in layman’s terms, “The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You’ll Ever Need.” He has since authored seven more books.

Larry Swedroe Bio

Since joining the Buckingham Strategic Wealth in 1996, Chief Research Officer Larry Swedroe has spent his time and energy educating investors on the benefits of evidence-based investing.

In his role as chief research officer and as a member of the firm’s Investment Policy Committee and Board of Directors, Larry regularly reviews the findings published in dozens of peer-reviewed financial journals, evaluates the outcomes and uses the result to inform the firm’s formal investment strategy recommendations.

Larry’s dedication to helping others has made him a sought-after national speaker. He has made appearances on national television shows airing on NBC, CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg Personal Finance. Larry is a prolific writer, contributing regularly to multiple outlets, including Advisor Perspectives and ETF.com.

Before joining Buckingham, Larry was vice chairman of Prudential Home Mortgage and senior vice president at Citicorp.

Larry holds an MBA in finance and investment from NYU, and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Baruch College.

The Impact of Investment Expenses

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Rick Ferri The Impact of Investment Expenses

Reading Time: 2 minutes

On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview Rick Ferri on the impact of investment expenses on a portfolio. During this episode, Rick provides insight on fees and how they can affect performance. Also, he explains why an active manager’s fee, while being the most affordable, may not be the best. At Intelligent Investing, we understand that minimizing your fees helps lower your hurdle rate, allowing returns to hopefully compound at a faster rate. Learn more about what makes us different, here.

Check out our previous podcasts with Rick on Dangers on Backtesting & Performance Managers and The Power of Passive Investing. We’ll be interviewing Rick on several podcasts regarding index investing, behavioral finance, and practical tips for retirees, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Rick Ferri is a fellow CFA Charterholder, Marine veteran, author, and owner of Ferri Investment Solutions. He continues to write books and articles, provide educational webinars, and teach financial lectures.

Rick Ferri Bio

Rick Ferri earned a B.S. in Business Administration and an M.S. in Finance. He also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter through the CFA Institute. After college, Rick served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer and fighter pilot for 20 years of active duty and reserve service.

Rick’s investment career spans three decades and offers a history of empowering people to achieve their goals. He landed in the brokerage industry in 1989 where he learned the wrong way to invest. As a result of 10 frustrating years, Rick founded one of the country’s first low-fee investment advisory firms. Rick’s firm grew to a sizable business over the next two decades due to the explosion of interest in low-fee investing. This growth provided good-paying jobs to dozens of people and allowed Rick to take on business partners with whom he generously shared his equity. Rick left the firm a few years ago and is no longer an owner.  

Ferri Investment Solutions is Rick’s new firm. This modern concept provides even greater value to investors by “unbundling” adviser services whereby clients pay only for the time it takes to assist them. In addition, Rick’s industry consulting firm helps other advisers build their investment practices, and he has launched Core-4 Portfolios to provide simple model portfolios for use by a wide variety of investors. 

Grief: The First Stage Of Widowhood

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Grief: The First Stage Of Widowhood

Reading Time: 2 minutes

On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview Dr. Kathleen Rehl on grief: the first stage of widowhood. In Kathleen’s book, Moving Forward on Your Own: A Financial Guidebook for Widows, three stages of widowhood are mentioned. Due to the countless widows Kathleen has mentored, grief is the first stage discussed in her book. According to Kathleen, the most noteworthy physical effect of widowhood is that of the brain. Because of the effects in decision-making, a widow should not be making irrevocable financial decisions right away. Rather, her immediate needs and those of her new life ahead should be focused on. Widows should be encouraged to take a moment to breathe, not to be pressured to make rash decisions. 

If you are a recent widow or know of a widow who is in this first stage of widowhood called Grief, it may be best just to take a moment to breathe as Kathleen suggests. Take your time to slowly process your thoughts and don’t make any rash financial decisions because you are feeling pressure from friends or family. We understand that all widows have a need to feel financially secure. We’ll be interviewing Kathleen on the other two stages of Widowhood- Growth and Grace, so be sure to subscribe by going to investedwithyou.com/podcasts. We’ll also have a link to the PDF she mentions here.

On upcoming podcasts, Kathleen will talk about the three stages of widowhood- Grief, Growth, and Grace, so be sure to subscribe by clicking here.

Kathleen Rehl Bio

Kathleen M. Rehl, Ph.D., CFP®, CeFT® wrote the multi-award-winning book, Moving Forward on Your Own: A Financial Guidebook for Widows. Experiencing widowhood herself, Dr. Rehl empowers widows financially™ and inspires their advisors. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, AARP Bulletin, CNBC, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Journal of Financial Service Professionals, Journal of Financial Planning, and other publications. Rehl owned a financial planning firm for 17 years before retiring to her “encore” career. She walks an hour daily, practices yoga, enjoys art and music festivals, writes poetry and makes art, loves her grandsons . . . and continues to evolve on her journey.

 

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