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Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Nov 28, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

We hope everyone enjoyed a significant amount of food and beverage over Thanksgiving.  While the volume trailed off at the end of the week, the week began with a bevy of blogs.  Here are three excellent posts.

  1. American Century – This post highlights the supercommittee scenarios of cutting budget or not and the impact to portfolios.  This is clear, direct and easy for an FA to absorb and consider.
  2. US Funds – This post makes a clear reason to consider technology investments for the long-term.  It’s an example of sharing ideas without pitching product.
  3. Franklin Templeton – A video post that discusses the drivers of Latin American growth and the role investing in Latin America may play for a portfolio.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Nov 21, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with ,

This week didn’t have many  exciting posts.  The two most noteworthy came from Russell.

  1. Russell – This post acknowledges and considers the very real and widespread struggle for advisors: investors want to stay on the sideline currently.
  2. Russell – This post announces the launch of an advisor app.  The post is nothing revelatory, but the introduction of an app to enable interaction with the information treasure-trove at Russell is important.

Institutional Pitch Books – 1 Big Thing

Posted by Anu Heda on Nov 17, 2011, in Thoughts

In our support of institutional marketing organizations around the industry, we see numerous pitch books used during introductory conversations between the asset manager and the institutional investor.

There’s no single format, length, or organization that works across firms. But there is one recommendation we’d make for most managers regardless of firm size, region, and institutional investor segment.

 … [read more]

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Nov 15, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , , ,

Sorry for the one-day delay.  Last week, many firms covered a lot of ground. Wells Fargo posted 11 blogs last week and other firms followed suit. AllianceBernstein – new to blogging – came in with seven. With so many posts to select from, we have four posts to share with no theme or inter-related issue.

  1. AllianceBernstein – In this post, Sharon Fay shares a compelling reason for being bullish on technology stocks. Agree or disagree, it’s valuable to the FA for a firm to share posts like this.
  2. American Century – This post shares a straightforward and easily shared reason for including alternative investments. For an advisor beginning the discussion with clients, this post is helpful
  3. BlackRock – I admit it: I am a sucker for a good heat map.  This post simplifies the tax-loss harvesting discussion many FAs will have with clients soon.
  4. Wells Fargo – This is a solid Q&A with thoughts on how high-quality in the high-yield market can represent value right now.

Sales Compensation: Same as It Ever Was

Posted by Mike McLaughlin on Nov 10, 2011, in Thoughts , tagged with , ,

Last week I read a Tweet attributing the following to the head of a large mutual fund company:

Compensation structures have to change.

I also recently read a trade journal article about the challenges associated with sales compensation. It covered the usual bases:

  • “…firms still fall short when it comes to using pay to incentivize wholesalers to focus on certain activities.”
  • “We are looking for individuals who are aligned with the business goals of the organization.”

Here’s how I see it:

Why? Because of how little the comp conversation has changed over the years. For all the supposed “strategic” conversation around paying salespeople, the last decade has shown comp to simply be an operational tool requiring ongoing tactical adjustments.

The quotes above mirror discussions dating back more than ten years. A quick search on Ignites yielded the following:

  • 2010: “…pay models are in flux as firms struggle to offer compensation that can attract and retain key talent but also stand up to bottom-line realities…”
  • 2009: “…more companies should consider strategies that align compensation with the overall profitability of the firm.”
  • 2006: “…companies are increasingly considering [profitability] when calculating pay packages in order to more closely align wholesalers’ objectives with their own.”
  • 2001: “…fund firms should look at bringing wholesaler compensation in line with the firm’s profit model.”

I’m not saying that pay isn’t important – it certainly gets a huge amount of airtime and consideration at our clients. But for now it is not an area that is ripe for innovation. Instead, firms will continue the cycle of making moderate modifications to try and find the right incentives, the right level of complexity, and the right targets.