Author: Anu Heda

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Aug 06, 2012, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , , ,

After a not-so-restful week in beautiful Colorado (long story), we resume the best blogs of the week by reviewing the last two weeks together. Not surprisingly, most blogs covered the Federal Reserve Bank and their decision (to do nothing). We found one post that’s particular interesting on that front. Augmenting that post are a few interesting pieces that appeal to a wide range of advsiors.

  • BlackRock – This post presents different investing opportunities related to the real estate recovery. That is an interesting topic and one many FAs hear about from their clients.
  • Columbia – This post makes a quick case for U.S. equities and is compelling enough to download the full report.
  • Pioneer – This post does an excellent job of covering the Fed’s inaction.
  • Russell – Two things we love: word clouds and defining alternatives. This post includes both.
  • Wells Fargo – The Q&A about the fiscal cliff does a nice job of simplifying asset allocation in a scenario we’re becoming evermore familiar with.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Jul 16, 2012, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

Post 4th, the industry’s volume (of blogs) feels down. Let’s see if that continues throughout the summer or not. We found two compelling blogs this week, from the usual suspects.

  • AllianceBernstein – This post may have some cross-over appeal into the institutional market as Mr. Peebles discusses global bonds from a Liability-Driven Investing (LDI) perspective. LDI is primarily considered by institutional investors, and some FAs.
  • BlackRock – This post is a Q&A with an FA on how she uses social media. It’s interesting and potentially an eye-opener for other FAs (though FAs that read blogs are probably already using LinkedIn and other tools).

And in case our June 26th post didn’t have enough fiscal cliffs, Franklin Templeton brings up the idea this week.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Jul 09, 2012, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

Four posts that cover four different topics.

  • BlackRock – This post covers three reasons to increase high yield bond exposure. Agree or not, yield is on the mind of many and this supports a healthy dialogue between FA and investor.
  • MFS – Jim Swanson in Spain and futbol on the radio; what could be better? This post covers the Spanish banking crisis in a small, digestible format (always helpful for FAs).
  • Russell – This post had me at mean variance optimization. More specifically, the author relates investing to the typical life situations many investors live through.
  • Wells Fargo – It’s rare to find investment commentary, market insights, or blog posts favoring health care investing. This post makes a reasonable case in a few paragraphs (and then delves into the energy sector).

Improve Your Blog (3 of 5)

Posted by Anu Heda on Jul 06, 2012, in Thoughts , tagged with , ,

In the last year, industry blogs have improved dramatically. We’ve seen firms inject personality (our first part in this series) and increase the frequency of posts (our second part in this series). This post covers including graphics (not stock photography).

Most blog posts topics cover (or begin with) macroeconomic issues. That makes sense for a few reasons. First, macroeconomic issues don’t worry compliance too much. An analysis of Greek debt has no inherent product push or firm advertisement. Second, investment teams are (often) analyzing big themes for investment opportunities, so the blog post can be a natural output from the analysis.

Yet, many of these macroeconomic blog posts are solely prose. We think that’s a mistake. One or two straightforward graphics enable the viewer to understand the author’s perspective and quickly decide to read (or not) the prose. A well-placed graphic increases the likelihood a blog post is read (especially when the post is more than 1 – 2 paragraphs).

 … [read more]