Author: Anu Heda

Best Blogs of the Week – THE SINGLE BEST BLOG

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 30, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with ,

We recommended 74 blogs on in 2011. Is there one that was way above and beyond the rest? No.

One did stick out as a template for any firm considering a blog or improving their blog.

The single best blog of the year came from Russell. The post, titled “Is the U.S. vaccinated against Japanese-style economic stagnation?”, uses three effective blog tools.  … [read more]

Best Blogs of the Week – The Data

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 30, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week

Because I’m tasting many different donuts currently, here’s a donut chart representing the frequency for each asset manager in the “Best Blogs of the Week” series.

No surprise that the biggest wedges come from BlackRock, Russell, Wells Fargo, and Vanguard. Perhaps a little surprise is the number of firms. Send us a note if you expected more managers or less.

 

Best Blogs of the Week

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

Mid-December usually yields numerous year-in-review and prognostication newsletters, emails and blog posts. Often they are valuable for FAs as they plan and deliver a year-end message to clients and prospective clients. There were two strong posts that share opinions on 2012 and what may occur.

  • BlackRock – No surprise that this post focuses on ETFs. As the ETF vehicle becomes more popular with advisors, then dispelling myths become more crucial.
  • Russell – A succinct review from another great Russell survey shares some helpful opinions and thoughts on what may occur in 2012.

Happy New Year. This is the final BEST of BLOGS for 2011. If you’ve enjoyed, agreed, disagreed, disliked them, please send an email and let us know.

On December 31st, we’ll crown one blog post as the best blog of the year. After that, we’ll resume the review on January 9th.

 

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 12, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

This week’s posts cover a fairly wide range of topics and include a video post (from Wells Fargo).

  1. AllianceBernstein – This post shows the struggle between seeking a specific return versus controlling variability. I liked the focus on a specific institutional segment here.
  2. BlackRock – This post focuses on a commonly stated investment process: accessing fixed income directly is difficult and better done via active management. The analysis is interesting.
  3. Wells Fargo – This video provides “7 key principles” that are pretty good. All FAs will use some combination of these and perhaps this post helps sell working with an FA for a prospective client. At 8 minutes, the video is a little long. But once you get to volatility and standard deviation, the idea of working with an advisor will become more appealing to an on-the-fence investor.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 05, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

This week’s best include two different views on the super-committee, their action (or lack of), and implications to portfolios. Additionally, there’s an interesting take on Europe included.

  1. BlackRock – This post describes why the super-committee’s inaction may tip the US back into recession.
  2. Russell – This post describes the repercussions from the mandatory cuts going into effect in 2013.
  3. Wells Fargo – The post describes two opposing scenarios for the European Central Bank and repercussions that would ensue.