Author: Anu Heda

Best Blogs of The Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Jun 27, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

This week’s best blogs includes a newcomer,  US Funds, and two list regulars.

  1. US Funds – This post explains the relationship between gold bullion and gold equities.  Though a bit long-winded, the write shares some valuable information and intuitive relationships between bullion and firms.
  2. BlackRock – I like posts that take a high-frequency news item and relate the issue to investors.  I can imagine many FAs valuing this post because it relates current economic and political uncertainty to investments.
  3. Vanguard – The post itself – get college graduates to save immediately – isn’t that interesting.  The video linked from it is interesting.  For advisors with clients with children in college, this video is a 90 second refresher on typical students’ perspectives.  That can be helpful in discussing investing with those clients and how-to speak to their children about the topic.

Best of Blogs

Posted by Anu Heda on Jun 20, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

This week has two blog posts and an excellent tweet.  Both blog posts use research (one in-house, the other from AARP) to present a single topic effectively.

  1. Russell – The company continues to use visuals in manners way ahead of other managers.  With good tagging and organization, they will soon have an arsenal of visuals to supplement and support many different discussions with different target audiences.  In this post, Russell shares topics most discussed by financial professionals during Q2.
  2. Vanguard – This post explains how most 401(k) participants pay attention only to explicit fees and how the DOL is changing regulations to help participants better understand costs.
  3. BlackRock – New to twitter (outside of iShares), the tweet below resonates with many financial advisors.  In our discussions with FAs, many talk about QE2 and how they describe the topic to clients.

Tweet on QE2

Vanguard & Twitter

Posted by Anu Heda on Jun 16, 2011, in Thoughts , tagged with ,

I decided to look through the 835 folks Vanguard follows (follow the link and you can too) on twitter.  Why?  Besides having a bit of evening time and a lot of curiosity, I wanted to understand how Vanguard participates in social media.

Here are five typical accounts Vanguard follows:

  1. YoungMoney – magazine targeted to financial & business matters of young Americans
  2. LipperLeaders – mutual fund industry research pioneer
  3. IRSnews – yes, that Internal Revenue Service
  4. BrandRyantInsure – a Virginia-based insurance agent
  5. RedCross – the Red Cross

This says that Vanguard is (a) engaged in social media, (b) interested in other opinions and thoughts, & (c) charitable.  Also, none of these accounts have fewer than 691 followers themselves; so there’s a good opportunity to hear from their followers via retweeting.

We’re not advocating that all firms need to use social media.  But if you do consider it, examining Vanguard’s usage and engagement is a good, early step.

Subject What You Mean

Posted by Anu Heda on Jun 14, 2011, in Thoughts , tagged with , ,

We subscribe to numerous hedge fund and asset manager e-newsletters.  The typical e-mail subject is something safe , like “Q3 Investment Opportunities.”

Atyant Capital, a hedge fund manager with a gold-focused flagship fund, sent a newsletter recently with a clear subject I thought to share: “Credit Deflation is Prime Driver of Resurrection of Gold Mining Industry”

We subscribe to numerous hedge fund and asset manager newsletters. The typical e-mail subject is something safe like “Q3 Investment Opportunities.”

Atyant Capital, a hedge fund manager with a gold-focused flagship fund, sent a newsletter with a clear subject recently.

“Credit Deflation is Prime Driver of Resurrection of Gold Mining Industry”

I liked the subject for three reasons:

  1. Reminds the recipient of the fund’s focus (gold).
  2. Makes a statement, so the reader can agree/disagree.  Either way, it’s a good hook to convince the reader to continue.
  3. Simplifies sharing the idea with colleagues.  You could imagine one colleague telling another, “Atyant believes credit deflation is driving gold right now.”

Writing compelling emails is difficult.  Subjects are usually the most difficult component.  Perhaps working from this example can help.