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Helpful Fund Information from Franklin

Posted by Anu Heda on Oct 24, 2013, in Thoughts , tagged with

A streamlined product story is more important than ever. You’ve heard that before and I’ve thought it before. Heck, I mentioned it in a January post. Our recent FA conversations reminded me of that. When listening to FAs articulate a preference for one fund versus another, I realized how much information exists and the effort required for an FA to streamline and communicate that preference to a client.

In that vein, I think Franklin Templeton is onto something. This framework – Strategy, Benefits, Results – covers the basics in a straightforward process that simplifies transferring information from Franklin Templeton to the FA and consequently to the client. “Strategy, Benefits, Results” is worth checking into for any marketer within asset management.

Yield and Mellencamp

Posted by Anu Heda on Oct 23, 2013, in Thoughts

Do you remember the classic Mellencamp album “Nothing Matters and What if it Did” released in 1980? Sure you do. It has that widely-underappreciated song “Ain’t Even Done with the Night” on it. Yes, I’m a big Mellencamp fan and maybe you’re not.

Well that album title kept coming to mind as Mike and I have spoken with dozens of FAs across projects. Nothing Matters and Find Me Yield. That would be the industry’s version of this album. This demand for yield is unwavering and consistent across FA channels and across the country.

Three considerations for asset managers:

  1. In searching for yield, many advisors are open to pretty esoteric investment strategies such as MLPs and non-agency MBS.
  2. FAs are oversaturated with whitepapers related to yield. Metrics, such as duration and credit quality, are more important than whitepapers.
  3. There’s receptivity to vehicles beyond open-end mutual funds. ETFs, closed-end funds, even structured products (just once) came up.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Oct 21, 2013, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with

Financial crisis averted! Well, for a few months at least. And the industry wrote 16 (or more) posts related to the government shutdown / debt ceiling crisis. The two most informative posts came from Wells Fargo. This post gives the facts around the debt ceiling. And this post is a helpful Q&A on what has happened and what may happen.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Oct 14, 2013, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with ,

Government shutdown. There I said it and seems like everyone in the industry has a requisite blog post now. I liked this post the best (via Pioneer) because of the honest and direct tone.

In speaking with a dozen FAs last week, a common topic (after seeking out yield): is the broad stock market? This succinct post provides a data-driven view.