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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.

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]

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Jun 18, 2012, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with ,

These two posts are as unconventional as we remember. Frankly, I’m both surprised and impressed that these firms released these blogs.

  • AllianceBernstein – In all the financial material we read, we can’t recall the last case for Japanese equities. This post makes the case.
  • Pioneer – The author posts a case for Spain’s solvency. It’s an interesting and logical process. It’s also a bold position to put in writing.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Jun 04, 2012, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

This week’s best of blogs started with a single criteria: no more Europe. I imagine many FAs are fatigued by the constant stream of European danger signs. So, here are three, non-European blog posts.

  • AllianceBernstein – A practical post for any FA with entrepreneurial clients considering selling part or all of their business.
  • BlackRock – Dividend investing is having its day. It’s dividends morning, noon, and night. Well, this post does an excellent job of looking at the strategy for reasons beyond yield.
  • Franklin Templeton – Select firms spent a lot of time in advance of 5/29 promoting the date as college saving day. This post summarizes the benefits of 529 plans well and includes a high-impact graphic.

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.