Beginning in 1995 and then more broadly in 2000, the Social Security Administration (SSA) began mailing hard copy statements of estimated benefits to workers (the “Statements”; see the the SSA website). Included in the Statements were available disability insurance (DI) benefits and estimated monthly benefits at certain retirement ages, along with other information. The SSA stopped sending the Statements in 2011 for budget reasons but restarted the program in 2014. How did the Statements affect …
Will you be teaching children or students what it takes to build wealth this year? What will you teach them or encourage them to do? Think back to your time growing up. You probably can point to an event or a set of experiences that greatly influenced how you manage finances today. Recollections such as these were discussed extensively in the The Millionaire Next Door and The Millionaire Mind. Successful, financially independent Americans recounted childhood or early work …
If you have ever worked for a leader who lacks confidence, you know how painful your daily slog can be. A leader’s dearth of confidence can suppress opportunities of superstar employees or lead to an inability to secure resources, including pay, promotions, and bonuses, for team members. Great leaders balance confidence with realism and perspective, and have enough self-esteem and self-efficacy to delegate to and develop team members and work for the good of …
How does your organization segment its clients? Most often they are segmented by amount of investable assets, net worth levels, and perhaps age, income, and/or risk tolerance levels. What’s missing? A guide to their competencies for building wealth. As long as I can remember, my father has given big, gold-wrapped boxes of chocolates for thank you/end of year presents to his business associates. When I was growing up, as a treat, he would often buy …
A data point is a measurement or set of measurements of a single member of a particular population. For the financial services industry, client data typically include age, income, net worth, investable assets, risk tolerance, attitudes, and perhaps big data (with or without theory). This information is traditionally used to describe wealth groups (e.g., mass affluent, ultra high net worth) and determine relevant products and services. What’s missing? The scientific measurement of relevant wealth-building behaviors and life experiences …