What would you say are your greatest strengths? Weaknesses? Think back on the last few job interviews you had for a moment. How many of them included these generic, broad questions? They’ve been handed down through generations of well-meaning hiring managers, but because they don’t relate to specific requirements for the job (other than if the job requires narcissism or self-deprecation) and they’re not tied to a specific aspect of a job (i.e., strength …
We’ve written before about the often-cited Vanguard “Advisor’s Alpha” study. That research documents the data showing that a good financial advisor can add on average a full 3% in incremental return to a client’s investment portfolio annually. The study then breaks that 3% down into its component parts, showing that the biggest gains–a full 150 basis points–come from effective behavioral coaching that serves to prevent clients from engaging in detrimental investing behaviors (think buying high …
Control. Control. You must learn control. – Yoda, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Approximately 57% of Americans are financially literate, typically measured by answering simple financial literacy questions correctly. The work of Anna Maria Lusardi and her colleagues have demonstrated the woeful state of the world related to financial knowledge and education in the United States and around the world. Often, this group of researchers measures financial literacy with a few …
Race through your work, and loudly proclaim you are finished. Such is the pattern of some elementary school students (and adults, by the way). You’ll undoubtedly see this tonight: kids racing up to a door, quickly getting their reward (and hopefully saying thank you…or at the least, “trick or treat”), and then they are off to the next task, the next house. A wise teacher in one of my children’s classes is teaching that in …
Earlier this week the DataPoints team had the privilege of attending the XY Planning 2016 conference in San Diego, and presented its technology solution to the advisors there in the conference’s inaugural fintech competition. The XY Planning network is a group of fee-only financial advisors that are committed to serving as fiduciaries to their clients and have a special focus on serving those clients that may not fit with more traditional financial services. The …