Focus: Using Technology to Improve Client Service
Eye on Quality: Technology Optimizes Client Service
by Nancy Opiela
By outsourcing management of client data to application service providers and account aggregators on the Internet, planners can focus on their clients and client service.
Netting the 'Net: Using the Internet Creatively and Efficiently
by Mell McDonnell
The Internet is like an ocean. Planners and other experts explain how you can net exactly what you need without dragging in a lot of garbage fish and old tires.
Workshop: Working on a Client's 'Dream Team'
by Catherine Newton
Four planners explain how they work with other advisors, how they quarterback the team and how they iron out problems when a team doesn't quite mesh for the benefit of the client.
Departments
Starting Thoughts
Letters
FYI
The Observer
Reader Spotcheck
Classified Advertising
Advertising Index
Strategies & Trends
Professional Issues: Enjoy the Process
by Ross Levin, CFP
Too often, clients—and their planners—are so oriented toward results they forget to enjoy their lives along the way. A ramble through Henry David Thoreau's Walden will help.
Insurance: Time to Change Disability Income Policies?
by Peter C. Katt, CFP, LIC
Buying new or updated disability insurance requires not only careful selection of features, but careful selection of the carrier.
Tax & Estate: How to Turn an Annuity into Monthly Income, Part III
by Richard W. Duff, J.D., CLU
Payout annuities provide a lot of benefits for clients, especially with increasing longevity and the need for a dependable lifetime income. The key now is to educate clients about those benefits.
The Practice: Delegation of Authority
by Peter M. Vessenes
Most planners understand the need to delegate. But unless they understand the five levels of delegation of authority, and delegate authority, they are setting themselves up for failure.
Real Estate: REITs: What a Difference a Year Makes
by Phil Storms, CFP, CCIM
REITs have fared very well through the current stock market slump, following two dismal years when stocks were doing great. Their lack of correlation with stocks is precisely the reason to keep REITs in a portfolio.
Contributions
Planning for Families of Children with Disabilities
by Minoti Rajput, CFP
This article focuses on the financial and estate planning techniques for parents of dependent children with disabilities, including coordinating with government benefits and using special needs trusts.
Choosing Between Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Plans
by Ken Johnston, Shawn Forbes and John Hatem
The authors show how planners can help their clients equalize the benefits of a defined contribution plan with those of a defined benefit plan.
Employee Stock Options: Using Monte Carlo Simulation to Create Exercise Strategies
by Sreenivasan Srikanth, CFA
The author provides an analytical framework for determining whether to exercise early or later. The results may surprise you.
Personalities: Stanton D. Smith: 'Slowing Down' at 82
by Nancy Opiela
