[Note: the entertainment segment of this post is at the end for 13-3 = 10 fans. All the usual disclaimers apply. This post is based upon what’s been reported in public but it seems to me that better communication from certain parties could and should have prevented that which happened to Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) […]
Readers note: we seldom publish but when we do, it’s intended for leaders and fiduciaries who take on those responsibilities seriously. And for boards, shareholders, employees, ERISA, Taft-Hartley and public pension plans and participants and beneficiaries thereof, trust beneficiaries and non-profit boards, trustees, volunteers, employees, donors and supporters; customers, account beneficiaries and employees of banks, […]
Taxonomically the sudden surge in demand for toilet paper is likely to bear similar hallmarks to the incipient spike in litigation claims for breach of fiduciary duty. These claims are likely to appear in: partner, business, employment and compensation disputes, family and charitable trust matters, ERISA pension and profit sharing, Taft-Hartley union, or multi-employer plans, […]
The good tidings of the holidays and beginning of the 2019 new year bring with it fervent hopes for things to improve, get better and this: for switches in trustees and new board of directors appointments. Let me make this very important point right here: these all entail a personal and ultimately unavoidable fiduciary duty, […]
A budget, like lane markers on a freeway is a basic tool to help provide guidance as to the amount or range estimate for a particular or group of expenses, fees, costs, or other cash outflows. Another way to state it, is a budget enables control of fees, costs and expenses. Yet another way to […]
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, was asked during the Senate Hearings on Facebook, Social Media Privacy, Use and Abuse of Data about an unusual term “INFORMATION FIDUCIARY” This is not a one post, wham bang post; it’s such a large global issue, there will be several posts on the topic; the point is to create greater […]
It’s Oscar night and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is one of the favorites of nine films nominated for Best Picture. Three Billboards grossed about $123 Million, not too many folks including perhaps some Academy members have even seen the film which pundits say helps explain the complacency and continued drop in Oscar ratings due […]
(The new rule is also known as the Conflict of Interest rule). American retirees better get used to a new word, fiduciary. It’s pronounced (fi-do-she-er-ee). In a nutshell, retirees need to better protect their retirement “nest eggs” from financial advisers potentially conflicted 401k plan rollover advice and when they do open an IRA Rollover account […]
We wrote ten years ago in 2004 about hedge funds, including suggestions and questions to improve prudence. Recently, CalPERS seems to have determined for itself the costs, risks and returns were not worth it. They have simply announced they will get out of all $4 Billion invested in hedge funds. 2016 Update: New Jersey State […]
Is 2007 happening again? This time in bank or leveraged loan funds? Regarding Bank Loan investment market: “It will be hard to call the exact move in interest rates because we’re in a massive global monetary experiment that’s never been done before,” he said. “And anybody who tells you where rates are going, you shouldn’t […]
How can you tell? They don’t or won’t talk about much less recommend low-cost passive index funds. And they don’t or won’t talk about or own up to fiduciary responsibility verbally or in writing. They may use esoteric terms (words to impress you, which they often fail to connect to your suitability and or implement) […]
According to the NY Times, “a 36th year went by without another Triple Crown champion, and California Chrome joined 12 other horses who could not get to the finish line first in the Belmont Stakes. Greatness is not prophesied. It is earned here on the racetrack, and feel-good stories are not moved to the front […]
Acting as a trustee? Better go to acting classes… A recent consultation involving asset protection trust strategies redounded to a very basic observation applicable to nearly all trustees. As I said on the conference call to the new lay (non – professional) trustee “when you walk out of your legal adviser’s office, the half-life of […]
The SEC commissioners conducted a brief 55 minute hearing on April 28, 2004 that set the stage for the global financial crisis (GFC) which began to unfold in early 2007 and reached full boil in September 2008. As far as I’m aware, only five companies applied for SEC permission to become CSE’s (Consolidated Supervised Entities). […]
Look up in the sky, is it a bird or a plane, no it’s PE, no not the price earnings ratio, not phys ed, or public engineer nor proper elimination and hardly public enemy, it’s PE as in private equity. In the unending quest for diversification, enhanced yield, more income and risk reduction many investors including the […]
United States Constitution Congress Flag of the United States Federal Reserve Board SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) PCAOB (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board) SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corp.) NASSAA (North American State Securities Administrators Association) NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Association, formerly the NASD) MSRB (Municipal […]
Ever since medical marijuana and recently recreational pot became legal in two states, marijuana stocks are popping up to serve new customers, create sales and profits. It’s estimated over 94 million people in the US have tried pot at least once including Presidents Obama and Clinton. This post goes from farm to fiduciary. The Seattle […]
Why your brokerage firm, stockbroker and financial planners don’t have sales or do they? The likes of Amazon, Home Shopping Network and Groupon forced sales into every single nook and cranny of American living rooms and businesses (and when after purchasing, Americans ran out of closet, garage and storage space, hustled over to the aptly […]
50th Anniversary of US Surgeon General Smoking warning, today Fiduciary Expert raises red flag on FINANCIAL CANCER 50 years ago, in 1964 the US Surgeon General, Luther Terry announced smoking caused cancer. The tobacco industry decided to hide the truth and confuse the facts for decades. Since then 19 million have died, 8 million have […]
Sly and the Family Stone came out with “Let me take you higher” in 1969, it seems a sales trader at a large Wall St firm has taken those boom lacka lacka, boom lacka lacka lyrics to heart. It’s true, it happened, as to whether or not it’s legal, that’s why the SEC is going after […]
Trustees have a fiduciary duty and must know(1) the fees, commissions and expenses charged to assets in trust or fiduciary accounts. The new third party compliance FACE Audit™ helps trustees meet their fiduciary duty. The FACE Audit™ is appropriate for trustees who don’t have time or sufficient skills to gather, understand, calculate and evaluate the […]