Fidelity Adds Tools to Improve Wealthscape Advisor Platform.

Late last week Fidelity Institutional announced the addition of various tools to improve its advisor platform, Wealthscape.  Digital service tools to make navigation more efficient, including virtual assistant and search, Smart Walkthroughs to facilitate task guides and best practices.  You can read more about Fidelity’s new Wealthscape tools at WealthManagement.com.  ETF Model Solutions’ Endowment Target Risk models (Conservative/Moderate/Aggressive) are available through Fidelity’s Separate Accounts Network.

Preserving Your Mental Health

The challenges we all face today are unique and significant. The Coronavirus has unleashed uncertainty, economic pain and shelter-in-place for much of the population. Any one of those alone can impact our mental health; the combination of all three can wreak havoc on us. It is completely normal to experience feelings of loneliness, fear and anxiety during these unprecedented times. We may not be able to control the initial...

CalPERs Size Restricts its Alternative Asset Exposure

CalPERs $402 billion pension fund (as of 2/7/20) relies more heavily on traditional equity and fixed income than many of its U.S. pension plan peers.  Less than 20% of CalPERS portfolio is held in alternative investments.  This is not necessarily by choice, as CalPERs staff has indicated that the fund’s extreme size makes it difficult for them to invest at scale in private asset classes such as private equity...

Five Top Tech Stocks Now Comprise 18% of S&P 500

From the “know what you own” department, the top 5 stocks in the S&P 500 now make up 18% of the index, according to a recent report from Goldman Sachs.  Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) make up the highest concentration at the top of the index since 2000, when Cisco (CSCO), General Electric (GE), Intel (INTC) and ExxonMobil (XON) comprised 18% of the...

Invesco Closing 42 ETFs

Invesco recently announced that they will be closing 42 ETFs, representing $1.3 billion in assets.  The closures are scheduled to occur in February of 2020.Over the past few years, Invesco has aquired a number of ETF issuers, and as a result, some redundancy has been built into their lineup. You can see the full list of ETFs that are closing, as well as the mutual fund changes on Invesco’s...

Nasdaq Publishes Proposal for “Intelligent Ticks”

Nasdaq is leading a coalition of market participants recommending to the SEC the adoption of a market-based approach where not tick would be wider than a tick’s average quoted spread.  The goal is to reduce costs for investors through tighter and  and more stable spreads.    As trading characteristics change over time, market forces would determine in which one of six “Intelligent Tick” buckets and equity would trade ($0.005,...

Exchange-Traded Notes (ETNs): Know What You Own

Clients should always understand what their adviser has placed into their portfolios, why the investments are being used, and what are the particular risks.  A recent Bloomberg report highlighted that Ken Fisher Investments has made a significant bet on Exchange-Traded Notes (ETNs) accounting for approximately $6.2 billion of the $22 billion of issued ETNs, and about 5% of the total assets that he manages for clients. Its important to...

It’s capital gains distribution season -check your ETFs (and mutual funds)

Mutual funds and even some ETFs typically distribute taxable capital gains to shareholders in December of each year.  ETFs are commonly more tax efficient and thus less likely than mutual funds to have an annual capital gains payout.  However, there are some ETFs that may have capital gains distributions, and you should confirm the distribution status annually to avoid an unexpected tax liability. Some fund groups are better than...

Custodians Move to $0 Commissions Impacts Advisory Firms

Over the past month, large custodians including Schwab, Fidelity and others have eliminated commissions for both retail clients and RIA custody clients.  For some RIAs, especially those that offer services via wrap fees that previously were absorbing these costs, these RIAs need to evaluate whether or not their Form ADV disclosures need to be updated. Since trading costs no longer need to be considered in factoring in investment allocations,...

Model Expense Disclosure

The Model Weighted Average Net Expense Ratio applies only to the portion of the model that is comprised of mutual funds and/or ETFs. It reflects expense waivers or reimbursements from the fund companies, which may not be permanent. The data used to calculate the Model Weighted Average Net Expense Ratio is obtained from a third-party data provider and is believed to be accurate, but has not been verified by...