Enjoy the current installment of “Weekend Reading For Financial Planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the news that just weeks after introducing its own self-clearing platform, RIA custodian Altruist announced this week that it is acquiring fellow custodial platform Shareholder Services Group (SSG), a move that will make the combined RIA custodial platform the third-largest in terms of RIAs served. This is significant, as most ‘upstart’ RIA custodians have struggled to gain material traction in a hyper-competitive RIA custodial landscape, but Altruist appears to be winning small-to-mid-sized firms in particular by cutting down on their outside technology costs with its unique ‘all-in-one’ that has the core portfolio management and performance reporting components built in directly to the platform.
Also in industry news this week:
- How the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank could impact Federal Reserve policy and market performance going forward
- Why advisors could soon be an important access point for consumers looking to add private investments to their portfolio
From there, we have several articles on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB):
- A play-by-play of how SVB went from a rapidly growing regional bank to a failed one in mere months
- How banking practices could change for consumers in the wake of the SVB collapse
- How government officials have attempted to balance the stability of the banking system while avoiding ‘moral hazard’
We also have a number of articles on cash flow and spending:
- How advisors can help clients create a cash management plan that keeps their bank deposits within FDIC limits and earns them a relatively strong return
- Why being ‘rich’ goes well beyond where one stands in the national income distribution
- A new study suggests that while happiness increases with income on the whole, unhappy people are less likely to see happiness gains once they reach higher income levels
We wrap up with 3 final articles, all about living a healthy lifestyle:
- Recent research upends previous assumptions about how one’s metabolism changes over time
- Why walking can bring many of the health benefits of more strenuous exercise routines
- How short bursts of exercise throughout the day can lead to significant health benefits
Enjoy the ‘light’ reading!
