|
|
Financial News
9.3.2010
Market Update Podcast
Listen in for the latest financial market news!
Click to read more
9.1.2010
A Wise Year for Giving?
While much attention has been given to the fact that there is no estate tax this year, there is another way to help your heirs this year.
Click to read more
8.11.2010
Selecting and Sizing Alternative Investments
This recent article, written by Greg Crawford, details how alternative investments can improve the diversification and performance characteristics in portfolios.
Click to read more
7.29.2010
ETFs for the Wealthy
Exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), once used as simple building blocks of “beta” exposure in small accounts, have become more sophisticated and can be effective tools used in a number of high-net worth portfolios.
Click to read more
7.14.2010
Why the brokerage makes money and you don’t
This recent article in the New York Times highlights the multiple ways in which a brokerage house does not serve your best interest. Unlike what the article suggests, you don’t have to “learn to live with it.”
Click to read more
5.26.2010
When 100% “Protected” Equals Zero
This recent article from the NY Times highlights a consistent problem we see – high commission products being shoehorned into portfolios.
Click to read more
4.19.2010
The Game is Rigged
Many people have been inquiring about the Goldman Sachs situation in our offices. While conflicts of interest plague brokerage houses (not our firm), the allegations in this case are particularly disturbing.
Click to read more
3.6.2010
We don’t face tough ethical “choices,” we are simply ethical
Unfortunately, we see the impact that commissions and corporate compensation structures can have on thoughtful portfolio designs – it isn’t pretty.
Click to read more
2.1.2010
A Plan for Pro Athletes
Unfortunately there are a lot of examples of those who come into sudden wealth at a young age who ultimately lose their financial footing and declare bankruptcy. This does not have to happen.
Click to read more
1.13.2010
A Decade of Violated Trust
Every industry and business faces challenges; however the recent developments in our industry have challenged the very core of finance.
Click to read more
1.7.2010
Brokers Flee Big Firms
Independent financial advisors, like Sierra Nevada Wealth Management, are gaining ground from Wall Street brokers in the competition to manage more than $5 trillion in Americans' savings.
Click to read more
The Game is Rigged
Posted: 4/19/2010
Many people have been inquiring about the Goldman Sachs situation in our offices. While conflicts of interest plague brokerage houses (not our firm), the allegations in this case are particularly disturbing.
In fact, in the lawsuit the SEC alleges that investment vehicles in question were secretly designed on the front-end, in conjunction with a hedge fund manager, to fail. These vehicles were then pitched as viable investment opportunities to other clients.
While some seem shocked that yet another Wall Street firm is now mired in accusations that it did not disclose serious conflicts of interest, it is just another name in the long list of firms which feed their profits first, and their customer last. In fact, if you work with one of the major brokerage houses, you likely signed a document that read something to the effect of the following:
"... understand that we do not have a fiduciary or advisory relationship with you and our obligations to disclose information regarding our business, conflicts between our interest and yours and other matters are more limited than if we had a fiduciary or advisory relation with you." Additionally, the firm notes that "we are paid by you and, sometimes, by people who compensate us based on what you buy."
Conflicts of interest of this nature simply do not work when firms use their informational advantage against their own customers. We advise that you always invest with a fiduciary, be it Sierra Nevada Wealth Management or otherwise similar firm.