5 minute read Branding: it surrounds us. Even before you have taken your first client meeting of the day, you have personally interacted with a dozen or more brands. Perhaps Amazon Alexa woke you this morning. While reading The Wall Street Journal on your Apple iPad, you drank a coffee made in your Nespresso. Getting …
The managed money process involves assessing a client’s risk capabilities and determining the investment asset mix. As consultants, we are responsible for both, but our involvement is limited to the latter. Although you, the consultant, conduct the risk profile analysis, the client is the one who ultimately determines their risk profile. Client Profiling Necessitates Change …
Return on Investment (or ROI) is traditionally the primary focus of investors. Returns are measured against past performance and future expectations. In Bull markets and thriving economies, clients are easy to please. During market downturns clients quickly become disenchanted with their ROI and, subsequently, their relationship with their primary advisor. In the typical Retail Practice, …
6 minute read The industry for Financial Professionals is information-driven. We must, by regulatory and industry requirements, commit to a continuous learning process. Even in those areas where we consider ourselves experts, we must continue to avail ourselves of the information that keeps us at the cutting edge of our industry. We must pledge to …
The Importance Of Continuing Professional Education Read More »
4 minute read One of the greatest stumbling blocks to happiness you’ll encounter in your professional practice is dealing with a customer who does not appreciate you, who does not use you to the fullest extent, or who does not trust you. Working with this person can turn your joy into drudgery; this is not …
Worldview By Relative Strength is a unique analytical tool for relative strength analysis. Investors can use Worldview to analyze the relative strength trends of several securities against a standard benchmark. Picking the best individual stocks in an asset class is very important, but investing in the right asset classes at the right time can have …
World Class Tools Make Fundamental Analysis Easy Read More »
5 minute read The greatest skill set we as humans have, whether you are a trader or an entrepreneur, or you’re a manager running a business for somebody else, is your ability to adapt to change and uncertainty. Look at the restaurant industry. Certain businesses adapted very quickly and benefited. Some restaurants were brilliant and …
2 minute read December is an excellent time for reflection and review. Between Christmas and New Year’s, the last week of the year has always been when I set time aside each year to think about life: what’s happened in the past, where I want to go in the future: to give it an extensive …
Future Proof Your Practice With A System For Achieving Goals Read More »
4 minute read Building trust and winning prospects’ confidence doesn’t begin with building rapport—despite years of expert testimony to the contrary. To kick off solid relationships with prospective customers, you’ll need to focus on one thing: positioning yourself as an expert. Picture this: a prospect leaves thinking precisely the same way he did when he …
Building Trust with Prospects: A 3-Step Strategy Read More »
5 minute read As many Investment Advisors and Professionals know, we are in an industry where lifestyle is abundant. Many of us can, and do, drive the nicest cars, wear the finest clothes, and live in the best neighborhoods. These are the results of succeeding in an industry that demands the most and rewards the …
6 minute read The Professional understands that communication with clients is of vital importance, not only in terms of the content delivered but also in how a Professional shares information. As a Professional Practice, my team and I focus on 24/7 service. We have made ourselves highly accessible to our coaching clients, Mastermind participants, and …
Investment Policy, Investment Strategy and the Professional Practice Read More »
4 minute read The world as we know it has changed, but some things remain constant: with all that has gone on in the last two years, clients are looking for a deeper, lasting relationship with a professional advisor. Today’s client seeks a professional advisor who understands the importance of client relationships and is invested …
Client Relationships: A Professional’s Most Important Asset Read More »
5 minute read Your Professional Practice is meant to grow. Whether you’re currently a rookie, sitting in the bullpen with a dozen other rookies, or an advisor with one assistant, or even a small team, you have the potential to reach the next stage of Professional Practice. A small team of two can turn into …
Creating An Operations Manual For Your Professional Practice Read More »
6 minute read Every business goes through five stages of change to achieve what we call The Professional Practice. What is The Professional Practice? A Professional Practice is a business that creates results in both your personal and your professional lives that are significantly beyond the effort and energy that go into it; a business …
3 minute read Questions to Ask When Faced With Fear of the Markets Fear of the markets is a rising concern among many financial professionals. With the volatility of recent weeks and memories of periods like the ’87 crash and the continued stresses and effects of the pandemic, fear can quickly start to creep in. …
Fear of the Markets: Questions to Ask To Anticipate With Optimism Read More »
3 minute read Support and resistance are key concepts that help professionals identify and understand price levels on charts that act as barriers, preventing the price of an asset from getting pushed in a certain direction. Identifying support and resistance levels is one of the most fundamental skills involved in technical analysis. Once I learned …
Support & Resistance: The Battlefield of the Market Read More »
3 minute read The financial industry, and especially trading as a profession, is built on the premise of making decisions without knowing the outcome of those decisions. We do our best to be right more often than wrong because losses are permanent. That’s why professionals focus on honing their trading brains and work daily to …
3 Trading Psychology Traps That Professionals Need To Avoid Read More »
4 minute read It can be hard to stay focused and get things done. With more computers, apps, and gadgets designed to make our professional lives easier, we need concrete strategies to help us make the most of the time we have each day. After all, if you do not control your schedule, it will …
Master Your Time: Time Blocking For Increased Productivity Read More »
4 minute read One of the biggest challenges many advisors face is building a high-performing team to service the needs of clients. Why? In a word: people. People not doing the right thing at the right time. People not following through. The list goes on. If you want to join the ranks of millionaires or …
3 minute read Are you still in the habit of learning new things? Many financial advisors wonder what they can do to become well-rounded and competitive while increasing their rate of success. A simple way to improve is to increase your knowledge. Dedicating yourself to being a lifetime learner is the greatest gift you can …
The Best Books for Professionals, Advisors & Practice Managers Read More »
3 minute read. The world woke up to the news that Donald Trump tested positive for Coronavirus. U.S stocks fell sharply. At 9:37 am ET, October 2, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.99 percent, the S&P 500 was down 1.25 percent and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.68 percent. Those in the Mastermind …
What Do The Markets Think of the 2020 Presidential Election? Is It All FAKE NEWS? Read More »
The past several weeks have been a buzz of activity as my team and I finalized the materials for Trade Like A Pro. The course officially started on Monday, and the feedback so far has been positive. My intention in developing and refining Trade Like A Pro over the past ten years is to be …
U.S. Election, Pandemic, High Valuations, Seasonal Weakness – What can go Wrong! What can go Right? Learn repeatable investment management strategies and processes that will help protect client assets and grow your business—while earning 20 IIROC Professional Development CE credits. My Trade Like A Pro course is endorsed by CSI. Conducted over five weeks (from …
Is Trade Like A Pro (TLAP) worth your time and investment? Rather than me try and convince you, let me let the previous attendees of the TLAP course speak for themselves: “More value added in 16 hours than the 27 years in the business.” “Excellent opportunity to learn more about what is really happening in …
“More Value Added in 16 Hours Than 27 Years In Business” Read More »
I am often asked, “Is the Trade Like a Pro course is appropriate for me?” Some who ask are new solo practitioners and others have large experienced teams. Some are licensed to manage only mutual funds and others can buy any security. Some are planners and some are advisors. Some are brokers and some are …
Why trade like a pro? Isn’t what we know already enough? I am often asked this question by advisors with twenty or thirty years of experience. My response is always the same. “What you know got you where you are, but it will not get you where you want to be.” Too many things have …
There’s never been a better time to start to Trade Like a Pro. I’m so excited to be opening up the doors to my signature course, “Trade Like A Pro – ver.10,” today! Click “Learn More” for more information! TRADE LIKE A PRO COURSE OUTLINE Module 0 – Pre-Course Prep Module 1 – Welcome and …
2 minute read With so many things stealing our time and attention, we must prioritize the few hours we have for anything extra. Some may focus on the pursuit of pleasure, others on the avoidance of pain. I recommend we focus our attention on both. In the next few paragraphs I would like to show …
4 minute read Part 9 of 16 excerpted from lesson 12.1 of the upcoming Trade Like a Pro ver. 10 course. Professionals focus on managing risk, and superior performance is the result. The retail investor focuses on performance, and increased risk is the result. Let us examine the difference between Professional and Retail risk management. …
Trade Like a Pro – Part 9: The Six Keys to Risk Management Read More »
3 minute read Part 8 excerpted from lesson 10.2 of the upcoming Trade Like a Pro ver. 10 course. Professionals know that profits can disappear for many reasons, and they therefore take profits early. Unlike the buy and hope investing, Professionals want to capture only the profitable side of standard deviation. They take profits early …
Trade Like A Pro – Part 8: Importance of Targets Read More »
3 minute read. Part 7 excerpted from lesson 10.3 of the upcoming Trade Like a Pro ver.10 course. I still remember the day I learned about the importance of binary questions. I sat in the training session with eleven other traders who made the cut to manage a large futures account for a Prince of …
2 minute read. Part 6 excerpted from lesson 7.10 of the upcoming Trade Like a Pro ver.10 course. Professionals reduce Technical Analysis to four basic questions. They ask the questions every day to better understand the context of the market. The Professional asks these four important questions of every bar on the chart. Endowments trade …
Trade Like a Pro – Part 6: The Four Most Important Questions Read More »
3 minute read Part 5 excerpted from lesson 6.3 of the upcoming Trade Like a Pro ver.10 course. Professionals know that before they can improve their trading they must improve their selection. Fundamental Analysis is the tool used to determine intrinsic value. Fundamental Analysis reveals in which market, industry, or security to invest. Without this …
Trade Like a Pro – Part 5: The Role of Fundamentals Read More »
Do we buy, sell, or hold? That is the question at the heart of every conversation about the market. Professionals know that “anything can happen.” But, what if the market goes up, down, or sideways? Our confidence determines our action, but what creates our confidence? We may trust the historical growth of the markets, or future innovation. The former looks backward and the later forward. Yet, we must make a decision today. Some buy, hoping the growth of the past will continue. Others hesitate and by waiting miss the opportunity as the market pushes higher. Professionals use hypotheticals to understand what to do if the situation were different.
I like to think I am in control of my life and that the things I desire I can have by working hard. A positive attitude and focused effort often lead to an outcome that is pleasing. Yet there are many things I want to be different and all my desire and effort at times seem to have little or no impact.
Why do good decisions often have bad outcomes? This is especially relevant to trading, where we are constantly making decisions with our own or other people’s money. We do all the necessary analysis, make the right decision, and still can have a negative outcome. The short answer: Because the decision process is not directly related to the outcome. A third factor must be considered — probability. Decision making involves choice and probability together to reach an outcome.
I joined the Financial Industry in 1984, the year memorialized in George Orwell’s dystopian novel. I was young and worked with those who survived the deregulation and inflation of the ’70s. Many of the older brokers struggled with the changes going on around them. Technology changed how we related to the market. Solicitation changed how we related to clients. Many of the older brokers retired early in response. Today we face similar disruptions and again some will survive and some will not. The ability to adapt to change is part of our DNA. Humans are the most adaptable species on the planet. Recent changes in the markets will demand adaptation. We must know what has changed, be willing to adapt, and take decisive action to survive and thrive.
This time will embed itself in the memory of our families for the rest of their lives. Make it memorable in a good way. Many are working from home for the first time. Routines have changed. Distractions have increased. Finding that quiet moment may be difficult. But we can transform this time into different vivid remembrance if we desire.
After a decade of growth, investors and advisors returned to the belief that buy and hold was a prudent investment strategy. All boats float in a rising tide. And many believed their success was due to their own efforts. But Professional traders disagree.
Be the lighthouse in the midst of the darkness. You must become the architect of your client’s future. Only then will you future-proof your practice and avoid the risk of being blindsided. You do not control the loss, you control the avoidance of loss. Do not talk about what you don’t control, learn to talk about what you do control.
Too many companies are relying on their past success and have failed to innovate. Entire new industries will rise. They will disrupt the previous leaders.
The news shouts the happenings of Wall Street. You can not turn on the TV or browse online without breaking news about the global markets. This post will not be a depressing restatement of the news. I want to clarify what is most important and not stated as loudly. Main Street is more important than Wall Street.
Canadian Securities Institute hosted an Exclusive Town Hall Webinar on April 7th, for Financial Advisors titled: HOW ARE YOUR CLIENTS DOING? HOW ARE YOU DOING? Barry LaValley and Dr. Gillian Leithman, and myself shared thoughts on three vital skills. Hundreds of advisors attended the meeting. Below is a description of the content and a link to the video.
This is the first of a series of stories about Trading Lessons where we will share secrets of Trading Psychology and Rule-based Methodology. Subscribe to receive early updates. I was reminded today of the importance of dear friends. I have struggled with self-sabotage my entire life, often feeling unworthy of the success that has come …
Trading Lessons I Learned from Dear Friends — Part One Read More »
This was a talk given on 7 April 2020 to financial advisors hosted by CSI.ca I remember October 19th, 1987, like it was yesterday. My chest tightened as I watched the stock market fall in the largest percentage drop in a single day — over twenty-two percent, almost twice the second worst day in history, …
Often we try to keep our most active projects and tasks “top of mind.” Though the brain is a poor storage device, and makes makes retaining an overload of information difficult. You would never buy a computer that lost as much data as our brain does every year. Memory is not the brain’s primary or best function. Processing, pattern recognition, and decision making are its greatest strengths. Our brains are more like the CPU in our computers, rather than the hard drive. For this reason the old adage is still true.
“I have used the five questions several times and realized that it has changed the conversation (for the better). In many cases, after asking the questions it has changed my approach in the conversation – which has focused it more on the needs of the client. I am also having a better conversation with certain clients that have been more difficult in the past.”
One of the most effective forms of communication, has for many become a frustrating distraction. Their inboxes are filled with hundreds or thousands of earlier emails.
Most would agree a good habit gives individuals, teams, and organizations the power to create successful results. But what happens when the habit becomes “the way we have always done things”?
After thirty years of training and coaching, I have learned that two skills stand out as the most important to the success of any individual or team. Not knowing these skills can not be held against someone, because we are not taught the skills in school. Only a few ever discover their importance, master them, and rise to the elite ranks productivity and performance.
