Last year I wrote about 17 thought leadership ideas for 2017. And with the another calendar year in the rearview mirror, I wanted to offer my thoughts on updated versions of last year’s topics, as well as some new ideas to get your financial content marketing engine going in 2018.
The good news is that, as with last year, 2018 should provide no shortage of opportunities for you to show your expertise and weigh in on topics that your clients are curious about.
That’s why, in a series of blog posts, I plan on writing about different white paper and other forms of thought leadership ideas for different segments of the investment management industry.
In my last blog post in this series, I covered six white paper ideas for institutional asset managers.
Here, I provide six more ideas, but for financial marketers or investment professionals in the private wealth management industry.
1. The Rise of Robo-Advisors and Individual Investors
As more and more wirehouses and RIAs add automated, algorithm-based portfolio management capabilities, financial advisors need to be prepared to talk about the value that a human advisor brings to the relationship.
Rather than sit back and wait for these questions to come in, proactively writing about the strengths and limitations of these automated platforms can be a powerful way to educate clients—and justify your fees.
2. Investing in Private Equity and Alternative Assets
As correlation among stocks and bonds have increased over the last several years, high-net-worth investors are increasingly looking for alpha from low-correlation asset classes and non-traditional investment opportunities. With the trend of many high-growth companies such as Uber and Airbnb staying private longer or eschewing IPOs altogether, public equity markets can no longer be seen as the default location for your wealthy clients’ assets.
Private wealth managers would be wise to explain to clients the mechanics, risks, and potential rewards of investing in private equity, hedge funds, and other alternative asset classes. These alts could be particularly valuable additions to your clients’ portfolios when we enter the next bear market.
3. Retirement Investment in a Rising-Rate Environment
Now that interest rates and inflation are increasing, investors—especially those who are in or nearing retirement—will have a lot of questions about what this means for their portfolios.
This is a great opportunity to provide historical context for today’s interest-rate environment and discuss the importance of revisiting asset allocation decisions each year. Remind them that the sub-3.0% rates for 10-year Treasuries seen over the last several years are extremely unusual when put in larger historical context.
4. Tax Reform’s Impact on Estate Planning
By increasing the exemption amount to $11.2 million per individual or $22.4 million per married couple, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act significantly reduces the number of American families who will pay tax on transferring wealth to younger generations.
This is a good opportunity, however, to remind your clients of several points: 1) they should review their estate plans in light of the new laws; 2) even if their estates are well below the exemption amount, it’s still important to have a holistic estate plan in place; and 3) estate tax exemption amounts and rates have constantly been in flux over the past decade, highlighting the need for clients to build some degree of flexibility into their plans.
5. Tax Reform’s Impact on Philanthropy
By doubling the standard deduction and limiting deductions for state and local taxes to $10,000 per tax return (not per individual), the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will significantly reduce the number of Americans who itemize their deductions. It remains to be seen how this will influence people’s charitable giving decisions, as donors give for a host a reasons beyond the tax benefits.
As an advisor, however, you should educate your clients about how the new higher standard deduction affects the net tax benefits of their charitable gifts.
6. Equity Returns’ Decoupling From Economic Growth
The start of 2018 brought a return of volatility to global markets, with early February bringing especially sharp drops to global indices. Meanwhile, forecasters see the U.S. economy gaining steam, with economists predicting GDP to rise 2.8% in 2018. They also predict solid numbers ahead on unemployment and wage growth.
This disconnect between stock market performance and economic expectations might seem puzzling to your clients, many of whom may view the stock market as a proxy for economic health. This is a good opportunity to remind them that economic growth is just one of many inputs that drive stock prices. Explain to clients that after several years of rising valuations, driven largely by easy-money policies, accelerating economic growth could lead to interest rates rising faster than expected, which in turn could cause a pullback in equity valuations.
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In my next blog post in this series, I’ll provide marketers in the investment banking, private equity, and venture capital industries with white paper ideas they can use to ignite their content engines in 2018.
Until then, download our free e-book that covers all 18 white paper ideas for financial marketers in 2018.
About the Author
Scott Wentworth is the founder and head financial writer at Wentworth Financial Communications. Scott and the team of writers and editors at WFC help professionals across the financial services industry build their brands by creating investment-grade white papers, bylined articles, newsletters, blogs, social media posts, and other forms of content marketing.