1. The Real Cost of Waiting on AI: Why Leadership’s Caution Is Breaking Advisors, Teams, and Client Trust
I know. I've been beating this drum. AI is moving fast. Firms need to act. The window is closing. You've heard me say it. You've heard a lot of people say it. I'm going to keep saying it — but today I want to talk about something different. Not what's happening. You get that. The question I keep running into is why so many firms can't respond — and more importantly, who pays the price when they don't. That second part matters. Because it's the part that keeps getting ignored. — Jud Mackrill
2. Friends Know if They Will Do Business Long Before You Ask
Everyone who has ever proposed marriage has been good at sales at least once in their life. You might have gotten down on one knee and proposed. When you look back on that moment, the person on the receiving end had an immediate answer. You see this on TV all the time. They had their answer ready before you popped the question. — Bryce Sanders
3. Is It Time To Review Your Client’s Asset Allocation?
In a world where markets move faster, headlines hit harder, and investor sentiment whipsaws between fear and euphoria, the simple act of portfolio rebalancing may seem almost pedestrian. Yet, beneath its simplicity lies one of the most powerful risk management practices available to long‑term investors. Rebalancing is the disciplined counterweight to market noise, that silently accumulates over time. — Orion
4. War Headlines Drive Volatility — History Suggests a Different Market Outcome
The question for investors is how the Iranian conflict will affect the stock market. The markets’ initial reaction on Sunday was concern as the S&P 500 fell by over 1%, crude oil rose nearly 10%, and precious metals rallied. Within 12 hours, many of the substantial gains or losses, except oil, were reversed. However, stocks, after closing positively on Monday, opened sharply lower on Tuesday. Such volatility should be expected, especially at the onset of this conflict. We must accept this temporary regime, stay alert to our technical indicators, but not forget longer-term fundamentals. To wit, ask yourself how this Middle East conflict will impact earnings for the stocks I own. The likely answer, assuming the war doesn’t escalate significantly, is not much. — Lance Roberts
5. The Rise of Female Wealth: What Advisors Must Understand Now
Advisors that even casually follow demographic data and trends should not need further convincing about women’s rising economic might. It’s well-documented and a frequent point of discussion in wealth management circles. As it should be. Baby boomer and Gen X women are benefiting in significant fashion from the Great Wealth Transfer and plenty are driving growth in the population of high-net-worth clients. The same is true of millennial women. — Todd Shriber
6. Protected Income for a Lifetime of Possibilities
Retirees with protected lifetime income spend nearly 2X more than those relying solely on savings — Lincoln Financial
7. Networking Is Back—and It Matters More Than Ever
Earlier this month, we released the 2026 High Growth Study Executive Summary. We’ve already previewed some insights from the study that show AI’s growing influence on the marketplace. In this issue, however, I want to explore a different trend that we noticed as we dig into the data. — Elizabeth Harr
8. Building an Advisory Firm That Scales, Sells, and Sustains
There’s a quiet truth inside most high-performing advisory teams: Repeatable systems are key to success. You can have talented advisors, hardworking staff, and strong markets, and still operate a firm that depends on memory, heroics, and the founder’s constant attention and input. Without such systems, you face several risks: client trust, client loss, top staff leaving, stagnant growth, and ultimately, practice value. — Jeff Thorsteinson
9. Next-Gen Wealth Is Moving Fast—Is Your Firm Designed To Keep It?
You have done the work. You hired the agency. Refreshed the website. Built out the content calendar. Showed up at the events. Sent the newsletters. Maybe you even invested in a rebrand. You did what you were supposed to do; you did what everyone told you would move the needle. And the needle has not moved. Not the way it should. So you tweak the campaign. Try a new platform. Hire a different vendor. Add more touchpoints. And still, the growth that felt inevitable a few years ago now feels like something you are chasing instead of leading. — Lisa Hinz
10. Charitable Giving Strategy in a New Tax Era with Fred Kaynor
Fred Kaynor, Managing Director at DAFgiving360™, outlines how donor-advised funds continue to play a central role in charitable planning as new tax rules take effect in 2026. He explains how DAFs allow donors to contribute cash or appreciated assets, receive an immediate deduction, and invest funds for potential tax-free growth before granting over time. Strategies like bunching and donating non-cash assets remain key tools for maximizing impact while managing tax exposure. — DAFgiving360
11. Beyond CPAs: High-Value Centers of Influence That Refer 10X More Clients
Most financial advisors waste years chasing CPAs and attorneys with zero results. After 32 years coaching over 75,000 sessions with financial advisors, I'm sharing the real COI strategy that actually works. — Joseph Lukacs