Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (March 21–22)

Enjoy the current installment of “Weekend Reading For Financial Planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the news that a U.S. District Court has formally put an end to the Biden-era Retirement Security Rule (aka “Fiduciary Rule 2.0”) after the Trump administration’s Department of Labor elected not to defend the rule against lawsuits led by groups representing product distribution industry. The end of the Retirement Security Rule represents a win for these groups and echoes their previous win in 2018 when the Obama administration’s original fiduciary rule was struck down in court. Which raises the question of whether the DoL and fiduciary advocates might rethink their efforts to apply a uniform fiduciary standard to advisors and salespeople, and instead consider an alternative approach that focuses on separating advisors and salespeople by simply limiting the ability of salespeople to hold themselves out as advisors and ensuring that people who say they are advisors really are, so consumers are clear about the distinction between the two and can make their own decisions?

Also in industry news this week:

A report from fee-for-service payment processor AdvicePay finds that subscription charges remain dominant amongst advisors using its service, with average fees charged climbing over the past year
Client retention is advisory firms’ top marketing objective this year, according to a recent survey, as firms look to both hold on to current clients and encourage them to make more referrals

From there, we have several articles on retirement planning:

An analysis of a range of retirement income strategies identifies those that lead to the most consistent annual income throughout an individual’s retirement
How the way income is generated from a portfolio in retirement can be influenced by the composition of a retiree’s spending (and the other sources of income available to them)
How the timing of different income sources (e.g., Social Security benefits) can call for different approaches to evaluating risk and generating income during different stages of retirement

We also have a number of articles on investment planning:

An analysis of historical oil price trends and stock market returns indicates that higher oil prices don’t necessarily lead to weaker stock market returns going forward
A look at previous oil shocks suggests that the length and size of oil price shocks are key factors determining whether a subsequent stock market downturn might occur
How higher oil prices can flow through to the broader economy (and the factors that help determine whether elevated oil prices might tip the economy into recession)

We wrap up with three final articles, all about entrepreneurship:

New business applications were up 37% in January, suggesting that some workers are taking matters into their own hands amidst speculation about future AI-related job losses
How an influx of private equity capital is reshaping the skilled trades industry for business owners, employees, and consumers
Why avoiding the pitfalls of “entrepreneurial seizure” is important for employees who decide they want to start their own business (but might not recognize how running a business is different than working for one)

Enjoy the ‘light’ reading!