News

March 3, 2014, ThinkAdvisor.com - Most investment advisors focus exactly on that for their clients: providing and implementing investment advice. A focus on providing alpha beyond just buying index mutual funds or ETFs is fine, but advisors don’t control the markets. They also don’t control the Internal Revenue Service, but helping clients maximize their tax savings is one form of ‘alpha’ that you can provide your clients.

Feb 28, 2014, Financial Advisor Magazine -  “Liquid alternatives are absolutely a growth area,” agreed Bill Crager, president of Envestnet Asset Management. “Large hedge fund firms are talking about it.”

Feb. 25, 2014, by J. Gibson Watson III, CIMA, Envestnet, ThinkAdvisor.com - Much has been said about the science and the art of investing. There should be: it’s a complex business. In the end, though, both the science and art really serve a single objective: maximizing returns within the constraints of a client’s specific investment goals and risk tolerance.

Feb 21, 2014, The Atlantic - This Thursday the Conference Board, a global business association, released its monthly index of “leading economic indicators.” Like the unemployment and inflation, housing starts, G.D.P. changes and other figures, these numbers arrive in metronomic waves. Financial services like Bloomberg, Dow Jones and Reuters blast them out the moment they’re released. Stock markets will often respond within seconds. Commentators and policy makers attribute to them a near-cosmic significance.

Feb 20, 2014, ThinkAdvisor.com - In an interview Thursday, Envestnet Chairman Jud Bergman said the intent behind the portfolios was to “bring the promise of SMAs to fruition,” allowing advisors with high-net-worth clients to “get the benefits of our scaled SMA infrastructure which allows us to do these very cost effectively,” in SMA accounts of as little as $100,000. Then there are the added benefits of “using a proven tax and trade optimizer with the Tamarac software.”

1/29/14, ThinkAdvisor.com - According to Sanjiv Mirchandani of Fidelity’s National Financial, 2013 “was a good year for the retail brokerage business,” as the retail investor returned to the risk-based markets — as they normally do 18 months into a bull market, he said.

“As our clients’ results improved, so did ours,” said the clearing firm's president, even without “any short-term interest rate help.”

1/29/14, MarketWatch.com - This year, after years of silence on performance, many mutual funds are likely to start boasting about their fabulous five-year track records.

The reason is simple: 2008 is now six years ago. So not only do stock-fund managers have a great 2013 to talk about — they can also finally let their dismal 2008 go.

1/9/14, ThinkAdvisor.com - Will 2014 be a year of relative calm in the markets, or will volatility remain the byword? Where are the investing risks that advisors can count on in the year ahead, and where are the opportunities?

Three investing experts — Milton Ezrati of Lord Abbett, Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates and William Miller of Brinker Capital — answered these questions in a web seminar Wednesday moderated with aplomb by Zachary Karabell, who joined Envestnet in November as head of global strategy.