BCG Blog

An essential part of investment planning has always included drafting a strategy to account for a client’s level of risk tolerance. Yet, assessing risk tolerance has always been balanced on two imprecise supports. Advisors may want to consider whether their clients who are considering drastic changes are reacting to a volatile market or if one of the imprecise supports of risk tolerance measurement has slipped.

The volatility in the market, and the whipsawing reactions to it, have ushered in an email maelstrom of offers of help. Why aren’t more clients responding? It could be that clients don’t know how to respond to offers to help that aren’t specific. In this practice pointer, we review how advisors can lighten their clients’ loads in seeking help by offering specifics.

Can advisors help their clients manage investing anxiety in today’s volatile market by reinforcing their duties as fiduciaries? We think so. Here’s an overview of how advisors can detail their commitment to protecting their clients’ bests interests.

Lately we’ve noted an uptick in the word recession. It isn’t the frequency of its use that concerns us, it’s the placement. Lately, the use of the word recession has been popping up more in the general media. While we know that talk of recession is a strong indicator of investor confidence concerns, it’s a complicated topic. Getting it right is important.

New research indicates a gap between how well retirees perceive that they are doing against how well they actually are financially. In the past survey responses of retirees showed high satisfaction even though objective measures told a different story. Plan sponsors may want to increase participant education programming to help with the gap areas identified in new research.

The Department of Labor (DOL’s) beleaguered fiduciary duty rule lingers on in federal court litigation, but there are signs that the dispute (as well as the Rule) may not be around for long.

There are several levels to the news on ESG. For plan sponsors not all of the forthcoming information is necessarily news to use. We suggest focusing on the news about lawsuits on fiduciary duties and ESG rules for plan sponsors.

Instead of taking changes at the DOL as single item issues, it might be more useful to see how all the changes interact. Often, legislators and regulators want changes to interact like a puzzle; each piece interlocking to form a larger picture. But sometimes when many policies are changed at the same time, conflicts emerge that can put those supposed to be following them into the proverbial spot between a rock and a hard place.

Many plan sponsors report lags in enrollment and retirement activity among plan participants. While some statistics show that new tricks and tips have impacted participation in retirement plans, enrollment may still lag. It is possible that the way employees think about retirement in general could be behind the lag in active retirement investing.

Many retirees are not well positioned for the health care challenges they may face in retirement because they did not take advantage of long-term care insurance. While many saving for retirement have begun optimizing savings through Health Savings Accounts, they may not understand how those accounts can be used for long-term care insurance premiums when they do retire.

Political turmoil may be rocking the markets and your firm’s office. How can advisors lead their teams during tough times? Five tips that work.

A Supreme Court ruling curtailing the EPA’s rulemaking for outcome-based regulation could change cybersecurity rules for financial advisors. Well, maybe. We discuss the details by reviewing the Court’s decision and the federal framework for financial institution cybersecurity safeguards.

There may be a new player in the fiduciary duty sandbox, and it involves ESG. Most often when discussing fiduciary duties, the topic at hand involves the research and appropriateness of decision making. Issues of loyalty and trust in investment advice are always worth following.

By this point in January, most people have stepped aside from the aspirational goals they set for the New Year. For many advisors, increasing their marketing efforts made it into their goals for 2025. It can be difficult to carry through on this goal. The key may be to find ways to maximize efficiency when it comes to marketing.

When it comes to alternative investments, do clients want new options or a new approach to the traditional ones? We review the performance of traditional alternative investments, such as private equity, real estate, and commodities and assess new trends.

With the success of auto-enrollment in retirement plans for new hires, some plan sponsors are looking to a new trend among benefits. Many have begun creating plans for re-enrolling employees who have dropped out of retirement plans during their tenures.

When it comes to financial wellness, plan participants and sponsors might not be seeing eye to eye. That divide may not be insurmountable; a little planning may smooth any tensions.

Employee education is often a topic plan sponsors or the employer delegates to vendors, such as a plan administrator. However, recent surveys indicate plan sponsors are opting for plan design changes. It is possible that linking employee education programs to these changes could facilitate those changes.

Can you, or can’t you? The state of the regulations on ESG for ERISA-related and public fund fiduciaries is anything but clear. Here’s a roundup of the current activity.

New alternative investments are always worth watching. They show changes in technology, how people feel about asset classes, or their level of insecurity about volatility in the stock market. A new move on micro-equity, or crowdsourced fundraising highlights all of those themes. This time with cake.

Looking for a way to lighten up your stress? The experts all suggest delegating more of your to do list. We know it’s easy. But one task you can delegate to others is building your prospect database.

Potentially risky microloans aren’t for all investors, but they may help some investors diversify their accounts and given the potential for consolidating (and getting out from under) credit card debt, they may also help a lot of middle class would-be borrowers.

Socially Responsible Investing, such as ESG Funds, continues to show strong performance. Here’s an update on how the SRI market has faired since our last post in 2017.

The intention behind ERISA was to ensure that those who manage retirement plans do so to benefit the plan participants and make good choices about investing. Those drafting the law defined certain individuals involved with retirement plans as fiduciaries to impose the duties of prudence and loyalty, specifically those regarding revealing conflicts of interest, on those involved in advising retirement funds.