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Regulatory Education
Switching hats in a post-regulation best interest world
With the adoption of Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is imposing an enhanced standard of conduct on broker-dealers and their associated persons when making recommendations to retail customers.
Portfolio Construction Insights
Nationwide: Valuing annuity benefits for required minimum distribution and Roth conversions purposes
When deferred annuities are owned by qualified accounts these guarantees must be taken into account when calculating required
minimum distributions (RMD) and the taxable amount of a Roth IRA conversion.
Portfolio Construction Insights
Nationwide: The position of life insurance in financial diversification
The importance of a diversified portfolio
Policy and Regulatory Commentary
Economic Indicators Suggest President Trump's Reelection
This piece is approved to use with clients.
In testimony on Capitol Hill this week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell repeatedly praised the strength of the U.S. economy across multiple indicators. He pointed to an historically-low unemployment rate, rising wages, and continual, moderate overall growth. Powell has a notably turbulent relationship with President Donald Trump, but his assessment should have been music to the ears of top White House and Trump campaign officials (even if the president could not help live-Tweeting his criticism of Powell’s testimony). The economy, after all, is historically perhaps the most reliable presidential election indicator.
Policy and Regulatory Commentary
The End of the Caucus?
So that didn’t go as planned. While politicos inside the Beltway and across the country were expecting to get our first real results in the Democratic presidential primary last night, problems with tallying the vote in Iowa have caused a significant delay in reporting the results. In a story posted yesterday, The Associated Press reported Iowa Democratic Party officials had promised that “an early issue with a mobile app designed to report results” would “not hinder the Iowa caucus process.”
Policy and Regulatory Commentary
Do Endorsements Matter? No … and Yes
Last year, we looked at how accurate polls going into the Iowa Caucus have been at predicting the eventual outcome of that state’s first-in-the-nation election. The conclusion, way back then, was that surveys conducted a few months out from voting have not historically been very good at telling us who was going to win.
Policy and Regulatory Commentary
The Next Trade War Will Be Digital
At a celebration of the three-centuries’ long relationship between the United States and France last spring in Baltimore, Maryland Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford (R) proclaimed, “The history of Maryland is intertwined with France.” While the lieutenant governor was most likely referring to French immigration to Maryland beginning in the mid-1700s that has created a vibrant “French Town” in Baltimore, the nation and the state seem to still have a lot in common: to the chagrin of other governments, both are pursuing a digital services tax (DST).