Visit the Tax Policy Center for analysis of stimulus package

The Tax Policy Center offers report cards and other resources to help you understand the economic stimulus bills.

Using your client’s house to explain the market

I like this example of plain talk cited in Eric Rasmussen’s “Who Ya Gonna Call?” in Financial Advisor Magazine (Dec. 2008). Michael Kresh of M.D. Kresh Financial Planning uses a down-to-earth image, as Rasmussen describes. To explain the market to clients, he asks them to imagine what would happen if they were forced to sell […]

Tips for streamlining your writing from the Word Wise blog

Shorter is almost always better when you write. Check out “One (Isn’t) the Loneliest Number,” a list of phrases that can be replaced with a single word, from Dan Santow’s Word Wise blog. It’ll teach you to use words like “now” instead of “at the present time” or “at this point in time.”

Would you "robo call" your financial planning clients?

I wouldn’t. I winced when I saw “robo calls” among the crisis communications tools recommended by a marketer who shall remain anonymous. This person suggested using robo calls to invite financial planning clients to a quickly organized meeting or conference call at a time of crisis. Robo calls. Those automated, pre-recorded phone messages that jam […]

"Making Sense of the Dollar"

The U.S. economy is in better shape than you think. It may even start coming back in the second half of 2009, and the dollar will end 2009 higher versus the euro and yen. At least, that’s the optimistic outlook Marc Chandler, Brown Bothers Harriman’s global head of currency, set forth in his keynote address […]