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    In The News

    The impact of tax reform on "Consider This" with Cathy Wyatt and Joe Elsasser

    On February 9, Joe Elsasser, CFP® and President of Covisum appeared on "Consider This" on NET to discuss the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Watch the full interview here:
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    In The News

    ThinkAdvisor asks the advisor and the quant: What are ‘fat tails’ and why do they matter?

    Joe Elsasser, CFP® and Ron Piccinini, PhD were recently featured in a ThinkAdvisor article, "The Advisor and the Quant: What are 'fat tails' and why do they matter?" We asked both Joe and Ron to answer this question: What are 'fat tails' and why do they matter? In an ongoing series exclusive to ThinkAdvisor, Joe and Ron will continue to provide readers with two distinct perspectives on the same topic – one from an academic, the other from a practicing financial advisor.
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    In The News

    Setting proper downside risk expectations during market volatility 

    This just in from FinancialPlanning: The Dow finished the day down by 1,032.95 points, or 4.15% at 23,849.23 — down 2,767 points, or 10.4%. A drop of 10% from its high of 26,616 on Jan. 26 is considered a correction. The S&P 500 tumbled 2.96%, erasing its gains for the year. Ten-year Treasury yields flirted with four-year highs. And on Wednesday, Suleman Din wrote an article for FinancialPlanning titled, "Can another digital demand crush be avoided?" Some of the industry's most well-known digital advisors were so inundated by visitor traffic that their websites became inaccessible. Covisum's president, Joe Elsasser, CFP®, commented on the situation for the article:
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    In The News

    A Flaw with Bucket Strategies and Retirement Planning

    The bucket strategy is designed to break a retiree’s assets into "buckets" based upon when those buckets are expected to be used to provide retirement income. The buckets nearest today are invested conservatively so that market fluctuations will have little impact on the retiree’s ability to draw a predictable amount from them. The investments in later buckets are invested more aggressively, with the expectation that a higher risk level should provide a higher return over time. In some bucket models, buckets are "refilled" by selling from later buckets during good times in the markets. In other bucket models, the client's asset allocation is allowed to become steadily more aggressive as the client ages. The first option works better for a constrained investor who has just enough retirement savings to meet their needs. The latter works better for someone who is well-funded, with more than enough assets to weather significant dips in the markets.
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    Free Download

    InvestmentNews: New tax law offers opportunities for advisers and retirees

    After the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed and Covisum updated Tax Clarity to reflect the changes, we've seen a huge influx of interest in the software. We've updated all of our advisor-facing marketing materials that come with a paid subscription, including our white paper, "The Elephant and the Snowball: How Advisors Can, and Should, Talk Taxes with Clients." Recently, Mary Beth Franklin with Investment News covered the content in the article, "New tax law offers opportunities for advisers and retirees." Here's one of our favorite quotes from the article:
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    In The News

    On-Demand Webinar, "Tax Law 2018: What Advisors Need to Know"

    Do you have clients who don’t understand the relationship between ordinary and capital incomes? If you do, they could be on their way to potentially significant tax inefficiency in their retirement strategy. Recently, President of Covisum Joe Elsasser, CFP® and Dave Cechanowicz, JD, MSFS, AIF® AEP and Senior Financial Planner with REDW Stanley hosted a webinar discussing how to capitalize on opportunities from the change in the tax law. The webinar was written about in "ThinkAdvisor" and "PLANADVISOR," and is now available for on-demand viewing. Watch the webinar when and where it's convenient for you.
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    In The News

    PLANADVISOR: Advisers Beware and Be Cautious When Talking Taxes in 2018

    On Tuesday, President of Covisum Joe Elsasser, CFP® and Dave Cechanowicz, JD, MSFS, AIF® AEP and Senior Financial Planner with REDW Stanley presented a webinar, "Tax Law 2018: What Advisors Need to Know," to hundreds of advisors across the nation. PLANADVISOR's John Manganaro attended and wrote this piece summarizing the presentation: Advisors Beware and Be Cautious When Talking Taxes in 2018.
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    In The News

    ThinkAdvisor features The Advisor and the Quant 

    How should advisors prep for a crash? Joe Elsasser, CFP® and Ron Piccinini, PhD were recently featured in a ThinkAdvisor article, "The Advisor and the Quant: How Should Advisors Prep for a Crash?"
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    Free Download

    6 Financial Planning Seminar Topics that Will Attract Prospects and How to Deliver Them

    In retirement planning, free seminars to the public are a proven way to attract prospects and convert them to clients. But for financial planning seminars to be successful, you must first determine what topics will interest your ideal client. In other words, the flashiest direct mailers won’t get people in seats if the topic doesn’t resonate with them. Consider partnering with subject matter experts on topics of importance to people approaching retirement in a “Retirement Transitions Series.” By offering free, educational financial planning seminars, you position yourself as a helpful resource in your community. You’ll be seen as the retirement expert, overseeing all aspects of retirement financial planning. Your clients may think they know what’s best for their retirement, but you know you can help them make smarter decisions and avoid costly mistakes by optimizing their Social Security benefits or comparing alternate tax distribution strategies. Here are six topics routinely used by Covisum subscribers to attract prospects to free financial planning seminars.
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