It's better to write stories about the dam breaking, before the dam breaks.

For a magazine to be really, really, "relevant", that might be my big suggestion. If you don't write relevant and timely articles, the cover doesn't open after a while.

unprecedented innovation these days, which will benefit investors for years to come,' Nachmany said."

BS, I'd say that even though investors have a gazillion choices in the packaged product world these days, their ability to behave like a rational investor hasn't improved the slightest even though the last 11 yrs has had one valuable lesson after the next. 

da hoova

Take a look at the safety/liquidity of some of the nations largest insurance companies? If they don't yank all their revs from ya, they'll sue you out of biz. But hey, make a great story.

Busted equity market, yanked funds, busted bond market, derivitives mess, falling premiums for years in a row, real estate crash.... And we're supposed to believe their Okiedoke? Sure....

Exec Life didn't fail until 91, two years after the junk bond crisis, a year after Drexel bkrptcy, falling r/e.... The Fed just didn't want to dump EL, just like right now our system can't handle the shock. But, it's coming.  

Tis at least a real STORY, someone could actually do some "journalism", research, and ponder what is a truly important question of our time. And YOUR readers, might see it first...

If I was looking for relevance, it wouldn't be with market trends, which are predictably boring.

Even news of the death of munis is premature. C'mon, Big, neither government nor insurance is going away - here's some news: prices are going up and everyone needs to try to get more focused.

If I was running a magazine for advisors, I would be running interactive media that maximizes their business, instead of catering to the change industry and trying to serve snacks of information on the side.

What is the next dam that's about to break?

First, ask the right questions. Is this even what advisors worry about or should be worrying about? If you are in the business of aggregating knowledge (and selling sponsorships), don't try to keep your campfire burning with twigs.

Start with the stickiness of this site: the desire for advisors to share, help, validate their egos, gain perspective, interact online, learn.

I think there's a fantastic opportunity to build a business that brings advisors, (consumers) and product manufactures together in a profitable and meaningful  manner, don't see where anyone has done that yet.

Why not try to be relevant and talk about the Why's instead of the What's.

Why have ETF's seen a huge boom? What's the MF market doing to combat this (unconstrained funds...)? If buy and hold is dead (not saying it is) then Why is somthing else going to do better (tactical allocation models..)?

Stop trying to predict what's going to happen next and just explain (in far better detail) WHY things have been changing.

If you are in the business of predicting the next dam to break, then have a point of view and a set of two or three LEADING indicators of what will give you more or less conviction in your point of view.

Wow.  This is a tough audience.

Retail stock investors' confidence is returning because trailing returns is 60%-plus.  They are chasing returns that they won't be getting, but given low interest rates, and a Fed promise to keep them there, who can blame them? 

My view is that it will be years before bond investors will be seeing returns over 6% again without using leverage.  That should be attractive to stocks in normal times, but these clearly aren't.

Bodysurf, you're negative comment about bonds, don't you feel that is playing into popular sentiment of the day? And hey, I'm on record calling it a bond bubble back in August, when the only thing on this board being discussed was great bond prospecting ideas...

Personally, I think that the bond correction has already been so steep, we're actually getting close to a decent buying oppty, especially in munis. Realize, that most muni funds today, have an NAV pretty close to the absolute low of winter 2009...

I had a chance to hear an economist recently that said he would sell all of his bond holdings and buy munis with them.  He said it's a great buying opportunity to buy some quality investments that everyone else thinks are toxic.  He said the reality is that there is a $7 Billion surplus in budgets for everything state on down.  I wish he had written a piece on it, but he hasn't yet.  So, the gloom and doom, anti muni bond people out there right now are playing into the hands of those intelligent muni buyers who know a good opportunity when it comes around. 

I had a chance to hear an economist recently that said he would sell all of his bond holdings and buy munis with them.

Spiff - Did that guy say he “would” or he “did” sell bonds and buy munis?

I don't recall the semantics.  Here's what the commentary from his website says: 

10% BONDS (I suggest that the entire allocation to bonds be in tax-free municipal bonds.)

That sentence was taken out of a larger conversation about how he would recommend allocating portfolios for 2011. I don't remember him saying that he DID sell all of his bonds and bought munis.  

I couldn't remember the guy's name yesterday and didn't have the time right then to look it up, but the economist is Dr. Bob from Hartford.  The rest of that allocation recommendation is on their website.   

[quote=BigFirepower]

Bodysurf, you're negative comment about bonds, don't you feel that is playing into popular sentiment of the day? And hey, I'm on record calling it a bond bubble back in August, when the only thing on this board being discussed was great bond prospecting ideas...

Personally, I think that the bond correction has already been so steep, we're actually getting close to a decent buying oppty, especially in munis. Realize, that most muni funds today, have an NAV pretty close to the absolute low of winter 2009...

[/quote]

Bonds really can't form a bubble, as the term is understood with respects to other asset classes like real estate or stocks, but I appreciate the point you make.

My position is that bond yields will be scraping historic lows for years to come, and high-quality munis held to maturity are an outstanding buy right now.  I would buy the debt issued by state governments, because of the bond covenants that basically say that states have to sell off their park systems and close their prisons before they can miss a single muni payment.  But that isn't true of cities, or of revenue or project bonds, which are dicier, and I would avoid them. 

Even news of the death of munis is premature. C'mon, Big, neither government nor insurance is going away - here's some news: prices are going up and everyone needs to try to get more focused.

Is that true? I think it is best time to deposit funds in equities. Few years I have worked with trading, but I was not became a good player in trading. I had to quit that field because of lack in confidence.OmniTech Support Ripoff