There’s still no sign of an imminent recession in the latest numbers for initial jobless claims. New filings for unemployment benefits last week dropped to a two-month low of 374,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. Meanwhile, the year-over-year change in unadjusted terms posted a roughly 14% decline. There’s a lot of chatter about a slowing economy these days, based on certain indicators. Some pundits have already declared that another recession is fate. But fears that growth has hit a wall appear overblown based on today’s claims figures.
Daily Archives: July 5, 2012
The Challenges Of Benchmarking Your Financial Adviser
Jason Zweig at The Wall Street Journal reminds us that analyzing an investment adviser’s performance record is still a complicated and convoluted affair. Performance alone shouldn’t be the only measure of an adviser’s value, but it’s not chopped liver either. So, how can we judge an adviser’s record? There are no short cuts, as Zweig points out. Although several consultancies have taken a stab at developing transparent and relevant adviser benchmarks—Brightscope and the Spaulding Group, for instance, according to Zweig—it’s debatable if the challenge has been solved.