Welcome to our News Round-Up! Here, we’ll share with you interesting news in interesting ways, giving you a snapshot of a few of this past week’s headlines and events to get you caught up on what’s going on both here and abroad.
August 8, 2015
Quote of the Week:
- “President Bush received his jury summons and reported for service this morning at the George Allen Courts Building in Dallas.” – Freddy Ford, spokesperson for former president George W. Bush. President Bush was called for jury duty and had to report to court before he was (not so surprisingly) turned down for a spot on a jury, showing that no American is safe from jury duty.
On Your Business:
- Going solo? Read this first. Going independent is a daunting challenge but can be incredibly rewarding. But a lot of advisors don’t even know how to start the process, or the best first steps to take. FA-Mag.com recognizes this, and published their “How-To Guide for Opening Your Own Wealth Management Firm.”
On the Industry:
- Barbarians at the gates? That comparison might be a little too dramatic, but there are forces working against you in the modern wealth management industry. This article on Financial-Planning.com calls some of them out, as well as steps you can take to ensure future success for your business and the advisory industry.
On the Economy:
- Things are looking up. The U.S. added 215,000 jobs in the month of July, keeping the unemployment rate at a reasonable 5.3% for the second straight month. This is great news for the U.S. economy, despite the news also being “boring” according to Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor.com’s chief economost. “Todays numbers show that a boring jobs report can be a good jobs report,” he said. If that’s the case, here’s to many more boring jobs reports in the months to come!
On the World:
- Saudi Arabia goes all in. In a bold move that’s meant to finish off their opponents in the increasingly cutthroat game of international oil sales, Saudi Arabia announced that it was seeking $27 billion in debt through bonds. The reason? The Middle Eastern nation wants to flood the market with their product and put their competition down once and for all–a tricky move, and one that experts aren’t sure they can pull off yet.