Investors Trust announces the launch of ITA University, its innovative online educational platform. In alliance with IE University and CFA Institute, Investors Trust continues its commitment to provide the financial advisor of the future with the best resources available.
This educational platform will be available only for financial advisors working with Investors Trust and aims to deliver a one-of-a-kind approach to higher education for IFAs looking to expand their skills and professional knowledge.
ITA University will provide tailor-made courses, certifications, and other educational resources in collaboration with Investors Trust’s strategic partners IE University and CFA Institute. By joining efforts with these prestigious institutions, financial advisors working with Investors Trust will have access to top-rated personalized training in order to deliver the best service to their clients.
“We believe education is key to keep growing in an evolving and always changing industry. ITA University is another representation of Investors Trust’s commitment to the development and success of our financial advisors,” said Ariel Amigo, Chief Marketing & Distribution Officer.
Investors Trust is excited for the launch of this powerful educational platform and to work alongside top-rated institutions in order to keep providing excellence in the insurance and investments industry.
The income necessary to buy a starter home has risen most in Florida, according to a new report from Redfin.
In Miami buyers need to earn $79,500 (up 24.8%) to afford the typical $300,000 starter home. Rounding out the top three is Newark, NJ, where buyers need $88,800 (up 21.1%) to afford a $335,000 home. Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Newark also had the biggest starter-home price increases, with prices up 15.8% year over year, 13.2% and 9.8%, respectively.
In addition, Fort Lauderdale buyers need to earn $58,300 per year to purchase a $220,000 home, the typical price for a starter home in that area, up 28% from a year earlier. That’s the biggest uptick of the 50 most populous U.S. metros.
Even though starter-home prices have risen most in Florida, they’re still less expensive than a place like Austin or Phoenix, where home prices skyrocketed during the pandemic and have since come down some.
Prices are rising in Florida because despite increasing climate risks, out-of-town remote workers and retirees are flocking in. That’s largely due to warm weather and relative affordability; even though prices there soared during the pandemic, homes are still typically less expensive than a place like New York, Boston or Los Angeles. Five of the 10 most popular metros for relocating homebuyers are in Florida.
The U.S. Average
A first-time homebuyer must earn roughly $64,500 per year to afford the typical U.S. “starter” home, up 13% ($7,200) from a year ago.
The typical starter home sold for a record $243,000 in June, up 2.1% from a year earlier and up more than 45% from before the pandemic. Average mortgage rates hit 6.7% in June, up from 5.5% the year before and just under 4% before the pandemic.
Prices for starter homes continue to tick up because there are so few homes for sale, often prompting competition and pushing up prices for the ones that do hit the market. New listings of starter homes for sale dropped 23% from a year earlier in June, the biggest drop since the start of the pandemic. The total number of starter homes on the market is down 15%, also the biggest drop since the start of the pandemic. Limited listings and still-rising prices, exacerbated by high mortgage rates, have stifled sales activity. Sales of starter homes dropped 17% year over year in June.
“Buyers searching for starter homes in today’s market are on a wild goose chase because in many parts of the country, there’s no such thing as a starter home anymore,” said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari. “The most affordable homes for sale are no longer affordable to people with lower budgets due to the combination of rising prices and rising rates. That’s locking many Americans out of the housing market altogether, preventing them from building equity and ultimately building lasting wealth. People who are already homeowners are sitting pretty, comparatively, because most of them have benefited from home values soaring over the last few years. That could lead to the wealth gap in this country becoming even more drastic.”
Home prices shot up during the pandemic due to record-low mortgage rates and remote work, and now rising mortgage rates are exacerbating the affordability crisis, especially for first-time buyers. A person looking to buy today’s typical starter home would have a monthly mortgage payment of $1,610, up 13% from a year ago and nearly double the typical payment just before the pandemic. Average U.S. wages have risen 4.4% from a year ago and roughly 20% from before the pandemic, not nearly enough to make up for the jump in monthly mortgage payments.
Many prospective first-time homebuyers are between a rock and a hard place because rents remain elevated, too. The typical U.S. asking rent is just $24 shy of the $2,053 peak hit in 2022.
Over the last few years, inflation, rising interest rates and high costs for just about everything have impacted nearly everyone – but for Gen Z, the economic environment has had a profound impact, a new U.S. Bank survey found.
Members of this generation, who range in age from 18 to 26, are overwhelmed by recent economic news, are unsure how to start investing, compare their financial progress to others – including their parents, people they see on social media, and people better off than they are – and are highly motivated by experiences and the pursuit of personal interests and opportunities. Members of the Millennial generation, aged 27-42, share many of these same feelings.
“Younger generations are dealing with inflation, high interest rates, and high prices, but they also inherited a much different world than older generations: since 1980, college tuition has increased by 169%; the average price of a home is up 540%; and average student-loan debt now sits at $37,000,” said Gunjan Kedia, vice chair of Wealth, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking at U.S. Bank. “It’s no wonder they are unsure about beginning an investing journey. But despite these headwinds, they are passionate about investing in causes they believe in and are seeking financial guidance.
“We did this survey to better understand the challenges the younger generation is facing, how they are (or aren’t) investing and why, and how we can help them start investing before they lose too much time. Some of the findings that really stood out for me are that financial worries and decision fatigue are impacting young investors’ confidence, they are overwhelmed and unsure how to begin investing, and nearly 80% of investors responded to the economic climate by changing their investment strategies in some way in the past three months.”
Among the highlights of the report are the search for a better quality of life, personal interests and new experiences drive the investment decisions of younger generations.
In addition, Gen Zers view wealth differently than older generations and will sacrifice returns to invest in causes they believe in.
Finally, younger generations compare themselves to others and social networks.
The new data is from a proprietary U.S. Bank survey of 3,000 active investors and 1,000 aspiring investors of all generations. The survey was conducted May 12-24, 2023.
To read the full report, please click on the following link.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Richard Heart (aka Richard Schueler) and three unincorporated entities that he controls, Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX, with conducting unregistered offerings of crypto asset securities that raised more than $1 billion in crypto assets from investors. The SEC also charged Heart and PulseChain with fraud for misappropriating at least $12 million of offering proceeds to purchase luxury goods including sports cars, watches, and a 555-carat black diamond known as ‘The Enigma’ – reportedly the largest black diamond in the world.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Heart began marketing Hex in 2018, claiming it was the first high-yield “blockchain certificate of deposit,” and began promoting Hex tokens as an investment designed to make people “rich.”
From at least December 2019 through November 2020, Heart and Hex allegedly offered and sold Hex tokens in an unregistered offering, collecting more than 2.3 million Ethereum (ETH), including through so-called “recycling” transactions that enabled Heart to surreptitiously gain control of more Hex tokens.
The complaint also alleges that, between at least July 2021 and March 2022, Heart orchestrated two additional unregistered crypto asset security offerings that each raised hundreds of millions of dollars more in crypto assets. As alleged, those funds were intended to support development of a supposed crypto asset network, PulseChain, and a claimed crypto asset trading platform, PulseX, through the offerings of their native tokens, respectively, PLS and PLSX.
Heart also allegedly designed and marketed a so-called “staking” feature for Hex tokens, which he claimed would deliver returns as high as 38 percent. The complaint further alleges that Heart attempted to evade securities laws by calling on investors to “sacrifice” (instead of “invest”) their crypto assets in exchange for PLS and PLSX tokens.
“Heart called on investors to buy crypto asset securities in offerings that he failed to register. He then defrauded those investors by spending some of their crypto assets on exorbitant luxury goods,” said Eric Werner, Director of the Fort Worth Regional Office. “This action seeks to protect the investing public and hold Heart accountable for his actions.”
The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, alleges that Heart, Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX violated the registration provisions of Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933.
The complaint also alleges that Heart and PulseChain violated the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, penalties, and other equitable relief.
Investors around the world are aware that the asset growth and the prolonged period of low interest rates that defined the decade-plus bull run are unlikely to return any time soon, according to Cerulli Associates’ latest report,Global Markets 2023: A Changing World. Product development and innovation will be vital for asset managers seeking to retain and win business in the coming years.
“The mutual fund industry demonstrated resilience last year, achieving growth despite the volatile market environment,” says André Schnurrenberger, managing director, Europe at Cerulli Associates. “We believe the best opportunities for asset managers exist in specialist areas such as responsible investment and alternatives, as well as the wealth management channel.”
In the highly competitive U.S. market, product strategy and innovation are driven by the fact that many investment products are viewed as lacking differentiation. Cerulli believes that, to satisfy the unique needs of investors, asset managers need to deliver more solutions across a broader range of vehicle structures and provide scalable solutions that can be customized at the individual investor level. Firms that have built their businesses on the backbone of the mutual fund structure over several decades need to determine which direction to pivot their offerings to retain assets.
In Hong Kong, product innovation has been seen in the exchange-traded fund (ETF) segment, with developments in virtual asset; technology; and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ETFs, among others. Korea has also seen developments in the ETF space, where regulation has been eased since the end of 2022, allowing product diversification.
This has led to innovations such as ETFs tracking new underlying indices that are not usually tracked or customized, hybrid ETFs centered on a single stock, and maturity-matching bond ETFs with a lifespan.
In China, the assets of ETFs, excluding money market ETFs, increased by 19.8% to RMB1.3 trillion (US$200 billion) last year as innovative products such as bond, index enhanced, cross-border, and themed ETFs boomed. Meanwhile, in the U.S., where the ETF has historically been linked to index strategies, there has recently been increased product development in actively managed ETFs, including mutual fund conversions.
In Singapore, Cerulli believes there is scope for innovation in ESG and alternatives, particularly in the high-net-worth (HNW) segment. For example, Abrdn has launched an ESG-focused Asian high-yield bond fund targeting retail investors. In the investment-linked product (ILP) space, local insurers are not only putting emphasis on sustainability and looking for related investment solutions, but also continuing to launch new and innovative ILPs and search for underlying funds.
The importance of ESG criteria to Swedish institutional investors means opportunities exist for asset managers that can demonstrate a clear, transparent, and repeatable sustainable investment process. Those that can support innovative and forward-looking approaches to environmental themes will be particularly in demand among smaller pension funds seeking efficient exposures.
“Climate and environment-themed funds have so far dominated ESG product development, but we are seeing plenty of activity in impact investing,” says Schnurrenberger. “In Singapore, for example, the DBS Asia Impact First Fund, which was launched in August 2022, seeks to provide capital to social enterprises that focus on social and environmental issues in Asia.”
S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) today released the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices. Data released today for May 2023 show all 20 major metro markets reported month-over-month price increases for the third straight month. More than 27 years of history are available for the data series and can be accessed in full by going to following link.
YEAR-OVER-YEAR
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a -0.5% annual decrease in May, down from a loss of -0.1% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite showed a decrease of -1.0%, which is a tick up from the -1.1% decrease in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a -1.7% year-over-year loss, same as in the previous month.
Chicago, Cleveland, and New York reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities in May. Chicago moved up one to the top spot with a 4.6% year-over-year price increase, while Cleveland came in at number two with a 3.9% increase, and New York entered the top three in third with a 3.5% increase. There was an even split of 10 cities reporting lower prices and those reporting higher prices in the year ending May 2023 versus the year ending April 2023.
MONTH-OVER-MONTH
Before seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index posted a 1.2% month-over-month increase in May, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites both posted increases of 1.5%.
After seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index posted a month-over-month increase of 0.7%, while the 10-City Composite gained 1.1% and 20-City Composites posted an increase of 1.0%.
ANALYSIS
“The rally in U.S. home prices continued in May 2023,” says Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director at S&P DJI. “Our National Composite rose by 1.2% in May, and now stands only 1.0% below its June 2022 peak. The 10- and 20-City Composites also rose in May, in both cases by 1.5%.
“The ongoing recovery in home prices is broadly based. Before seasonal adjustment, prices rose in all 20 cities in May (as they had also done in March and April). Seasonally adjusted data showed rising prices in 19 cities in May, repeating April’s performance. (The outlier is Phoenix, down 0.1% in both months.) On a trailing 12-month basis, the National Composite is 0.5% below its May 2022 level, with the 10- and 20-City Composites also negative on a year-over-year basis.
“Regional differences continue to be striking. This month’s league table shows the Revenge of the Rust Belt, as Chicago (+4.6%), Cleveland (+3.9%), and New York (+3.5%) were the top performers. If this seems like an unusual occurrence to you, it seems that way to me too. It’s been five years to the month since a cold-weather city held the top spot (and that was Seattle, which isn’t all that cold). Since May 2018, the top-ranked cities have been Las Vegas (12 months), Phoenix (33 months), Tampa (5 months), and Miami (9 months).
“At the other end of the scale, the worst performers continue to cluster near the Pacific coast, with Seattle (-11.3%) and San Francisco (-11.0%) at the bottom. This month the Midwest (+2.7%) unseated the Southeast (+2.1%) as the country’s strongest region. The West (-6.9%) remains weakest.
“Home prices in the U.S. began to fall after June 2022, and May’s data bolster the case that the final month of the decline was January 2023. Granted, the last four months’ price gains could be truncated by increases in mortgage rates or by general economic weakness. But the breadth and strength of May’s report are consistent with an optimistic view of future months.”
CI Private Wealth announces it is rebranding as Corient. The new name is derived from “client oriented” and expresses the firm’s commitment to providing its clients with an unparalleled wealth management experience.
“The Corient brand embodies our mission to put our clients at the center of everything we do. We exist for one reason: to help our clients achieve their financial goals, simplify their lives and establish legacies that will last for generations,” said Kurt MacAlpine, Chief Executive Officer of Corient and CI Financial Corp. (“CI”), Corient’s parent company. “The new name better reflects the extensive capabilities we offer today as a national, integrated organization and our vision to become the country’s pre-eminent private wealth firm.”
Corient now serves as the brand for all of the company’s offices, as it has discontinued co-branding with its legacy firm names, effective immediately. This reflects the ongoing integration of Corient’s predecessor companies into one cohesive registered investment advisor (“RIA”) firm.
“The unified Corient brand clarifies for clients that they benefit from the expertise of our entire network and the expanded services and capabilities made possible by our greater size and scale,” Mr. MacAlpine said. “In the short time since our founding, we have accomplished much on behalf of our clients that would not have been possible for most independent firms. We established a tax practice and a trust company, we have delivered better investment pricing and lending rates, and we significantly strengthened our alternative investments platform. Today, we are operating under an integrated platform that, along with our collective scale, enables us to better serve the complex needs of our clients.”
Corient is a fiduciary, fee-only wealth management firm that is distinguished by its private partnership model, similar to leading professional services firms. This approach encourages its advisors to collaborate rather than compete and creates an environment that rewards teamwork in pursuit of the shared vision to deliver unrivaled client excellence.
CI first entered the U.S. RIA sector in 2020 and has become one of the industry’s fastest-growing wealth platforms through acquisitions and strong organic growth. Today, CI’s U.S. wealth management business has $147 billion in assets under management, and is one of the largest integrated RIAs in the U.S.
“It’s the right time to adopt a new identity, one that conveys the value we offer and our distinct character and positioning in the marketplace,” said Mr. MacAlpine. “We’re very excited about our brand and the future of Corient.”
The Corient name was selected through a rigorous, multi-step process. A third-party branding agency conducted extensive research and helped to identify a list of potential choices. More than 70 of the firm’s partners participated in focus groups, narrowing the initial list to two finalists. The ultimate selection was determined by a vote of all partners, who favored Corient by a wide margin. This approach demonstrates the firm’s unique, integrated structure and its differentiated approach to the business.
The Corient name originated with one of the company’s legacy firms and has been thoroughly re-imagined through its new positioning and a newly designed logo.
CI continues to use the CI Private Wealth brand for its Canadian ultra-high-net-worth wealth management business.
Dominion Capital Strategies, a leading fund manager with an investment platform for regular savings and investments, is pleased to announce the appointment of Pablo Paladino as Global Sales Director. Currently heading sales in Latin America, Paladino brings extensive experience and a strong sales track record to his new role. He will be responsible for overseeing the commercial strategy and support for all regions of the company, including Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. This appointment reflects Dominion’s commitment to growth and expansion, capitalizing on Paladino’s expertise.
Before joining Dominion Capital Strategies, Paladino held key leadership positions at renowned financial institutions, including Old Mutual and one of Latin America’s largest Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) firms. Throughout his career, he consistently demonstrated exceptional sales skills and a deep understanding of the needs of IFAs in emerging markets.
Paladino’s new role as Global Sales Director emphasizes Dominion’s dedication to its position as a leading fund manager and investment platform provider for regular savings and investments. With Paladino’s leadership and extensive network in Latin America, he will play a crucial role in expanding Dominion’s presence and seizing opportunities in Asia-Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.
Paladino’s appointment marks the beginning of a series of strategic initiatives that Dominion Capital Strategies plans to undertake, strengthening its position as a leader in fund management and investment platforms for regular savings and investments. With Paladino’s expertise, the company is poised to explore new avenues for growth and enhance its product offerings to meet the evolving needs of its global client base.
As currency volatility picks up, investors in emerging market debt, whether sovereign or credit, will benefit from active approaches to managing their investments.
For much of the past decade, cheap central bank money has helped to suppress market volatility, not least in currency markets. But following a spike in inflation, central banks have had to tighten policy considerably. As a consequence currency volatility looks set to pick up, with dollar-sensitive markets particularly vulnerable to gyrations.
Given that much of their borrowing tends to be in dollars even as corresponding obligations are in their own currencies, emerging market sovereigns and corporate borrowers have tricky seas to navigate.
That puts the onus on investment managers to be nimble in response to suddenly changing currents and winds. Active investment management becomes even more important in these conditions, argue Mary-Therese Barton, head of emerging market fixed income, and Alain Nsiona Defise, head of emerging markets – corporate.
Article written by Mary-Therese Barton, Head of Emerging Market Fixed Income of Pictet Asset Management, and Alain Nsiona Defise, Head of Emerging Corporate.
Dynasty Financial Partners has named Ron Insana to the new role of Chief Market Strategist. Insana will join the firm’s Investment Committee and the investment committees of Dynasty Network firms. He will, in addition, meet and share insights with financial advisors in Dynasty’s Network and their clients.
As Dynasty’s Chief Market Strategist, Insana will be a spokesperson for the company on investment, economic, and related topics.
“We are thrilled to have Ron Insana, a legend in the financial services industry and a pioneer of financial journalism, representing Dynasty and sharing his deep and varied investment experience in hopes to catalyze growth for our partner firms,” said Shirl Penney, Dynasty’s CEO and co-founder.
Insana has had a distinguished career in broadcast journalism. Significant moments include his award-winning coverage of the market crash of 1987 and one of the first eyewitness accounts of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. He has also worked as an asset manager. As a bestselling author, his books include “The Message of the Markets” and “Trend Watching: How to Avoid Wall Street’s Next Fads, Manias, and Bubbles.” He is a frequent guest on CNBC and MSNBC, where he sheds light on pressing economic and market issues. He also shares his syndicated Market Scoreboard Report with radio listeners everywhere.
Named one of the “Top 100 Business News Journalists of the 20th Century,” Insana is known for his high-profile interviews with world leaders such as President Bill Clinton and President George Bush, billionaire investors including Warren Buffett and George Soros, captains of industry like Bill Gates and Jack Welch, as well as top economists, analysts, and influencers, the Press Release said.
Insana joins Dynasty as the firm prepares to host its annual Investors Forum for independent advisors in November 2023. A leading investment conference for RIAs, this year’s Investment Forum will take place in Nashville, Tenn., from November 13 through November 15, 2023. Insana will be a featured speaker along with other leading investment-firm executives.
In his new role with Dynasty, Insana will work closely with Chief Investment Officer Bob Shea to identify strategic opportunities for the investment portfolios. Shea oversees Dynasty’s Investment Platform, which administered $36 Billion in end-client assets as of Q1 2023 Period End.
“Ron is a giant in the investment industry, both as an incisive reporter and a hands-on practitioner,” said Shea. “To say my team and I are looking forward to this collaboration is an understatement.”
Besides the responsibilities described above, Insana’s work with Dynasty will include developing and leveraging investment content and advising Dynasty’s leadership on investment strategy, market intelligence, and business development.
Independent advisors can use Dynasty’s Investment Platform in several ways, from research and due diligence to outsourced investment products and services through the company’s OCIO program, featuring a range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income/capital markets, and alternative investments.
