Market Blitz With David Blitzer; Growth by Design Study; 2013 Career Guide: January Investment Advisor—Slideshow

The new year typically gets people looking ahead at things to come. Considering the things David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, sees coming, we couldn’t wait to share them. Blitzer, along with S&P Dow Jones Indices CEO Alex Matturri, talk Libor, housing, inflation, Europe and more with IA Editor in Chief John Sullivan.

We also present the second installment of FA Insight’s 2012 Growth by Design study. The authors expound on the myriad benefits and challenges for advisors trying to grow their practices. 

The first issue of the year also brings our annual broker-dealer career guide. This year, we take a look at an innovative model for advisor succession borrowed from a surprising—but well-tested—source: the medical profession. Also, career guide alum Megan Bader shares what she’s learned now that she’s out of school and in the work force.

Market Blitz

There’s something anachronistic about David Blitzer. It’s as if he’s straight out of central casting for one of those faux black-and-white, mahogany and Corinthian leather commercials about listening to clients and the fundamentals of investing that were popular in the 1990s. That’s good, because now (especially now) what the bespectacled and bow-tied Blitzer exudes, more than anything else, is reassurance. He tells John Sullivan, editor in chief, why.

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Gains and Strains: The 2012 Advisor Growth by Design Study

The great majority of advisory firm owners fixate on growing their businesses. It is a fundamental characteristic of their DNA. And why not? Multiple positive outcomes can be achieved as a firm grows and achieves greater scale. These aspirations, however, frequently overlook the very real risks that rumble beneath the growth trajectory and threaten to derail firms when growth goes wild. FA Insight’s Eliza De Pardo and Dan Inveen break down the survey’s results.

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A Next-Gen Shot in the Arm

If you want an idea of how to help and support the next generation of advisors, look no further than the medical profession. Sure, it’s more about modern portfolio theory than appendicitis, but few would ever argue that medical students should hit the phones and begin cold calling immediately upon graduating. While medical residents are learning to save lives and comfort the afflicted, how is ensuring a client’s financial solvency well into retirement any less important? Craig Pfeiffer, CEO of Advisors Ahead, shares how he took an old model and applied it to the financial services industry.