Nudges That Drive Client Behavior
A tactical strategy to gain trust and guide clients more effectively
Solving the Young Investor Challenge
How tech is amplifying the role of the financial advisor
Why Financial Planning is Eclipsing Traditional Advice
Clients are opting for holistic, personalized, and adaptive service models.
The Five Defining Qualities of a Top Financial Advisor
As an educator and researcher in the financial advice industry, I’ve spent the past 10+ years learning the in-and-outs ...
That’s Not What I Meant
How biases and assumptions can undermine client conversations
Beyond the Magic Retirement Number
A simple visual element may elevate your planning process.
Put me in, Coach!
There’s a platform to get you off the bench and into the game with the New Majority of investors.
Going Solo with No Regret
The motivation and inspiration behind one advisor’s leap of faith
It’s True: GRIT can be a game-changer
How we respond to obstacles can help shape our success
What makes a strong, sustainable practice?
As our industry advances, three issues consistently top the list of advisors’ priorities.
Outsourcing, the SEC, and you
A proposed SEC rule could alter the way you manage client relationships
Take Your Passion to Work Today
How your avocation can elevate your vocation
They Go With Who They Know
Let prospects and clients see the person behind the credentials.
Speak To the Person(a), Not the Wallet
Can we all agree? Financial decisions are rarely based purely on ‘reason.’ Deciding when and how much to invest, and ...
Have You Settled For “Satisfied” Clients?
They expect good numbers and exceptional service. Give them more.
This type of client wants to consolidate assets. Learn how to gain their trust and wallet.
Understanding the Verifier The Verifier operates under the guiding principle of trust, but they also verify. They ...
Tapping into the CFP pipeline
How firms can find the right talent for what they need. The need for good, young advisors is well established. The good ...
Putting Sustainable Investing Into (Your) Practice
Suggestions for the curious but reluctant advisor.
How much do your clients trust you?
Five personas, five different levels of trust FlexShares’ new behavioral research looked into the factors that drive ...
“Nitch” or “Neesh”? Either Way, Knowing Yours Could Be a Game-Changer
Define your expertise to attract your ideal client.
Think you manage all of your clients’ assets? You may be surprised.
Listening carefully to their answers Asking clients why they haven’t consolidated their assets with a single advisor ...
ESG: Are You Missing The Forest For The Trees?
Misconceptions and miscommunication may be preventing skeptics from seeing the bigger picture.
If Anyone Needs An Advisor, It’s Gen X
In the financial planning industry, Baby Boomers tend to dominate the landscape. Those with an eye for the long-term ...
ESG Today: Embraced, Shunned And Growing
Morningstar’s Jon Hale shares his perspective on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing – also called ...
Blog / ESGL ESG Educational Topics
Your Dashboard Needs An Upgrade
Think of ESG as GPS for a new and shifting landscape.
Plot Twist! When a Woman’s Financial Story Takes a Sudden Turn
How to add value for women writing the next chapter of their lives. Change is inevitable. A solid financial plan ...
Starting the Pivot Conversation
This Special Guest post focuses on how advisors can help the executives they serve understand when it is time to think ...
The Why and How of Collaboration and Outsourcing
It can sometimes seem like the Impossible Dream, the Holy Grail, a Sysiphian curse: Efficiency.
The Issue that Made this our Most Downloaded Podcast
Unless you’ve been off the grid for a few years, you know that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) is becoming a ...
The Flexible Advisor: Top 2021 Downloads Expose Two Persisting Concerns
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (“DE&I”) This has become such a ubiquitous topic that some may be tempted to ...
Broadening Your Bench – Version 2.0
Different? Not really. Despite its significant financial power — estimated at more than $1 trillion in the US alone — ...
3 Guidelines for Hiring and Retaining NextGen Talent
On a recent episode of The Flexible Advisor podcast, We spoke with Yonhee Gordon, Chief Operating Officer and Chief ...
ESG Investing Takes Center Stage in Portfolios
When we launched FlexShares ETFs 10 years ago, ESG1 investing was a relatively small niche that largely focused on ...
Insights from a Decade of ETF Investing
We founded FlexShares to put investors first. Events of the past 10 years have validated our approach. FlexShares was ...
Beyond Just Glorified Utilities: Three Infrastructure Investing Considerations
Certain global infrastructure sectors took some of the hardest hits during the pandemic—but does this asset class ...
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
Even Small Firms Can Recruit and Retain Diverse Talent
Here’s how—and why—to develop a team that’s built to succeed FlexShares’ late 2019 survey of advisors and their clients ...
The Red-Hot Natural Resource Sector: What’s Driving The Rally and How to Implement
Rising demand and global supply constraints have recently sent natural resources prices skyrocketing. As several ...
How The Pandemic Continues to Shape Factor Performance
Factor investing has been on the rise in recent years, as more investors are looking to target characteristics that ...
No Time? Here's how to find some.
Patty Kreamer, CPO® joins FlexShares' Special Guest blog series to provide unique insights on the topic of managing ...
Conquering Stress: Why Women May Have an Advantage
A career in financial advice can be satisfying and rewarding in so many ways. In fact, FlexShares’ recent Advisor ...
How the Pandemic Reshaped Advisors’ ‘Normal’
As the number of vaccinated Americans continues to climb and the nation turns the corner on the pandemic, financial ...
Three Takeaways on Rising Inflation Expectations
With inflation expectations on the rise, the inflation discussion has taken center stage among listeners and market ...
What Advisors’ Dreams Are Made Of
Advisors may be quite content in their professional lives—but that doesn’t mean they don’t have wishes and dreams.
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
Risky Business — What Advisors Need to Know About Women and Risk Tolerance
AnnMarie Pino joins FlexShares' Special Guest blog series to provide unique insights on the topic of women and ...
A Silver Lining for Advisors: The Surprising Benefits of The Pandemic
While the COVID-19 pandemic brought its share of hardship, it also resulted in some unexpected positives. Some are ...
The Pandemic’s Footprint on ESG
The rise of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies has been one of the most noteworthy investing trends ...
Three Reasons Why Advisors Love Their Work
As financial advisors can attest, their career can be challenging and, at times, stressful. But as the results of our ...
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
The Advantages of Smaller Advisory Firms
HOW AGILITY AND DECISIVE ACTIONS CAN PREPARE THEM FOR THE FUTURE. To thrive in the future, advisory firms may need to ...
The Race To Scalability — With Noreen Beaman, President, Orion Advisor Solutions
In a recent episode of The Flexible Advisor podcast, we spoke with Noreen Beaman, President of Orion Advisor Solutions, ...
2020 in Review: Looking at the Past, Present, and Future
As 2020 has come to a close, the challenging year has left investors with a lot of questions to consider. How long will ...
Low Volatility Strategies Are All About Design
As the pandemic roiled markets, low volatility stocks were top of mind for many investors in 2020. But did low ...
Blog / The Race to Scalability
A Check In On The Use Of Model Portfolios
Analyzing every investment position can be labor-intensive, so advisors aiming to balance their time between portfolio ...
Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) – The Remake No Investor Really Wanted to See
Today’s interest rate environment has many investors feeling like they’re sitting through a remake of a bad Hollywood ...
Historical Natural Resources & Commodities Investing – Post COVID-19 Crisis
Investors have long turned to commodity and natural resource investing as a potential source of diversification, ...
Blog / The Race to Scalability
Digital Advice Platforms: A Flexible Approach
Have you noticed that more players across the financial services industry are increasing access to automated financial ...
Blog / The Race to Scalability
How Firms Are Scaling and Keeping Investment Management In House
As advisors plan to grow their businesses, many are seeking to efficiently scale their business so that they can ...
The Drive Behind the Rising Prices of Gold
Investors have been flocking to gold—an investment known for its inflation hedging characteristics. But what is the ...
How COVID-19 Has Impacted Global Listed Infrastructure
The market turbulence triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has been significant and far-reaching—but how has a ...
How Should Investors Think About High Yield Bond Allocations?
Investors tend to have differing views when it comes to high yield and its potential benefits and risks. Has this asset ...
Blog / The Race to Scalability
The In-House Advantage—Why Most Advisors Hold Onto Investment Management
As the downward pressure on advising fees and profit margin continues, advisors remain on the lookout for efficiencies ...
Blog / The Race to Scalability
The Benefits Of Using External Managers
Financial advisors are regarded by clients as bastions of financial knowledge but they also, as business owners they ...
Blog / The Race to Scalability
What Drives Advisors to Consider External Expertise?
The fundamental goal of helping clients build and maintain wealth remains the same, but it would be difficult to make a ...
Blog / The Race to Scalability
Changing Views On The Use Of External Investment Managers
Achieving efficiency in your advising practice can become a relentless quest for innovation, wrangling increasingly ...
Three Areas Where HNW Clients May Be Underinsured
Risk management isn’t just about investment portfolios – 3 areas where HNW clients may be exposed.
Blog / The Race to Scalability
A Decade of Research on Advisor Efficiencies
FlexShares and Northern Trust Asset Management is sharing insights to help advisors adapt to increasing competition in ...
Advisor Marketing Strategies for a Virtual World
Has the pandemic put your prospecting and marketing plans on hold? If so, you’re not alone. Like many advisors, you may ...
Blog / Prospecting in a Pandemic
The Pandemic May Change the Way Financial Advisors Operate Forever
The global health crisis has forced business professionals across a myriad of industries to find new ways of doing ...
Expect Wide Variety in the New Normal of the Future
This is the fourth in a series of Special Guest posts designed to share ideas from industry consultants and financial ...
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
How to Engage Diverse Candidates
Prior waves of corporate efforts toward diversity were infamous for how they mainly targeted language--or rather, what ...
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
Growth Initiatives for Firms: The Disconnect
The number of high net worth investors among women, people of color, LGTBQ people and other historically marginalized ...
Coaching Clients in a Volatile Market
How can financial advisors help clients manage their emotional response to recent market volatility without damaging ...
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
Build a More Diverse Practice Now
New research confirms diversity is essential to advisors’ future success.
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
Leading With Compassion and Driving Diversity
As our country continues to navigate momentous issues, from racial justice to LGBTQ rights, it’s time for business ...
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
Lessons Learned: What Factors influence DE&I as Strategy
To say progress on industry diversity continues to be slow might be an understatement, even when it comes to gender, ...
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
DE&I: The Team Approach
Strong team building remains an important strategy for financial advisors. According to the results of our FlexShares ...
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
Finding Talent – Relying on Personal Networks Won’t Get You to Diversity
Diversity, according to research from McKinsey & Company may be correlated with both profitability and value ...
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
The Culture of Diversity – It’s a Better One According to Advisors
Financial advising may have a diversity problem. In fact, with reportedly 81% of the financial advisors being white, ...
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
The Search for an Advisor Like Me
The business case for diversity Analysts have been investigating the business case for diversity across industries for ...
Back-to-Work Coronavirus Update with Dr. Ari Levy
While there’s much that we’ve learned about the coronavirus over the past few months, it’s clear that there’s still a ...
Blog / Advisor Teams and Diversity
Inherent Value of Diversity
The coming demographic shift The client of the future doesn’t look, or act, like the client of the past, or in many ...
Back to Work Considerations for Advisory Firms
As states begin to slowly lift restrictions surrounding COVID-19, advisory firms are faced with a daunting question – ...
Roth Conversion: A Silver Lining During Market Declines
This is the third in a series of Special Guest posts designed to share ideas from industry consultants and financial ...
Building Your COVID-19 Content Marketing Plan
This is the third in a series of Special Guest posts designed to share ideas from industry consultants and financial ...
Three Keys to Optimizing Your Business During COVID-19
This is the first in a series of Special Guest posts designed to share ideas from industry consultants and financial ...
Clients don’t want another email. They want to hear your voice.
I hope you are well. I hope your loved ones are well. And I hope your employees and clients are well. Have you been ...
Five Things Advisors Can Do to Help Themselves and Clients Manage Through COVID-19
The spread of COVID-19 throughout the U.S. has brought with it a wave of uncertainty, not only in financial markets but ...
Compassion and Gratitude Will Pull Us Through Podcast
When FlexShares decided to launch The Flexible Advisor podcast, we did so as a means to share our investor and advisor ...
We Are Here For You - Northern Trust's Response to the Coronavirus
During these turbulent times, we want you, our advisor partners, to know how we are preparing for and reacting to the ...
Blog / Rethink How to Win Executives
A New Look at Primary Breadwinners: Introduction to the series on Winning Executives
Last year, Forbes magazine set the internet on fire with the inclusion of Kylie Jenner in its rankings of female ...