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Although advisors' self-reported wellbeing levels dropped by only 3% between 2021 and 2023, a closer look reveals more significant declines among 3 underrepresented groups: women, racial minorities, and advisors aged 18-34. https://bit.ly/47TL6mn This is particularly surprising and concerning given that the 2021 study took place during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a period of great disruption. Despite considerable efforts to recruit these groups, the findings suggest that firms may not be providing adequate training or support post-recruitment. Want to learn more? Access our 2023 Advisor Wellbeing Study for free on our website.

Question to #Advicers: who do you know that’s the very best at conducting client discovery meetings, or financial plan presentation meetings? At Kitces, we’re developing two new courses for 2025, and we're looking for Subject Matter Experts (to help develop the curriculum) and Instructors (to deliver best practices on camera). This is a chance (and a paid opportunity!) to help shape courses that guide the next generation of financial planners. Tag someone you know who might be interested, or get more details yourself about how to get involved here: https://bit.ly/3Y5DASn

The SECURE 2.0 Act created a new option for surviving spouses (effective starting in 2024) that changes the calculus for deciding which option to choose from. The new rule allows spousal beneficiaries who leave the account in the decedent's name to elect to use the Uniform Lifetime Table to calculate their RMDs rather than the Single Life Table as was required under the existing rules. Which means that spouses who choose to keep the account in the decedent's name for any reason will no longer be forced to take higher RMDs for doing so. Kitces.com Senior Financial Planning Nerd Ben Henry-Moreland, CFP?, EA breaks down: -Calculating RMDs Under The Spousal Election -Distributions After The Surviving Spouse's Death -Spousal Election Vs No Spousal Election Vs Rollover https://lnkd.in/eChMFQQ4

Fall conference season is here! Have you booked your conference for fall or even in 2025? Get inspiration from our Master List Of Financial Advisor Conferences - whether you're looking for a large, national advisor conference, or a more intimate gathering, there is likely a conference on the list for you! https://bit.ly/3AQSOS1

The results are here! Earlier this year, Kitces.com Research surveyed hundreds of financial advisors about how they market their services. This research study is now publicly available here: https://bit.ly/4bLGz61 Advisors reported marketing expenditures have risen sharply between 2022 and 2024 in significant part due to growing client acquisition costs. Indeed, the typical client acquisition cost jumped 71% to 3,800 in 2024 as new client growth has steadily decreased. Differentiating oneself in a crowded landscape proved crucial for advisors' ability to stand out. For instance, CFPs' saw greater returns on their marketing efforts than non-CFPs--a trend stronger among newer advisors. Further, the most successful practices are much likelier to deploy typically less traditional tactics, including seminars, videos, and building their firm’s brand through media appearances to get in front of clients who might not have otherwise been aware of the firm. For more information on how advisors are marketing their services and the tactics employed by the most successful advisors, check out our 2024 Marketing study.

Kitces IAR Ethics CE Day, August 29th 11AM - 6PM ET Fulfill your entire 6 hours of IAR Ethics CE In traditional Kitces style, this event will include no vendors and no sponsors. Just 6 hours of high-quality CE content to learn relevant information from experts in the field, while satisfying your IAR and CFP Ethics CE obligations. We have an exciting agenda lined up for you with Shelitha Smodic (Kitces.com), Jaqueline Hummel (SEC Compliance Consultants, Inc. (SEC3)), Chris Stanley (Beach Street Legal LLC), Gail Bernstein (Investment Adviser Association), Leila Shaver (My RIA Lawyer), Max Schatzow (RIA Lawyers), Terria Heng (XYPN). Sign up for Kitces IAR Ethics CE Day in the link: https://bit.ly/4cumNgo

Oops! Did you submit an application to be on the FInancial Advisor Success Podcast? Due to an error on the form submission, we might have missed submissions since early June. Please re-submit if you would like to be a guest on the podcast, we want to hear from you and what unique approach you've done that's helped you succeed! https://bit.ly/46o0aIc

In its new Final Regulations issued on July 18, 2024, the Internal Revenue Service has confirmed the requirement for Non-Designated Beneficiaries to take RMDs annually. Beyond the confirmation of the general post-death RMD rules, the 260-page Final Regulations document offers a slew of other regulatory guidance for specific circumstances where the new rules for Eligible and Non-Eligible Designated Beneficiaries apply. Kitces Nerds Jeffrey Levine and Ben Henry-Moreland, CFP?, EA untangle the rules, which includes: -New rules for handling undistributed RMDs in the year of an account owner's death; -A new "Hypothetical RMD" rule for surviving spouses who initially elect to use the 10-Year Rule but later choose to roll over or treat the inherited account as their own; -Specification that when a plan participant has 100% of their plan balance in a Designated Roth account, any Non-Eligible Designated Beneficiaries are not required to take annual RMDs during the period of the 10-Year Rule; -Clarification of the requirements for successor beneficiaries who, depending on the circumstances, may need to either begin a new 10-year period after which the account must be fully distributed or finish out the original beneficiary's 10-year period; -New definitions of which beneficiaries of a See-Through Trust are also considered beneficiaries of the retirement account and which may be disregarded for retirement account purposes; -A new rule providing that when a See-Through Trust is divided into separate trusts for each beneficiary upon the death of the retirement account owner, the RMD rules will be applied individually for each trust beneficiary rather than uniformly across all beneficiaries based on the beneficiary with the shortest required distribution timeline; and -Clarification that when a retirement account (including IRAs) owns both annuity and non-annuity assets, those assets can be aggregated together for the purposes of calculating the participant's RMD and that payments from the annuity can count against the total RMD for both annuity and non-annuity assets. More details in the link: https://bit.ly/4ccQIch

We're excited to announce some of the latest happenings here at Kitces.com, such as not only continuing to offer IAR CE through Nerd's Eye View blog?articles,?but, starting this year, expanded IAR CE eligibility to our webinars as well, along with more frequent CE webinars and reinvesting heavily into making the platform easier to use. Here are some highlights for this year so far: -The Return of Kitces IAR Ethics CE Day: August 29, 2024 -New "Optimizing Roth Conversions" Course -Expanded Support For Multi-Advisor Groups And Large-Firm Enterprises -New Kitces Marketing Study Results On How Advicers Actually Do Marketing -Upcoming Opportunities With Our Kitces Team Of Nerds https://lnkd.in/e-W63Y-v

The Secure 2.0 Act passed in 2022 provided a new 'escape valve' for individuals who, for whatever reason, found themselves with more funds in their 529 plan than they could use on qualified higher education expenses. The new law created the ability for a 529 plan beneficiary to roll funds over tax-free from a 529 plan to a Roth IRA, subject to several key limitations. Kitces Senior Planning Nerd Ben Henry-Moreland, CFP?, EA shares important details to note: -The "15-Year" Rule For The 529 Plan Itself -The "5-Year" Rule For Contributions To The 529 Plan -How Earned Income Impacts Annual Rollover Limits https://lnkd.in/efXjupwH #advicers