Road To Independence

Some Simple, Practical Steps to Saving Your Bacon. Plus, It’s Audit Time, Again

Mike Patton — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:42:12 +0000

While attending the TradePMR conference in Orlando recently, advisor and tech guru Joel Bruckenstein discussed advisor technology tools. Part of his presentation was about backing up our computer files. I’ve often wondered what would happen if my computer’s hard drive were to crash. Although some applications are Web-based and would not be affected, I would [...]

Getting More Efficient Through Paperless and Aggregation

Mike Patton — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:01:33 +0000

Last week I attended my second TradePMR conference. This year’s conference was in Orlando and was important on a number of fronts. Let me begin by sharing what I perceived to be Trade’s overall approach to the one-and-a-half-day event. They had three main speakers covering the following topics: business operations including marketing, technology tools, and [...]

Building Portfolios on the Road to Independence—Part IV: The Role and Use of Alternative Investments

Mike Patton — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:54:56 +0000

When I think about the portfolio construction process it brings to mind a few good books I’ve read over the years. Books like: “Asset Allocation,” by Roger Gibson, “Random Walk,” by Burton Malkiel, and of course there’s Fabozzi’s “Handbook of Fixed Income Securities,” and Ibbotson’s annual edition of “SBBI Yearbook.” But one of my more [...]

Building Portfolios on the Road to Independence. Part III: The Role and Use of Equities

Mike Patton — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:35:46 +0000

The topic this week is how I use stocks in building client portfolios. First let me say that I do not consider myself a stock picker. I learned years ago that trying to forecast the price of an individual issue in the near term is very difficult, if not impossible. Around 1997, while working for the [...]

Building Portfolios on the Road to Independence. Part II: The Role and Use of Bonds

Mike Patton — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:47:46 +0000

Last week I discussed the first stage of my portfolio construction process. Clearly, this was a difficult task to complete in a 400-500 word essay as it omits many important issues from the discussion. Before I move on to this week’s topic, let me make one thing perfectly clear, I do not believe I (nor [...]

Building Portfolios on the Road to Independence

Mike Patton — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:48:20 +0000

When I started this blog back in May 2007, the intent was to write about the day-to-day issues I faced as an independent advisor. Now, after 140 postings, we’re going to try something a little different. Though I will still write about my weekly adventures, the topics will coincide with the focus of the magazine [...]

Another Conflict of Interest Avoided: Working for a Bank

Mike Patton — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:32:15 +0000

2010 is starting off with a bang! In fact, January may be my best month since I started down this “road to independence” just under three years ago. Moreover, income now exceeds expenses with some left over. Why has it taken almost three years? When your business is “fee-only” it takes much longer to get [...]

Business Is Picking Up

Mike Patton — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:55:06 +0000

As I approach the end of my third year as an independent RIA, I am very glad to have made the decision to leave the security and culture of the banking and wirehouse world. When I reflect back to my first year of independence, there were many bumps in the road. Establishing an infrastructure, settin [...]

Picking Up the Pieces With a New Client

Mike Patton — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:37:10 +0000

Operating an advisory business is a little like hosting a radio talk show; you never know what question or situation you’re going to encounter. Both require a broad base of knowledge or at least a quick reference to the answer, as no one can possibly know everything about every issue. If your business model is [...]

In a New Year and Decade, Gratitude Looking Back

Mike Patton — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:26:34 +0000

With 2009 behind us and a New Year and decade ahead, I’d like to take a moment to reflect back on the last few years to say “thank you” to some special people. In my younger days, I thought my success or failure would depend solely on my effort or lack thereof. I reasoned that if [...]