How to Stay Current on What You Need to Know as an Advisor

Commentary December 09, 2013 at 08:00 AM
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As part of my series of blogs on making plans for 2014, I'd like to share with you a list of important news sources that I use to stay current on news that will affect the markets and my clients.

Back in the days of the Pony Express, news traveled very slowly, but in these days there's more news happening more quickly than one person, even an advisor, can follow. So if you want to stay abreast of current events you must do two things. First, leverage technology to increase the efficiency with which you receive the news. Second, go directly to the source rather than solely rely on a third-party news outlet which will only report what that outlet deems relevant. With this as a backdrop, I'll share some information on a few subscription services which are particularly helpful for an investment advisor. 

The subscriptions will include information on a broad array of topics.

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

  • Housing
  • Manufacturing
  • GDP
  • Durable Goods
  • Personal Income

Clicking on the highlighted links below will allow you to subscribe to the agencies' newsletters. 

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

  • Unemployment (national, regional, state)
  • CPI
  • PPI
  • Productivity
  • Mass Layoffs
  • Import/Export

Healthcare Marketplace

  • Business Updates
  • Consumer Updates

Social Security Administration (SSA)

  • Retirement Benefit Updates
  • Medicare Updates

US Dept. of Treasury

  • Interest Rate Data
  • Yield Curve Data

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

  • Tax Stats
  • Tax Tips
  • Private Letter Rulings (PLR)
  • Tax Law Changes 

FDIC

  • Bank Closures
  • Bank Stats

Federal Reserve Board (FRB)

Federal Reserve Board of New York

  • Global Economic Updates
  • National Economic Updates
  • Manufacturing Survey
  • Beige Book

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

  • Fraud and Scam Alerts
  • Tips to Avoid Frauds and Scams

Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp (PBGC)

  • Retirement Plan Updates

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

  • Securities Rules & Regulation Updates
  • Enforcement Actions

Small Business Administration (SBA)

  • Small Business Webinar Notices
  • Special Funding Programs
  • Small Business Assistance

I've inserted the URLs for these different agencies' websites where you can subscribe. Of course, the more subscriptions you initiate, the more time you'll need to devote to reading them. Hence, you might start with those you believe would be most useful and add others over time. I'm sure you'll find some have greater value than others, but since they're all free, there's no risk. If you decide later that you don't want to continue one of these, you can easily unsubscribe. 

Thanks for reading and have a great week! Feel free to share with me some of your planning tips as 2014 approaches.

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