Financial advisors often promote their services by saying that they can help remove emotions from investing. In theory, advisors can use a variety of risk management tools, knowledge of capital markets, and long-term investing perspectives to help their clients avoid making costly knee jerk reactions.

Brexit is just one example, but it can be a powerful case study for advisors seeking to help clients understand why emotions should be curtailed by financial professionals who are armed with capital markets expertise.

In the months leading up to the Brexit referendum, markets climbed and declined in response to changing expectations for how the country’s citizens would vote. In the final days before the vote, investor sentiment strengthened as pundits increasingly said a vote in favor of the U.K. pulling out of the European Union was unlikely.

Many investors had previously feared that Brexit would hinder economic growth in Europe and create a challenging environment for U.S. companies and business in other countries that sell products in the continent.

Indeed, Brexit is likely to mean that U.K. will have to forge new trade agreements with individual members of the European Union and is likely to have to do the same with U.S. exporters.

When the Brexit referendum surprisingly determined that voters want to leave the U.K., panic ensured. On June 24, when the results were released, U.S. equities dropped approximately 3%. It was the worst single-day decline for the S&P 500 in nearly a year and wiped away the index’s gain for 2016, according CNBC.

By the end of June 27, the index had dropped 4.07%. The decline, however, was only temporary. Indeed, during the last three days of June, the S&P climbed 4.95% and, as of July 8, had generated a total return of 4.21% year-to-date.

Investors who panicked by selling in the days immediately after Brexit are likely to have sold during a dip, only to miss the strong returns when equities bounced back. With that in mind, advisors should explain to their clients that panic selling often results in selling low and then missing out on the strong returns that typically follow market dips.

They should explain, furthermore, that using portfolio diversification to cushion declines, maintaining a long-term perspective, and understanding the role of corporate fundamentals can go a long way in helping investors avoid panic selling.

Advisors should develop illustrations that show how having a mix of asset classes could have reduced the impact upon a portfolio of the post-Brexit market decline and that portfolio rebalancing may have resulted in buying equities during the market dip.

They should also show index performance numbers that illustrate how riding out historical market declines, including the correction associated with the Great Recession, would have allowed investors to recoup losses and then eventually achieve additional gains.

Finally, advisors should point out that corporate fundamentals don’t justify a major prolonged market correction. While overall corporate earnings in the U.S. have taken a hit due to cheap oil, many industries, such as Information Technology, are experiencing strong sales and improving profits.

Innovation, meanwhile, is allowing companies like Amazon.com and Netflix to rapidly grow their earnings by disrupting traditional business models with technology. At the same time, corporations are holding near record levels of cash, which is allowing them to buy back stock, launch dividends, and conduct mergers and acquisitions at near record levels.

All of those actions provide additional support to stock prices. The U.S. economy is also likely to support corporate fundamentals. While U.S. economic growth has been slow, many developments are encouraging, with the labor market strengthening, real estate values increasing, and consumers’ finances improving.

Collecting Social Security early can help retirees assess how much they can spend because the payments are consistent. So reports Wealth Management.

Also, proponents of waiting typically point to the 8% payment increase you get for delaying the payments. However, the nominal annualized reture when waiting a year is less than 8% and retirees will miss out on a full year of payments. 

Lastly, collecting Social Security may be more attractive than withdrawing money from an IRA when considering taxes.

Read the full article from Wealth Management.

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently awarded a whistleblower $3 million for information that helped the regulator crack a complex case of fraud. So reports ThinkAdvisor. The program was established more than three years ago and has paid out more than $50 million to whistleblowers.

Read the full article from Think Advisor.

Robert Renshaw has joined Edison, N.J.-based Fountainhead Capital Management as senior financial strategist. So reports TapintoEdison.

Fountainhead Managing Partner Marc Rock says Renshaw’s strength involves understanding each client’s unique circumstances and partnering with the appropriate team members to create customized strategies.

Read the full release from TapintoEdison.

Advisors are moving away from mutual funds and toward lower-cost or more personalized products, according to a new report by financial industry data provider Cerulli Associates. So reports Financial Advisor.

Exchange-traded funds are catching up on mutual funds and their revenue sharing payments, according to Cerulli, although mutual funds are still advisors’ most broadly utilized product.

Separately managed accounts should also gain in popularity as advisors target high-net-worth clients, according to Cerulli.

Read the full article from Financial Advisor. 

Morgan Stanley strategists have warned that stocks are poised to retreat, writing, “Price is about as disconnected from reality as it’s been during this bear market.” So reports Bloomberg.

A team led by the bearish Michael Wilson said that the Federal Reserve will likely raise interest rates longer than is currently priced in by the market.

The Morgan Stanley strategists also projected an earnings recession.

Read the full article from Bloomberg.

Goldman Sachs economists have concluded that labor-market robustness and signs of growing business confidence have reduced the chances that the U.S. economy will go into a recession in the next year. So reports Business Insider.

In a recent research note, a strategist team led by Jan Hatzius cut its odds of a recession in the next 12 months to 25%, down from 35%.

The economists added, “Progress on price inflation has been particularly rapid in recent months.”

Read the full article from Business Insider.

Although the timing of a U.S. economic recession this year might be later than most analysts projected, if one happens at all, an earnings retreat is “imminent,” according to Morgan Stanley equity analyst Michael Wilson. So reports Investing.com.

Wilson, who has made some foresighted predictions, said that while a drop in natural gas prices and the reopening of China have led more investors to envision a soft landing for the economy, “bear markets have a way of fooling everyone before they’re done.”

In a note, Wilson wrote, “We advise investors to stay focused on fundamentals and ignore the false signals and misleading reflections in this bear market hall of mirrors.”

Read the full article from Investing.com.

Merrill Lynch has rung up a hefty bill for its trainees’ telemarking violations. So reports Investment News.

The firm signed consent orders with Finra and the New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation agreeing to pay the entities $700,00 apiece over cold calls made from 2018 to 2020.

The firm did not admit nor deny wrongdoing but noted that it voluntarily notified Finra about the calls to numbers on the do-not-call list.

Read the full article from Investment News.

Wells Fargo management ultimately fired a female executive after forcing her to continue working with a boss who groped and harassed her, a new lawsuit claims. So reports The Mercury News.

The woman, suing anonymously as Jane Doe, began with Wells Fargo as an executive in a Los Angeles high-net-worth unit in 2000 and was promoted to senior vice president in 2005, according to the complaint. From 2016 to 2020, the suit claims, she faced harassment by her superior Carl Nelson, a VP and senior private banker.

A spokesperson for Wells Fargo told the newspaper, “We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously.”

Read the full article from The Mercury News.

Oppenheimer & Co. has been stuck with yet another bill over a former advisor’s alleged Ponzi scheme. So reports Think Advisor.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel most recently ordered the firm to pay $14 million to multiple clients who invested in Horizon Private Equity III, a fund that never turned a profit despite touting massive returns.

That brings Oppenheimer’s total penalties relating to the fund to $52 million.

Read the full article from Think Advisor.

Toronto’s CI Financial has put on hold plans to take its U.S. wealth management unit public, instead selling a minority stake in the division to pay down debt accumulated through an acquisition spree. So reports Bloomberg.

The asset manager said that Bain Capital, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Ares Management and the state of Wisconsin were part of an investor group buying a 20% stake.

CI said the $1 billion investment values CI’s U.S. business at roughly $5.3 billion.

Read the full article from Bloomberg.

Truly committing to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) can be powerful for a business, according to Charles Schwab Advisor Services’ Leslie Tabor. She is the director of business consulting services and education at the firm. So reports Think Advisor.

Tabor says firms should think of DEI as a business competency that supports its growth. “Future clients are going to be more diverse,” she tells the publication. “The following generation will identify with one or more diverse races or ethnicities. Diversity is just good for business.”

Tabor says that last year Schwab launched “a multi-year DEI roadmap and a 12-month action plan” as part of a program for clients. The effort led to 94 advisors embarking on a “five-month learning journey” toward building a more inclusive DEI culture.

Read the full article from Think Advisor.

Merrill Lynch added 93 “experienced advisors” in the second quarter, triple the number it added in the first quarter, according to its president Andy Sieg, the president of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. So reports Advisor Hub.

The quarter’s tally marks the largest addition of experienced financial advisors since 2010. Sieg expects the hiring momentum to continue, or accelerate, throughout the year.

Read the full article from Advisor Hub.

Last year Edward Jones launched a pilot program to allow brokers to share office space. Now, the company has indicated allowing brokers to team up is coming, breaking with its longstanding solo practitioner model. So reports Advisor Hub.

By the end of 2023, each of the firm’s 19,000 advisors will be able to team up with another advisor to share a branch office. The firm is also testing allowing veteran brokers to add a junior partner.

A company executive overseeing branch development said that teaming “enables our branch teams to stay competitive and deliver on the complex needs of our clients and investors more effectively.”

Read the full article from Advisor Hub.

There have been many columns written about how millennials have rejected financial advisors in favor of self-directed platforms. But that’s not completely accurate. So reports U.S. News & World Report.

Many millennials may indeed be utilizing self-directed platforms, but that doesn’t mean they are rejecting financial advice. In fact, many may both need and be looking for financial guidance. A recent survey by the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) found that many millennials feel underprepared for retirement and this is due to inadequate financial guidance.

It would be more accurate to say millennials are rejecting the traditional role that financial advisors have played for generations, says Brian Stivers of Stivers Financial Services. Investment strategies have evolved and advisors need to as well. It can be as simple as virtual meetings, or developing e-tools.

Advisors also need to be articulate their value to millennials. And they need to remember many millennials have never experienced a real market crash.

Read the full article from the U.S. News & World Report.