Have profit margins risen to a permanently higher plateau? Are average Americans better off than they were a generation ago? I had the opportunity to discuss those questions, which are centrally important to investing and economic policy, with Jeremy Grantham a couple of weeks ago.

Here are our Venerated Voices™ awards for commentaries published in 2017. Rankings were issued in three categories: The Top 25 Venerated Voices™ by Firm, The Top 25 Venerated Voices™ by Author and The Top 10 Venerated Voices™ by Commentary.

Everyone has clients who take up more than their share of time. A recent email from an advisor raised the question of how to manage this when it becomes more than a minor irritant.

Here are some tips on the best ways to network, engage people and get results. LinkedIn can be a great tool to research, see what others are doing, learn new information and meet people. But it is becoming abused as a way to find prospects and pitch to them.

The straw that nearly broke my holiday spirit for me was a card from my postman. It wished me a very happy holiday and best wishes for the New Year. He signed his first name.

This Christmas we had an ugly sweater party. In honor of that event here are the most unattractive things I consistently see on advisor websites. Just like the tacky sweater, let these five unbecoming blights collect dust instead of allowing them to appear on your website.

Helping someone in ways other than reaching their financial goals is a powerful, yet seldom-used way to convert prospects to clients.

If your 2017 marketing results didn’t generate the leads you wanted, you were probably guilty of some of the problems below. As you put together your marketing strategy for 2018, here’s how to avoid screwing up.

You can’t take your material possessions with you to your grave. Here’s how to use donor-advised funds to help clients use their wealth in the most meaningful way.

Here are some reminders to add to your list of New Year’s resolutions. These are compiled from the thousands of inquiries I get via this column and in my consulting work every week of the year.

This is part of our weekly poll series - it takes one minute and once you submit your response you'll be taken to a page where you can see the results. Continue the conversation on the results page about why you chose your answer by clicking on "COMMENT ON" APViewpoint link.

As a shareholder, you do well to place more emphasis on risk than on reward. Corporate management usually does the opposite, and this is why most large acquisitions fail.

Much as I want to know the future, I’ve long since recognized the dangers of our addiction to predictions, which are usually heralded by so-called market gurus. I’ll give you seven surefire ways to spot those purveyors of bad advice, but first let’s look at a far more useful set of forecasts.

The number-one skill elite gamblers and investors cite is the ability to calculate the odds of winning or losing on any hand, bet, trade or strategy. Those who do the calculation have a distinct advantage over those who don’t.

Great articles don’t always get the readership they deserve. We’ve posted the 10 most-widely read practice-management articles for the past year. Below are another 10 that you might have missed, but I believe merit reading.

At this time of year, I’m often asked for ideas to help cope with family-related issues. As a gift to our readers, I’ll pass on my best ideas for you to share with your clients as needed.

As is our custom, we conclude the year by reflecting on the 10 most-read articles over the past 12 months. The list below reflects articles focused on practice management.

Tesla is an uninvestable stock, not just because of its high valuation but also because it fails a fairly basic quality test, which I shamelessly borrowed from Warren Buffett.

Great articles don’t always get the readership they deserve. Below are another 10 investing-, economics- and financial planning-related articles that you might have missed, but I believe merit reading.

As is our custom, we conclude the year by reflecting on the 10 most-read articles over the past 12 months. The list below reflects articles focused on investing, economics and financial planning.

Jeremy Grantham co-founded GMO in 1977 and serves as the firm’s chief investment strategist. Lucas White is the lead portfolio manager for the GMO Climate Change Strategy. In this interview, Jeremy and Lucas discus the risks and opportunities in climate-change-focused investing.

The combined tax reform proposal includes plans to lower tax rates on individuals and businesses and change many deductions. Those hoping for tax simplification, however, may be disappointed. Here’s a thorough but concise summary of the plan.

Clients focus on their portfolio performance numbers – not just against goals, but against the benchmark. Could we do a better job of explaining why the benchmark isn’t apples-to-apples?

The most successful wealth managers focus on all the types of wealth, not just what their Bloomberg terminals display. This often includes an assessment of a wide range of non-financial aspects of wealth, such as family relationships, jealousy, fairness, personalities, openness and many other factors.

There are eight lessons that other firms can learn from my experience as they look to bring digital advisory solutions into their businesses.

There’s a lot of information about how to engage others. My research shows much of this advice is wide of the mark. A story about how someone engaged a group of passengers whose flight was hopelessly delayed showed the power of my research and how it can be applied to interactions with your clients.

Tesla may or may not be around in five years. Mass producing a car is an incredibly difficult, capital-intensive undertaking.

I compare the performance of the Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Fund (VSMGX), which holds static investments of 60% equity and 40% bond funds, with a model holding identical assets, but which switches to 100% bond funds during equity down-market periods.

This article describes three major methods of investing in international equity markets. They include bottom-up stock picking, “hybrid” stock picking and investing in funds or ETFs that closely follow broad-based international indices. The article also describes the fourth, alternative, method of international equity investing: construction of portfolios from single-country equity ETFs.

A report issued by the CFPB in August 2017 claimed that using a reverse mortgage to delay Social Security is a bad idea. This report gained a lot of press coverage and is likely serving as the primary resource for people seeking to learn more about the matter. I will provide the analysis that shows why the CFPB is wrong.

I help advisors convert prospects into clients, often restructuring the way they communicate. Here are three costly but common errors. To keep the clients you worked so hard to convert you can’t afford to make these errors.

If sanctions against a target regime can be thought of as antibiotics, then North Korea has largely become drug-resistant. Indeed, North Korea is exhibiting “superbug” traits, increasingly impervious to sanctions, according to John Park.

I have plenty of time in my schedule, which permits me to take on new business, expand my writing and engage in other work-related activities. Here’s my secret, which I’m happy to share.

The focus of the sexual harassment issue is on women being victimized by men. I, however, have been victimized by women in business as well as personally.

The most successful sales people and advisors effortlessly build quick and strong personal connections with clients. By being great storytellers they come across as more empathetic, human, and personable.

Advisors tell me referrals are “drying up” – and industry data backs this up. Here are the reasons behind this trends and what advisors should do to restart the flow of high-quality referrals.

The following are some commonly asked questions and concerns I’ve heard from advisors about 401Ks, target-date funds and retirement.

This article is in response to Kerry Pechter’s article, The Ambiguity of Tax Deferral. In contrast to the idea that there are different, but valid, ways to look at traditional tax-deferred 401(k) and IRA accounts, I show that there are right and wrong conceptual models. Wrong models lead to wrong decisions and do not explain outcomes.

Most research on retirement strategies assumes that people have saved adequately. But data on household savings shows that many households fall short, and will need to call on relatives or other sources for support. This raises questions about the best withdrawal or annuity strategies when savings are insufficient. It turns out that which strategy works best is different than for adequately funded retirements.

We decided to remove this article, particularly in light of the tragic event in New York City this morning. We were reporting on a talk given by John Brennan, a former CIA director. But, in retrospect, we believe it is inappropriate to take lessons from organizations like Al Qaeda and ISIS. We apologize for publishing this article.

Ever since I wrote my last article about naming an RIA firm I’ve been inundated with requests to review firm names. I appreciate that! But I also want to clarify what you need to understand about your brand before you can come up with the words to capture it.

Easy monetary policies during the post-crisis period have propelled equity prices higher and driven bond yields lower. But as central banks reverse their quantitative easing (QE) and raise rates, this “Goldilocks era” will come to an end, according to Jeffrey Gundlach.

With changes coming to the tax code, we look at its impact on investors and how long growth stocks will continue to outperform their value counterparts.

Is it prudent for me to reach out to the women in my firm and ask whether I have done anything that made them uncomfortable?

There are two primary ways to get leads. One is through referrals and/or centers-of-influence (COIs); these are based on word-of-mouth recommendations. But I am going to focus on your website and social media traffic, as these are things over which you have more control.

Persuading people to change their mind about anything is daunting. It is crucial to understand the research about what is effective.

I’ve been asked about Bitcoin a lot lately. I’ haven’t written anything about it because I find myself in an uncomfortable place in agreeing with the mainstream media: It’s a bubble. Bitcoin started out as what I’d call “millennial gold” – the young (digital) generation looked at it as their gold substitute.

When you look at your 401(k) or 403(b) or rollover IRA, do you see a two-sleeve account, where you contributed about 80% and the federal government contributed about 20%? Or do you feel like the account contains only your money, with no help from your Uncle Sam?

Wade Pfau has written an important book: How Much Can I Spend in Retirement?: A Guide to Investment-Based Retirement Income Strategies. It should be read by not just financial planners, but also all investment advisors who work with individual accounts.