July 16, 2021

The pandemic served to accelerate major trends in the investment advisory industry says Financial Advisor Magazine; mergers and acquisitions, expanding use of technology and flex-time work in particular. Reporter Eric Rasmussen asks our Bill Bahl if there will be permanent structural changes in the way firms operate:

“We believe hours worked is higher in a remote setting than it might be in an office setting. If somebody lives 25 minutes from town … when you get ready to get in the car, park your car, get in the elevator, get your cup of coffee, you’re basically losing 45 minutes on each side.” That’s an hour and a half a day people could be doing client research, he claims. “People are working at a cadence that suits them. Which in some cases could be 10 o’clock at night.”

(With regard to the cost of doing business) He says his firm invested a lot in technology last year.  “So our fixed costs went up,” he says. “But the market also went up more than our fixed costs. So profitability in the industry I actually believe is more robust, certainly than it was a year ago at the bottom of the pandemic.”

 

William Bahl, CFA, CIC
Co-Founder, Chairman,
Portfolio Manager

Read the full article HERE (a subscription may be required).