March 2025 • www . fa-mag . com

KNOWLEDGE FOR THE SOPHISTICATED ADVISOR

Judith Lee , senior vice president and wealth management advisor at Lee Casey Group , Merrill Lynch in Bedminster , N . J .

Safe Spaces Wealthy families seek physical security .

A Home

Insurance Crisis Homes in disasterprone areas could be uninsurable .

The New Asset Allocation

Problem

There are more small caps in indexes than you think .

ARCH WAS CHRISTENED WOMEN ’ S HISTORY Month in 1987 , a year of some significance to the financial advice profession .

That significance had little to do with the stock market crash on October 19 of that year and everything to do with the reorientation of the business away from selling tax-shelter partnerships and toward holistic financial planning advice . The sad truth is that financial planners were often known at the time as the people selling limited partnerships , a strategy that blew up after tax reform in 1986 eliminated tax deductions for the investments .

What emerged from the carnage was a far more viable , promising profession whose value proposition resonated with the first generation of investors working in the post-pension era .

This month , Financial Advisor shines a spotlight on female members of the generation who followed the founders and helped build the advisory firms that today populate most of the nation ’ s major regional markets . It ’ s fair to say that women have played an outsize role in the professionalization of the field .

The nine women featured here explain how they did it and what advice they ’ d offer to young people just starting out in the business . Many of the issues they are dealing with will be addressed next month at our Invest In Women conference in Boston .

Elsewhere in this issue , senior writer Ben Mattlin examines the homeownership insurance crisis , while contributor Jude Scaglione looks at how climate change is affecting the municipal bond market . Homeownership and climate change are increasingly interconnected , with the latter driving up insurance rates

It ’ s fair to say that women have played an outsize role in the professionalization of the field .

A Look At Leading Women Advisors

and the total costs of a home , putting the ownership dream further out of reach for many young Americans .

Dan Moisand , a prominent advisor and familiar contributor to many Financial Advisor readers , returns to these pages from a stint as head of the CFP Board to talk about the mergers and acquisitions environment , albeit from a different perspective than others have . His RIA firm has not taken any investments from private equity ( though it has attracted interest ). But Moisand and his partners do find themselves frequently approached by young advisors whose firms have sold stakes to outside investors . These advisors are concerned about the future direction of their firms under different ownership structures .

If you are concerned about the outsize weight of the Magnificent 7 in the S & P 500 , you should read the article by Steve Ellis of Colorado Capital Management on page 39 . The dominance of these giant large-cap growth stocks has been well-chronicled , but Steve sheds light on this subject through a lens you probably haven ’ t considered .

Those are just a few of the articles you ’ ll want to read in this month ’ s issue .

Evan Simonoff

Email me at esimonoff @ famagazine . com with your opinion .

10 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025 WWW . FA-MAG . COM