SALES BULLETIN Marketing News for Centaurus Representatives
March 2023: Featured Exhibitor | Simplicity Group
Simplicity Group strives to bring agents the best solutions in the areas of retirement income planning, estate planning, deferred compensation and charitable giving. The organization emphasizes integrity as it secures solutions for its customers and looks to all carriers for answers to complex planning strategies. Simplicity provides wholesale support to Centaurus Advisors for their insurance and annuity business.
CLICK HERE for more information on Simplicity Group.
Product Leaders
Variable Annuities
• Jackson Perspective II
• Sammons Livewell VA
• Allianz Index Advantage
• Pacific Life Choice 2
• AXA Structured Capital Strategies Plus
Fixed & Indexed Annuities
• Allianz Benefit Control
• Nationwide New Heights
• Athene Protector
• Security Benefit Advance Choice
• Midland National Guarantee Pro
Mutual Funds
• Franklin Income
• AMF Growth Fund
• Invesco Van Kampen
• Sammons Livewell Mutual Fund
• AMF Money Market
Variable Life
• Equitable COIL
• Nationwide BOA
• Lincoln Life Asset Edge VUL
• Pacific Life Select
• Mass Mutual VUL
Fixed & Indexed Life
• Allianz Life Pro Plus
• Pacific Discovery Xelerator IUL
• American United Asset Care
• Pacific Life Xelerator
• MN Strategic Accelerator
NEWS FROM: INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES
Jackson National: Inflation’s Dramatic Return
Take a deep dive into the state of inflation today. And get insights from Jackson’s in-depth Inflation Perspectives study to see what retirees are saying about their concerns and pain points and how inflation is impacting their investment plans.
Brighthouse: How to Retire in a Volatile Market
No one can control when market volatility will hit. But when it comes to the impact of market fluctuations on investments, it’s worth knowing that overall market results may not mirror what’s happening with your retirement portfolio. A critical first step during any market downturn is to stay focused on long-term financial goals. Consider these six steps to help weather unpredictable markets during retirement or just before.
Equitable: How Planning for Tomorrow Can Ease Uncertainty Today
Not knowing the future creates physical and emotional stress. Making the right kind of plan can help you cope — and move forward. Across the United States, the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has created a secondary pandemic of individual and collective uncertainty, throwing the future into question. The good news? According to experts, there also are effective ways to cope with that stress and distress.
Nationwide: Stay Focused When News Breaks
Investors today have an abundance of information at their fingertips. News of significant market events arrives in real time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, easily accessible with a few clicks of a mouse or the swipe of a thumb. Despite the prevalence and access to investment information, individual investors still struggle to find success in the financial markets. The average investor continues to underperform broad market indexes — a trend that has been in place for many years and continues to this day. While there are many causes for this underperformance, frequent trading (often at inopportune times) is the primary culprit. Much of the frequent trading happens as individual investors react to news headlines.
OneAmerica: A Win-Win Approach to Retaining Key People
Your most important business assets are your people. Without them, the business loses ground, and, in many cases, dies. Even the most loyal employee or committed owner may consider a departure. And, every employee will at some point face retirement, disability or death. See how life insurance can help retain employees and protect your business.
Allianz: How to Invest When Inflation is High
Inflation is high in much of the developed world, although there are signs headline inflationary pressures may be waning. But higher prices may stick around. Core inflation, excluding volatile food and energy prices, are likely still to peak.
NEWS FROM: INVESTMENT MANAGERS
PIMCO: Bonds are Back
Tony Crescenzi and host John Nersesian take a deep dive into today’s bond market and the impact of Fed policy, how investors should be thinking about their fixed income allocations now, and the compelling opportunities presented by higher starting yields across sectors. To explore investment strategies for every market, visit pimco.com/outcomes.
Franklin Templeton: Recession, Inflation and Duration Considerations
From a macroeconomic perspective, 2022 centered around the actions of reserve banks around the world. While the fight against inflation continues into 2023, the discussions are more focused on recession and potential weakness in the U.S. dollar.
American Funds: 4 Ways to Stay Calm When Markets Stumble
In the eyes of veteran financial advisor Tim McCabe, there is no better time to talk about market shocks than right now. So, on February 28, 2020, just as news media were reporting the spread of the coronavirus to Italy and South Korea — and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Composite index was finishing a seven-day slide of more than 12% — McCabe and a colleague met with a young client to discuss his investments, the news of the day and the related market volatility.
Allspring: A Domino Effect
The banking turmoil that originated among smaller regional players in the U.S. has claimed its first overseas victim in Credit Suisse. Although its $3.2 billion government-backed acquisition by UBS is intended to allay fears of global systemic risk, investors remain skeptical that there are more dominos to fall as the world digests the impact of higher interest rates due to central bank policies around the globe. Credit Suisse Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds have received a lot of attention following news of the acquisition. Given that the acquisition involves financial support from the Swiss government, AT1 bondholders will be wiped out, even though Credit Suisse equity holders will receive 1 UBS share for every 22.5 Credit Suisse shares held.
NEWS FROM: ADVISORY
CLASSIC Plus FlexUMA
Product Leaders Advisory
• Centaurus CLASSIC +
• SEI
• Freedom Advisors
• The Pacific Financial Group
• CLASSIC Plus FlexUMA
CLASSIC Plus FlexUMA is a Unified Managed Account (UMA) solution that provides a powerful and integrated investment platform for IARs to grow their business and provide robust advisory solutions to clients. FlexUMA features ETF Select and UMA/Multi-Manager portfolio models that can be utilized individually or blended together for custom allocations. FlexUMA is available on the TD Ameritrade Institutional platform.
ETF Select
A low-cost turnkey solution for smaller and price-sensitive clients that provides a selection of managed, risk-based portfolios from leading ETF strategists (BlackRock, Morningstar and Vanguard).
UMA/Multi-Manager
UMA/Multi-Manager provides a selection of single- or multi-manager models from industry-leading and boutique managers under one platform. It also provides access to a vast array of models such as stop-loss strategies, sector rotation, tax-free income, inflation protection, global markets, institutional investing, hard assets, alternatives and many more.
CLASSIC Plus Morningstar Managed Portfolios
Morningstar® Managed PortfoliosSM provide IARs with the ability to open actively managed ETF and Select Equity Portfolios within a Pershing advisory account on the CLASSIC Plus platform. The Morningstar ETF Portfolios consist of core models from conservative to aggressive growth that are actively managed to create diversified, low-cost and tax-efficient portfolios for your clients. The Select Equity Portfolios provide a series of model and customizable portfolios spanning the stock market that combine the professional management of Morningstar with the advantages of having a separately managed account.
SEI: Research Reveals Pension Ownership Gap
SEI in February unveiled new research conducted in 2022 that reveals more can be done to drive pension engagement and ownership. Despite positive progress, with more than 10 million people now auto-enrolled in a workplace pension plan, nearly three-quarters (74%) of workplace pension savers reported low or no ownership of their pensions. According to the “Creating an Ownership Mindset” report, nearly three-fifths (59%) of members do not feel connected to their pensions, with most of those being people with less saved. Over half (52%) of those with plans of between £50,000 ($60,283.75) and £100,000 ($120,567.50) at the time said that they felt disconnected from their pensions, while three in 10 (31%) of those with savings over £100,000 indicated they felt this way.
SEM: Eternal Optimism
It’s probably hard for most people to understand that 25 years ago the Federal Reserve was quite secretive and didn’t have the sole (perceived) focus of keeping the stock market afloat. Then, in 1998, the Federal Reserve decided to bail out a handful of Wall Street banks that were overexposed to a quite risky currency bet, and the “Fed Put” was created. A put option is a derivative contract that can be purchased to protect an investment from additional downside. It allows investors to take on more risk knowing they have a defined risk level. Today, the Fed Put is much more prevalent.
TPFG: The Real March Madness
March Madness, as we know it, came from humble beginnings to describe the excitement surrounding the Illinois state high school basketball tournaments. The term first appeared in print almost 60 years ago and is credited to Henry Porter, a teacher and coach at Athens High School in central Illinois. The term became associated with the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 1982, when CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger used it during his coverage of the tournament. When it comes to the current investment landscape and the economic environment we are living, the real Madness in March is when good news becomes bad news for investment portfolios and bad news is good news!
Advisors Capital Management: SVB Fallout
Silicon Valley Bank’s failure requires significant intervention by the Fed and Treasury. That has already happened and by guaranteeing all bank deposits, the flight out of banks should run out of steam. However, there are many issues that remain here. So, let’s address them one at a time. First – Many companies, mostly tech firms, had much or all their cash at SVB. Without the guarantee of those the deposits, many of those companies would fail, with broader ripple effects. Things like payroll and vendor payments were at risk. So, the government’s guarantee of the deposits will go a long way to stem these concerns.
OceanPark: Episodes of Rising Interest Rates
Changes in interest rate levels are the primary driver of returns for U.S. Treasury bonds and high-quality corporate bonds. A sharp rise in long-term rates often leads to losses for investors in these “conservative” asset classes. The Sierra Tactical Core Income Fund’s (SSIRX) truly tactical, rules-based discipline allows the asset allocation to adapt to the overall fixed income environment.
Flexible Plan: Q4 2022 Market Update
The major U.S. stock market indexes were up the week starting February 27. The S&P 500 increased by 2.10%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.75%, the NASDAQ Composite was up 2.58% and the Russell 2000 small-capitalization index rose 2.00%. The 10-year Treasury bond yield rose 1 basis point to 3.95%, taking Treasury bonds lower for the week. Spot gold closed the week at $1,856.48, up 2.51%.
Q3 Asset Management: Add 12 Business Owner Clients in the Next 90 Days
Traditionally, businesses in multiple employer plans had to be related by industry or association (such as a trade group). The PEP allows unrelated companies the benefits of economies of scale. A Pooled Employer Plan is the latest evolution in the US retirement marketplace and a key provision of the first SECURE Act enacted in 2019. PEPs allows multiple employers of any size to pool their retirement plans into a single 401(k) plan. While member employers participate in a single pooled plan, each employer can choose plan design features to meet unique needs.
Envestnet: What happened with Silicon Valley Bank SVB’s collapse was driven by several contributing factors. A large percentage of SVB’s clients were venture capital companies and their executives. These tech companies – many of them startups - were dependent on their deposits with SVB to make payroll. Given the focus on the wealthy tech sector, a large portion of SVB’s deposits exceeded the FDIC insurance limit of $250,000. SVB took in significant deposits in 2021. This growth in deposits was in part due to a good environment for tech startups, but also was a result of the government’s stimulus plan in response to Covid. Nationwide, bank deposits surged following the implementation of the plan as stimulus funds were made available.
NEWS FROM: ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS
Product Leaders
Alternatives
• US Energy
• Waveland
• Cottonwood
• Mill Green Partners
• Triton Pacific
MacKenzie Realty Capital: Quarterly Dividend Increases After Pandemic
MacKenzie Realty Capital Inc., a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust, announced an increase in its regular quarterly dividend, now at the rate of $0.125 per share. MacKenzie also increased its regular quarterly dividend to $0.115 per share in January 2022 and $0.105 per share for the third quarter of 2022.
DI Wire: Biden’s Budget Proposal Again Seeks to Eliminate 1031 Exchanges
The Biden Administration released its 2024 budget plan the week of March 6. The plan proposes sweeping tax increases on investors and the nation’s highest earners. Once again it contains a proposal to eliminate like-kind exchanges that allow for deferral for capital gains taxes under Internal Revenue Code Section 1031.
