1. Why Geopolitics Now Drives Portfolio Performance

Geopolitics now sits at the centre of the portfolio conversation. Clients still walk into meetings focused on performance, yet the forces shaping that performance increasingly come from defense budgets, trade policy, alliance structures, and security strategy, rather than from earnings cycles alone. — Nigel Green

2. The Market & Economic Themes That Will Shape 2026

Market positioning in recent months has been heavily tilted toward the optimism scenarios of sustained growth, broadening AI adoption, and a soft landing for the economy. This sentiment contributed to driving markets higher in the second half of 2025. While this is largely expected to continue into 2026, there remains the possibility that meaningful headwinds emerge. Sticky inflation, faltering growth momentum, or concentrated AI benefits could push consensus into caution territory — triggering a repricing across both equities and fixed income. Ultimately, the divergence between these potential outcomes underscores the importance of assessing risk tolerances and ensuring portfolios are diversified and aligned with long-term objectives so that investors feel empowered to weather any short- term turbulence. — Lincoln Financial

3. The Agentic Shift: What Five Years of AI Progress Really Delivered

What a difference five years makes, right? Thinking back five years ago, were we so bad off? Before all this AI stuff? Didn’t we have amazing tools? Well, yes and no. Because AI isn’t exactly new. I mean Alan Turing was talking about “a machine that thinks” way back in 1936. But yet today, it’s all different than even five years ago. — Jeff Rubingh

4. Starting 2026 Strong: 10 Growth Strategies Every Financial Advisor Needs

I walk you through the first five of the 10 strategies I use with advisors to set up a strong start to 2026. I explain why it’s essential to truly close the book on 2025 and evaluate your performance beyond revenue and AUM, so you can see what actually worked and what didn’t. We dig into client acquisition, retention, referrals, and why strong markets can create a false sense of success if you’re not paying attention to execution. — Joseph Lukacs

5. Seven Ways To Get in Social Circles (That Keep You Out)

Are you a financial planner, accountant or financial advisor? Do you buy into the social networking strategy of gaining acceptance into HNW circles, making friends and letting people know what you do? If the answer is yes, the first challenge is identifying and gaining entry into the right groups. How do you do it? Gaining entry is complicated by the reality these circles are pretty good at keeping people out. They have had experience with people who join for self-serving reasons. People in the financial services industry have been assigned this label for years. So, how do you get in? — Bryce Sanders

6. The Two Signals That Matter Most for Stocks in 2026

We’re coming off the third “up” year in a row for US stocks. While this may seem frothy, it’s perfectly normal. Stocks have risen for at least three consecutive years 11 times over the past century. Can we pull off four in a row? Yes. It’s happened seven times since 1928. January is a great time to pause and reset expectations. But the whole “year ahead outlook” ritual is a little ridiculous. The calendar flips, and suddenly everyone pretends they can see 12 months into the future. If I truly knew what was going to happen next year, I wouldn’t wait until January to bring it up. — Stephen McBride

7. Market Outlook for 2026: Positioning Portfolios for What Comes Next

Markets ended 2025 on a firm footing despite volatility across asset classes and sectors. The S&P 500 finished the year up 16.4%, marking its third consecutive annual gain. The Nasdaq led major indexes with a 20.4% increase, reflecting investor demand for growth stocks and renewed enthusiasm for AI-related sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained nearly 13%, lagging the broader market but still posting a solid return driven by financials and industrials. — Lance Roberts

8. Wall Street Has a Number for 2026. We Have 14 Better Questions.

It’s that time of year when every Wall Street analyst posts their forecast for where the S&P 500 will close at the end of 2026. This year, as in every other, Wall Street expects the S&P 500 to post positive returns. As shown below, Bank of America is the most cautious, with a 3% gain, while Deutsche Bank and Capital Economics are the most bullish. On average, the analysts shown below forecast a 10.5% return in 2026, below last year’s 16% but slightly above the longer-term average. — Michael Lebowitz

9. Clients Don’t Leave Over Performance—They Leave Over These 10 Missed Moments

What if the reason your practice isn’t growing isn’t your marketing… or your portfolio construction… or your pricing — but the handful of “sure things” you’re accidentally skipping on your busiest weeks? Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most advisors don’t lose clients over performance. They lose clients due to silence, friction, ambiguity, and inconsistency—the things that never show up on a statement but always show up in a relationship And the most successful advisors? They aren’t doing exotic things. They’re doing the obvious things with uncommon discipline. — Jeff Thorsteinson

10. Solving Retirement’s Toughest Tradeoff

You've seen this client before — the one who's accumulated a comfortable retirement nest egg, maybe a pension, and of course Social Security. Clients like this know how to work. And they know how to save. But do they know how to spend? When it comes time to start taking income from their retirement savings — to start depleting the asset — they might find themselves facing a stark decision. — Patricia Taylor

11. Your Future Self Has a Plan: 4 Steps to Resolutions That Actually Get Done

Every year, everyone makes some kind of New Year’s resolution. And every year, nearly 9 out of 10 fail in the first two weeks. Perhaps we try again after that first failure, but by March, most of us make a familiar promise: next year, I’ll do it the right way. The next year rolls around, and the same resolutions fall by the wayside. It’s the most common act of collective failure we witness every year. We often diagnose the problem as a lack of discipline or motivation, that we don’t “want it” enough. The real problem is the method. — Tom West