I was recently lucky enough to be interviewed by Wealthtender and answer the question, as a financial advisor who specializes in serving the LGBTQIA+ community, what unique challenges do your clients often encounter, and how do you help?

One of the most daunting challenges the LGBTQIA+ community faces is finding a professional with whom they can talk to openly about their finances and who understands their lives. Financial services is a notoriously heteronormative industry. The last thing a client wants to be concerned about is being judged for who they are by their financial professional. Having a shared, lived experience with my LGBTQIA+ clients allows us to focus on the financial planning at hand without them needing to explain the rationale behind their decisions.

A lesson my community has learned over time is that we need to become experts at everything. If we want something, we have to figure out how to make it happen on our own because history has proven to us that sufficient support from other sources is rare, if it exists at all.

When it comes to financial planning and investing, the learning curve is often too steep for any professional to try to master while simultaneously developing their career in another industry. Therefore, the need for financial services is clear, but our needs are specific. And we tend to want to be engaged with in a collaborative manner.

Transparency, communication, and financial education are paramount to a successful working relationship with any client, especially LGBTQIA clients.

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When an interest rate increase or decrease is priced into the market, it means that investors are already expecting the change to happen. This is based on several factors, including the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy, economic data, and market sentiment. The fed funds futures market is a market where investors can trade contracts that are based on the future interest rate. This market is used by investors to hedge against interest rate risk and to speculate on future interest rate movements. This speculation can essentially “make the market”.

The projected fed rate decrease priced into Q4 of this year means that investors are expecting the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates in Q4. Lower interest rates could make it cheaper for businesses to borrow money, which could lead to increased investment and economic growth. When interest rates go down, bond prices go up. It may be wise to increase your bond holdings prior to a rate decrease and focus on equities that are sensitive to interest rates, such as banks and utilities.

It is important to note that the projected fed rate decrease is just that: a projection. There is no guarantee that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in Q4. Investors should always do their own research before making any investment decisions.



Interest rate chart source: Investing.com Fed Rate Monitor tool.

Nearly 90% of consumers said they read online reviews for local businesses and over 80% read reviews for doctors and legal professionals. The same is becoming true for financial advisors. While working with a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® is considered the gold standard, many folks want to have more than just credentials to go by when initiating a financial planning or invest advisory engagement. A testimonial can go far in helping others find an advisor and give them a sense of what it is like to work with the CFP® professional.

If you have a few moments to leave a brief review of our work together, I know others in search of the services I offer would appreciate it. Just click on the QR code below and scroll down to the testimonial section of my Wealthtender site. Thank you!

(Disclaimer: Testimonials and opinions presented at the aforementioned link are applicable to the individual. Testimonials are voluntary and are not provided in return for any compensation of any sort. Results will vary and may not be representative of others. Experiences will be unique and individual to each client). 

Clarus Group LLC ("Clarus Group") is a Registered Investment Advisor ("RIA"), with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Michael Raimondi provides investment advisory and related services through Clarus Group for clients in the State of New York and other states. Michael Raimondi and Clarus Group are not affiliated with the firms in which links were provided above.

This newsletter was created with some support from Bard, a large language model from Google AI.