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While studies show that financial stress contributes to the high suicide rate among military personnel, a new report indicates that financial advisors can help. According to a recent survey by First Command Financial Services, 75 percent of middle-class military families who work with an advisor contributed to savings and retirement accounts during the first quarter of this year. That compares to only 43 percent of military families who don't have an advisor. Military personnel with an FA are also more likely to contribute to short-term savings, long-term savings and retirement, the survey found. Advisor-directed service members are also more likely than others to say they will boost their savings in the months ahead (36 percent versus 28 percent). “For several years they have experienced the impact of cuts to military personnel costs as part of sequestration and defense downsizing,” said Scott Spiker, CEO of First Command Financial Services. “Despite these multiple sources of anxiety, military families with a financial advisor by their side continue to maintain confidence in their financial future.”
LA-Based RIA to Join HighTower
Acacia Wealth Advisors, a $500 million AUM multi-family office in Los Angeles, joined HighTower, the partnership of independent advisory firms announced yesterday. Acacia co-founders Meloni Hallock and Alev Lewis will continue to lead the team as managing directors and partners of Acacia Wealth Advisors at HighTower. This is the eighth firm to join HighTower so far this year, a record pace for the firm, it notes, and the fourth acquisition of an already existing RIA.
Pershing Square Losses Mount
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Activist investor Bill Ackman's Pershing Square hedge fund posted a loss of 3 percent in June, before fees, bringing 2016's year-to-date loss to 20 percent, according to TheStreet.com. The culprit? A 5.7 percent stake in troubled Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which Ackman championed as a serial acquirer of other drug firms. Those acquisitions rung up some $31 billion in debt; that, combined with a drug pricing controversy and the recently departed CEO, scared away investors, who drove the stock price down 96 percent from last year's highs.
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