IRIS.xyz

The savviest investors know that they are not supposed to buy a stock simply because it has gone up a lot and that last year’s winner will not necessarily be this year’s. By the time a particular investment has become the subject of podcast conversations and social-media posts, all the easy money has likely already been made. That said, every market cycle produces the same behavior. A stock begins rising enough to attract some attention.

The U.S. exchange traded funds (ETFs) industry is 33 years old so “firsts” and unique fund-level accomplishments aren’t exactly everyday occurrences. Looking at a more recent time horizon, 1,167 ETFs launched in the U.S. last year – a sizable number that implies it was difficult for rookie ETFs to stand out from the pack. The Calamos Autocallable Income ETF (CAIE) is shattering those norms.

This article answers the question: Why do details matter in customer service and customer experience? Answer: Details matter because customers judge their experience based on the accumulation of hundreds of small interactions, not just one memorable moment. In customer experience, details make the difference. Every detail either adds confidence or creates friction. Customer experience is simply the sum of those details. Many (including myself) have written about managing details.

Written by: Jon Sabes Sixty-five is an age we treat like a finish line. Work stops. Retirement starts. Nobody questions it. They should. That selection of that number wasn’t inspired by biology. It came from actuarial arithmetic in another century. In 1889, Germany's Otto von Bismarck created the first national pension and set the eligible age at 70, then lowered it to 65. He wasn’t being generous. Life expectancy in Germany at the time was around 45. Almost nobody would live long enough to collect.

I watch all the hijinks here on the LI and am continually amused by the never ending drum beat of 'reach'. I don't know about you but if I never hear the word 'impressions' as justification for burning money again...

This article answers the question: What is the real secret to out-servicing your competition? Answer: The real secret to out-servicing your competition is recognizing that products are commodities and creating a customer experience, especially after the sale, that builds trust, validates the customer’s purchase decision, and keeps them coming back. Face it, just about everything you buy, you can buy from somewhere or someone else.

For anyone in professional services reputation is everything today. It is a trust-creator, or a trust-killer. Basically everything you do – every engagement you work on, every social media post, everything you do at a function – adds to or detracts from your reputation. A professional’s personal reputation is undoubtedly the most important personal branding element and should be managed carefully, but our professional reputation today is more than just your personal “brand”.

Written by: John Hillenbrand, CPA Summary Points: We maintain a positive but cautious risk posture; the war in Iran is a disruption within a mid-cycle expansion, not a catalyst for US economic contraction. Our base case assumes the Strait of Hormuz normalizes toward late April or early May and that the inflation shock remains confined to energy and does not broaden into wages or core prices.

The August Retirement Fear Index declined for the first time—but the structural worries facing affluent families remain firmly in place. For the first time since we launched the Retirement Fear Index, the temperature of retirement anxiety has cooled. Just a little. The August 2026 reading came in at 120.7, down from July’s peak of 121.7. Retirement fear is still running 20.7% above our baseline of 100, but the decline breaks a steady upward trend that began late last year.

Written by: Arun Sai | Pictet Asset Management Few questions are occupying investors more than the impact of AI on employment. Much of this debate has been framed through the lens of labour substitution: as AI performs a growing number of tasks previously undertaken by humans, labour demand must inevitably decline. While labour substitution is a credible concern, it focuses only one side of the equation.