Juggling Dynamite

I came across this list today and thought it an excellent summary of what clients should expect of their financial advisers and managers:

“The CFA Institute Integrity List is a collection of 50 tangible steps that investment professionals can take to restore trust in the industry. The list was inspired by “real-world” ideas from CFA charterholders and members.

1. Commit to a gold standard code of ethics and professional conduct [See CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct].
2. Require training on ethical decision-making for yourself and your firm.
3. Place the client’s interests before your own.
4. Name and shame unethical behavior.
5. Recommend products with transparent payoffs, costs, and risks.
6. Help clients focus on risk as much as they do on performance.
7. Disclose your educational achievements and how you improve professional competence.
8. Strive for a conflict-free business model.
9. Advocate for stronger regulations that protect investors.
10. Act with integrity 24/7 – not just at the office.

See the full 50 item list here: CFA Institute Integrity List

After reviewing all 50 governing principles, I was pleased to confirm that our firm subscribes to all of them… Number 44 however, explains why we have very few personal associates in finance…

“Many people may only have heard of hydroponics in terms of growing cannabis, but actually it is widely used in farming.

Hydroponics basically involves growing plants without soil, instead using a reservoir of nutrient solutions in water.

What Bitponics strives to do is automate hydroponic systems.

The technology it has developed is an electronic box that has sensors attached. These sensors, or probes, go into the reservoir of your hydroponic system and monitor things like pH levels, temperature, humidity, and the data is then sent wirelessly to the cloud.

Two outlets let you plug in lights or pumps, which can be set on timers to aid growing.
Michael Doherty shows off Bitponics device Michael Doherty showcased Bitponics at the Tech Crunch start-up event in New York

A web app gives you a grow plan, which notifies you by text or email when when you need to add nutrients or change the water reservoir.”

See BBC: The Technology that’s transforming gardening

More smart technology innovation. These buses are beautiful on the outside and the inside. Silent and clean.  This is what real progress looks like.

“An unusual item dominated Bombardier Inc.’s display stand at one of the world’s biggest transportation exhibitions. It wasn’t a shiny new plane or train. It was a bus.

The orange-and-white bus looked perfectly ordinary on the outside, but it was the showpiece for Bombardier’s push into a fast-growing new market – electric buses – that the Montreal-based company thinks has the potential to go global.”  See: Bombardier branches out