With the flick of his wrist, Richard Michaud flashes his Apple Watch and presses on its sleek black screen. In a few taps, green and red squiggles appear, revealing how the market performed that day. But this isn’t a benchmark like the S&P 500 or the Russell 2000. Instead, Michaud’s screen reflects the trajectory of his firm’s own strategies, using an index he started earlier this year.
“You can check it on your phone in real time,” says Michaud in an interview. “There’s no index like this in the world. These are all totally new.”
The proprietary gauge is one of several that Michaud, who runs Boston-based New Frontier Advisors with his son, Robert, created to stand out from the crowd. His peers are starting podcasts, ramping up their social-media footprint, and even creating video content. But all this creativity is aimed at fending off an existential threat.