The Future of Financial Advice

I’m 29 and I have a financial advisor.

I know, it’s early. But some circumstances led me to connect with the family advisor and our relationship began.

After working in financial services for the last 3+ years, I’ve heard a lot about the importance of retaining the next generation of clients. That’s what’s happening here.

So, I wrote about it.

This rest of this post will give you an overview of the process I went through for onboarding through transitioning into a full client. I’ll talk about what I liked and didn’t like. I’ll talk about what my advisor could have said to make me feel more comfortable about certain things. And if there was a missed opportunity or a piece of software that I wish they had, I’ll address that too.

Here’s how it went down:

Change is never easy. But that’s exactly what the financial advice industry is facing today. It’s going to be particularly difficult for an industry that is normally slower to evolve, but we can do it. The tools exist. It’s just a matter of finding the right ones for you.

The rest of this post expands on the four most important components of leading an engaging remote client meeting.

"Now I understand what you've been saying all these years."

This is music to anyone's ears. But it's pure gold in the financial advice world.

Advisors have been trying to simplify complicated topics like risk and tax for decades. Today, we have a real success story.

Enter: Rick Mida, Partner and Wealth Advisor at Canopy Wealth Management.

Our Social Security experts created a unique checklist for advisors to use with their clients to help maximize their Social Security benefits. Coupled with our LifeYield Social Security Advantage® report, this checklist will arm your clients with all of the necessary information they'll need when they make their appointment with the Social Security Administration to file for benefits.

As a result of the recent market volatility, clients are turning to their advisors for more support than ever before. While it is key to provide client services above and beyond the norm, advisors need to reassure their clients by effectively communicating and illustrating their value. 

The key to illustrating your value as an advisor is through asset location and long-term tax efficiency.

Investors are painfully aware their retirement plan needs a do-over.  With so much uncertainty, it's like the investment gods shook every investor's portfolio like a canister of Legos and dumped them on the floor.  Top advisors are helping investors rebuild portfolios, get on the right track, and realize their retirement dreams.

The world has changed but investor goals have not.

Smart advisors report they are reinforcing their value by showing investors how to put portfolios back on track and improve outcomes through tax-smart household portfolio management.

And the first place to start for long term success is asset location – a timely topic after recent markets have turned portfolios upside down.

Account aggregation is table stakes. Our industry has been working up to an aggregated view of all accounts in a household for years. The trend finally caught on, but we quickly learned that a view is not enough to improve outcomes for clients. This view needs action.

There has been a lot of conversation across the industry over the past year about the importance of asset location. In the wake of volatile markets and uncertain times, you will be hearing a lot more.

We'll discuss what asset location is and why it matters to investors and your bottom line.

At the Future of Advice conference in December of 2019, Steve Gresham coined the phrase “Adoption is the new Innovation.” Steve was referring to how the adoption of technology is lacking across the advisor population. Steve’s message was urging advisors and industry leaders to leverage fintech to battle the many factors significantly slowing organic growth. When embraced, technology can help advisors be more efficient, demonstrate value, identify “next best actions” and improve the client experience. So why is it that more Mutual Fund and Insurance/Annuity carriers aren’t pursuing this opportunity to partner with fintech companies to facilitate increased adoption?