Fidelity Expands ‘Engaging Female Clients’ Program
Fidelity Investments has developed workshops, white papers and a guidebook to help financial advisors better understand how they might strengthen and grow their relationships with female clients and reduce their risk of losing them.

The resources represent an expansion of Fidelity’s “Engaging Female Clients” program.

“While most women do not have a gender preference in working with a financial advisor, research shows that many women have a strong preference in the way they receive financial advice,” said Alexandra Taussig, senior vice president, National Financial, a Fidelity Investments company. “Advisors who recognize this and hone their engagement strategies with both their male and female clients may have a significant opportunity to grow their businesses.”

According to a recent Fidelity study, women are more willing to receive financial advice than men and are more interested in holistic financial guidance and planning to meet a specific lifestyle or goal. However, the long-held notion of males as the primary decision-makers has shaped the way financial advisors market their services, talk with clients and deliver solutions. 

The workshops explore how women typically approach investing and advisor relationships, and share best practices and strategies.

Building on the first white paper Fidelity released in this series, “Engaging Wives: How to Drive Greater Growth with Married Clients,” the latest paper focuses on women who are recently divorced or widowed and how advisors can help these clients achieve a financial plan with the least amount of anxiety. A separate white paper focuses on female senior executives and what sets them apart from their male counterparts.

The new guidebook is designed to help advisors create plans for attracting, engaging and retaining female clients.
 

New Recruitment Site
The Advisor Center is a Web-based recruitment site that allows anonymous searches for financial advisors who are considering a career change. The Web site connects financial firms with advisors who are looking to change broker-dealers or join or establish an RIA. Advisors are able to set up an anonymous profile and engage with companies until a sufficient comfort level is achieved to share confidential information. For more information, go to www.theadvisorcenter.com.


Nationwide Adds Managed Volatility Funds
Nationwide Financial, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, has added four managed volatility funds to its core variable annuity lineup. The new Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust (NVIT) Managed Funds are designed to capture growth when the stock market rises and help buffer against major losses when it falls.

The new funds include the NVIT Cardinal Managed Growth Fund, the NVIT Cardinal Managed Growth & Income Fund, the NVIT Investor Destinations Managed Growth Fund and the NVIT Investor Destinations Managed Growth & Income Fund.
 

eMoney Offers Digital Postal Mail
eMoney Advisor has partnered with Los Angeles-based Zumbox to offer digital postal mail to clients who use its platform. Digital postal mail is an exact facsimile of paper mail delivered through a secure electronic service. It provides an online account based on a street address and is designed to make it easy for companies to send, and consumers to manage, their mail in a digital format. For more information, visit www.emoneyadvisor.com.
 

MarketCounsel Expands RIA Incubator
MarketCounsel of Englewood, N.J., has added a new program to its RIA Incubator, which helps people become registered investment advisors.

The firm’s new Tactical Strategy Program offers prospective RIAs consulting services, assistance with fulfilling registration obligations and an initial compliance program.

Firms enrolled in the RIA Incubator receive custom services to help them with their initial regulatory and compliance challenges. In addition to Tactical Strategy, other programs in the RIA Incubator include the Managed Strategy and the Proxy Strategy. For more information, visit www.marketcounsel.com


New Pershing Thought Leadership Guidebook
Pershing has a new guidebook to help advisors grow their businesses by strengthening current client relationships and establishing new ones.

Entitled An Advisor’s Guide to Becoming a Stronger Wealth Manager, the guidebook is designed to offer advisors a framework to successfully create client loyalty, network effectively and maximize marketing opportunities.