The point of going to a conference is to pick up some tips and contacts that can help an attendee become more successful.
To help with that type of networking, TD Ameritrade Institutional offered a business consulting lounge in a high-traffic area for its conference. The over 3,000 attendees were encouraged to stop by at their leisure to learn industry trends and best practices. Topics included social media, client acquisition, professional development, human capital and risk management.
Jim Dario, managing director of product management and strategy at TD Ameritrade, said, “The purpose of our programs is to help advisors take action so they see real results.”
Dario and others cited five areas where they focuses their efforts:
1. Growth
George Tamer, managing director of strategic relationships at TD Ameritrade Institutional, noted that there is a lot of research on the next generation. And for good reason. There is going to be a huge wealth transfer. If organizations want to grow in the future, they need to look beyond the boomers.
Tamer said that the younger individuals and families are already a viable market, but are still overlooked by many advisors as they think the NextGen has no money. He shared stats that went against this conventional thinking.
According to Cerulli:
• There are over 2 million investors under the age of 50 with investable assets of more than $500,000.
• These investors have an average portfolio size of $1.6 million.
According to the Spectrem Group, only 4-7% of these younger investors work with registered investment advisors
To work with this underserved target market, advisors need to understand their differences. TD Ameritrade’s focus groups found it really depends what stage the NextGen client is in. Tamer suggested considering if they are newly married, having a baby, taking care of parents or starting a new business? Know which life stage they are in and advisors can understand their needs and win them as clients.