In many ways, it’s the best of times for advisors, according to IRA specialist Ed Slott.

In opening his 2019 Instant IRA Success Workshop in Las Vegas on Friday, Slott said that the evolving U.S. tax code and ongoing generational wealth transfers makes an advisor’s knowledge and expertise indispensible to their clients.

“People have no problem paying someone who they think is valuable, and planning is at a premium,” said Slott.

Advisors face a problem, though, said Slott: Their clients don’t always know the value that the advisor is providing. To help advisors solve this problem, he proposed seven ways that they can differentiate themselves to clients and prospects.

1. Don’t compete on price or performance.

Like many advisor educators, Slott emphasizes that the value in financial planning is in an advisor’s knowledge and ability to cultivate relationships.

“Compete on being a valued advisor who knows what you’re talking about,” said Slott. “Show how much you’re saving them in real dollars. That puts a value on your servces.”

As the financial planning industry moves from investments to planning, “ideas and solutions are the new currency,” said Slott.

2. Be a proactive, educated advisor.

Slott, a veteran of the accounting field himself, lamented that most accountants are forced to look backwards during tax season at all of the mistakes their clients made throughout the year. Planners, on the other hand, have the ability to look forward and put in place solutions that avoid these mistakes.

In reality, every financial planner giving advice related to retirement accounts, be they IRAs or defined contribution plans, is actually giving their clients tax advice. This means knowledge of tax issues is essential for a good advisor.

3. Create a proactive timeline and revise estate and retirement plans.

Estate and retirement plans should be living documents, said Slott, and advisors should continually revisit their clients’ plans to make sure they remain relevant.

In particular, advisors should be cognizant of the age milestones that impact retirement accounts, like the 70 and one-half age requirement for required minimum distributions, or the 59 and one-half age threshold for non-penalized defined contribution plan and IRA distributions.

4. Hold family meetings to meet your new clients.

A family meeting can be the first step towards creating a sustainable practice, but it can also help clarify what happens with clients and their surviving family members after a death.

“These are fantastic to add 25 to 30 years of life to your business,” said Slott. “Always call in a family meeting.”

If adult children don’t know their parents’ advisors, and what is going to happen financially when their parents die, they’ll probably go elsewhere for their own financial advice and end up taking their parents assets with them after they’re inherited.

5. Use the beneficiary form and custodial document to gain access to assets

The simple act of revisiting a beneficiary form may dig up changes to a client’s estate and retirement plans that can help inform financial advice. Slott also noted that many advisors—and custodians, brokers and banks—fail to ask about and review beneficiary forms.

Failure to change a beneficiary form can often be an irreversible mistake, said Slott.

“It’s a high value service, but nobody is checking on that,” said Slott.

6. Use your NUA knowledge to bring in the largest accounts

Understanding NUA, or net unrealized appreciation, can be key to effectively distributing company stock when a client retires, separates from their employer or passes away, Slott said. NUA is the difference between a stock’s cost basis and its current market value.

While income tax is generally applied to the market value of a stock in traditional IRAs and defined contribution plans, in company stock, the income tax is only applied to cost basis, while the NUA is subject to capital gains taxes typically levied at a much lower rate. But there are certain stipulations that dictate whether a retirement account distribution qualifies for the tax advantage or not.

Knowing the rules to working with company stocks can help advisors demonstrate their value to corporate executive clients and prospects, said Slott.

“This item brings in big business,” he said. “If you’re talking to an employee in a company about their company stock, they’re talking to other employees who are not getting this information.”

7. Use the three biggest benefits in the tax code

According to Slott, there are three main benefits written into the tax code that are essential to delivering competent, comprehensive advice to clients and their families: