“Provide some guidance and counsel to clients and their children,” said Harris. “Provide them with education and information on business continuity, retirement planning, the Paycheck Protection Program, other government sponsored programs. Or try something more interesting or fun, like cooking classes, book reviews or wine tastings, all of which can be translated into virtual environments.”
Advisors have an opportunity to curate more content and offer their clients and prospects virtual learning opportunities to enhance their financial literacy. Digital communications offer advisors more potential touchpoints with which to deepen client relationshis, like virtual meetings, email gift cards and virtual seminars.
Envestnet also calls for more co-planning services, allowing clients to access their financial data in real time via a client portal.
“Put some control in the clients’ hands,” said Harris. “Start offering them small, short segments of the planning process to encounter in a self-directed manner. These small, bite-sized pieces can be fed out to clients as they need it. It allows them to begin to participate in the process.”
Harris said Envestnet | Moneyguide’s MyBlocks and client portal are a significant step towards more co-planning in weathtech and fintech.
Envestnet also argues that advisors need to recognize that health care and wealth management are fusing. Advisors should harness this trend by offering more planning solutions for various health outcomes and scenarios, and by emphasizing elder care and estate planning.
Families and communities are leading all of these changes, according to Envestnet’s playbook. Advisors need to recognize that family is typically a client’s No. 1 priority, and make time in every conversation for personal updates and specifically asking about the well-being of family members.
Children, grandchildren and elders should be included in the planning process where feasible so the focus is on the entire family and its needs. Client liquidity and insurance needs should also be incorporated into planning.
Envestnet argues that the business of the future is unlikely to resemble the pre-Covid 19 business model. Office roles are being rethought, and advisors will look to use digital tools and outsourcing to create more efficiencies and scale within their practices. In an era where more stakeholders will be connecting from remote and potentially geographically disparate locations, team-wide access to cloud-based tools will be essential.
“For the most part, I think the industry has handled Covid-19 very well,” said Harris. “Advisors have navigated the issues with their clients towards positive outcomes, and things have started to pull back towards much more normal levels in the past few weeks. But the pandemic has created the incentive for a lot of change, and that change creates opportunities for advisors.”