A new advisor training program focused on behavioral finance coaching will help clients avoid making emotional decisions about their finances.
Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc., a publicly-traded, diversified financial services company based in Miami,Fla. announced that it has launched a financial behavioral training program for its advisors across Ladenburg’s five subsidiary firms: Securities America, Triad Advisors, KMS Financial Services, Investacorp and Securities Service Network.
The practice management team of Ladenburg’s professional business coaches will provide education and training to support advisors to better understand the psychological profile of their clients. The training will emphasize the development of coaching expertise needed to assist clients avoid making emotional decisions regarding their finances that could result in negative outcomes.
“Advisors trained in behavioral finance will have an unmistakable edge in building their advice business in a way that is thoroughly consistent with the central building premise of the fiduciary era,” said Kirk Hulett, head of practice management for Ladenburg. “Financial advice is most effective when based on a thorough understanding of the goals, motivations and needs of clients.”
Professional coaching and leadership consulting firm think2perform, in cooperation with Ladenburg, trains advisors to assist clients in making better financial decisions by using a rational, values-based approach. The training will better prepare advisors and their clients for unplanned life events, and to understand how traditional financial practices may be driven by psychological factors.
“If we assume that the most successful advisors in this new fiduciary era will be those who thoroughly understand their clients, then the rollout of a behavioral finance training program is a no-brainer,” Jeff Nash, CEO of BridgeMark Strategies, said in a statement. “The fact that Ladenburg, one of the largest companies in the industry, is embracing behavioral finance to this extent could put pressure on other firms of all sizes within the industry who haven’t yet established such a training program to follow suit.”
Advisors will be able to deepen their client relationships and move beyond just a product focus to effectively influence the rationale of the spending and saving habits of clients, and ultimately attract and retain new clients.
Hulett added, “Following highly successful results during our pilot program at Securities America in recent months, we knew the time was right for Ladenburg to demonstrate its continued dedication to aligning cutting-edge practice management resources with advisors across all of our subsidiary firms with the enterprise-wide launch of our Behavioral Financial Advice Training Program.”
Approximately 100 advisors across the Ladenburg subsidiaries have successfully completed the program and took their behavioral financial advice certification exam, Hulett said. The advisors are now authorized to use the “Behavioral Financial Advisor designation or BFA.”
Ladenburg also announced that its "Next Level" business coaching program will be available to all subsidiaries across the Ladenburg enterprise. Developed by Securities America advisors ten years ago, the program offers accountability coaching so advisors can increase their efficiency and profitability to maintain a work-life balance. The program will be offered to all advisors across all of Ladenburg’s subsidiaries in Chicago in late July.