The Case For Value: Graduating To Future School
As with any investment, a good financial advisor will want to understand the benefits and risks. As a launchpad into strategic planning, top advisors may consider the following impact scenarios.
A. Curating Multichannel Experiences
Keeping track of households requires a heightened commitment to data and customer relationship management, as well as the ability to refresh relevant information and act upon it, in context to the entire household relationship.
Younger generations represent future opportunity but may demand cultivation through service and education. In addition, younger clients may prefer digital services to human interaction.
Do you have a plan to combine and align personal interactions with digital, two-way communication?
B. Addressing Fiscal Planning, Health-Care Costs And Population Demographics
Aging investors represent the other end of the service spectrum with an emphasis on simplifying income and tax strategies. In contrast to the relative simplicity of their accumulation phase, disbursing income and managing expenses in retirement can be much more complex. Retirement is indeed both a balance sheet and an income statement issue. Maximizing limited resources will be increasingly complex. Many clients are finding they are unprepared for the demands of longevity and health care—especially in contrast with historically low interest rates.
Do you have planning systems in place to help maximize after tax income—and how do you answer questions about taxes?
What about health care—and especially long-term care?
C. Enabling Teams for Multigenerational Engagement
Gender and family issues challenge training teams as well. The empathy required to fully engage clients—especially "unengaged" spouses and other family members unfamiliar with financial matters—can test even experienced advisors. Recruiting and hiring will be a challenge due to the specialized nature of the skills and experience needed. Get ready to pay for talent!
Are your service and support team adequately trained?
Do they have sufficient time to engage with complex cases that may require additional client education?
D. Managing Compliance and Monetizing Data
The sheer mountain of client data and compliance requirements can skyrocket costs, with a risk of not capitalize on the data. Monetizing data profitably will require specific management skills and organizational capabilities as well.
Can your data can be utilized to "digitize" elements of service and overall engagement?
Will you provide alternative service options for clients to "self-actualize" specific needs now being handled by human service teams?
Will you centralize any of your service and provide relief to local resources?
What is the future role of the web for your firm in client engagement?
As innovation creates new business and servicing models, these questions—and many more—may shift the traditional role of advisors. At the high end, the best advisors must get free of service and minutiae so they can focus on clients and new business. If a client needs the services of a top advisor and is willing to pay, why would an advisor do anything else with than meet with new and existing clients?