Financial advisors should target younger clients because they will grow faster and give advisors a fundamentally sounder book of business, according to PriceMetrix, a practice management and data services company.

PriceMetrix found that advisors with younger clients grew almost twice as fast over the long term as advisors with older clients.

Additionally, for firms, older advisors grow their businesses more slowly than younger advisors, according to the report. Growth among advisors declines rapidly between the ages of 30 and 40 before beginning a continuous, although more gradual, decline until the advisor hits retirement.

“The demographic lesson here is clear,” said Doug Trott, president and CEO of PriceMetrix. “In order to maintain growth, advisors and firms have to understand and take into consideration the age of both advisors and clients when they’re considering the proper mix of their businesses.”

In its report, PriceMetrix said advisors need to consider the tradeoffs in terms of growth and revenue when they weigh demographics into their business development strategies.

For example, a 40-year-old client with $150,000 in assets will produce just $1,900 in current annual revenue but will grow 7.2 percent a year. That compares to a 55- to 70-year-old client with $500,000 in assets who will produce higher current revenue of $5100 but will grow just 3.8 percent a year.

“There are good reasons to avoid clients with less than $250,000 in assets,” said Trott, “but adding age to the mix can change an advisor’s thinking. He or she could justifiably decide to take on the 40-year-old with fewer assets because that client will grow so much faster.”