This is a harsh proclamation, but let me explain.

There is more information freely available at our fingertips than at any time in history.

How much information?  So much, it’s hard to even know for sure.

I did a quick Google search to see roughly how many web pages there are in existence. One source proclaimed the number is 6 billion. Another said 50 billion. Yet another said 35 trillion!

Clearly, some of those figures are off.  But it’s safe to assume the number is at least in the billions.

From that count, there are easily millions of pages dedicated to financial planning, investment management, asset allocation, retirement planning, etc.

All the information and advice that financial advisors provide to clients can, in theory, be learned on one’s own. Your clients don’t need you. They can learn it all themselves, usually for free!

Yet, they still come to you anyway.

Why?  Because while that information is there for the taking, most consumers don’t have the wherewithal or desire to learn it themselves.

Some outgoing do-it-yourselfers joyfully travel down the financial planning rabbit hole, but they are the minority. The overwhelming majority comprises folks either not (yet) obtaining the information/advice from any source or who are seeking an experienced professional such as you.

I would argue that advisors are not in the knowledge business; you are in the let-me-solve-it-for-you business.

I’d like to think with enough time and desire, I could learn enough about taxes to do my annual returns, even with my non-cookie cutter tax situation.

Guess what? I have no desire at all to do that. I pay someone to do it for me.

My CPA spends vastly more time studying the subject. He has more years of experience with it than I ever could achieve, he has a better grasp of the changing tax landscape, etc.

None of that, though, is the primary reason I pay him. I pay him because I have ZERO desire to figure all that stuff out on my own, even with all the needed information to do so freely available for my consumption.

You should, likewise, never underestimate the value you bring to your clients. It’s not the information you know. It’s not your years of experience. It’s not your network.

It’s the fact that in one easy swoop, you solve your clients’ financial challenges. They don’t NEED you; they WANT you.

This is not always remembered, though. I can relate with my own business.

I make explanatory videos/podcasts for my firm, where I help advisors learn how to transition their practices to the RIA model. I’ve released over 50 such episodes.

I vividly recall a tenured executive in our industry who once told me that such a strategy would never work. Per his belief, if I gave away all that information, advisors would never have a reason to contact me.

That is no less of a fallacy than thinking consumers want to spend thousands of hours trying to replicate the same result they can simply and easily obtain from you.

Next time a client or prospective client comes to you, remember what they desire the most.

They want you to have experience, requisite knowledge and the needed resources. But what they really want is for you to solve their problem for them.

No client needs you, but a lot of them want you.

Brad Wales is the founder of Transition To RIA, a consulting firm uniquely focused on helping established financial advisors understand everything there is to know about WHY and HOW to transition their practice to the RIA model.