Wealthtech Insider

In one recent survey, almost 84% of investors said they believe receiving personalized content is important when making their decision about who to invest with, and 42% now start the search for a financial advisor online.

My father paid off our home at the age of 35 by keeping his goal front and center in his mind. He did this by tracking his progress with the outline of a home filled with tiny squares, each representing one thousand dollars he owed.

The primary value of what we do as financial professionals is always shifting. I have found that a bottomless appetite for news and podcasts goes a long way toward understanding how our clients behave and what they need from us. Here are some resources that have piqued my interest this summer.

It takes more than a client portal and growing investor assets to keep a client’s attention and attract new business. To create the kind of wealth management experience your clients expect, you need a well-thought-out strategy that includes four critical components.

In a time when advisors are focused on growing sustainable businesses and offering a stand-out client experience, they are sensitive to anything that might impact the value they offer to investors.

It’s important advisors learn to give advice and even comfort in a way that is consistent with research around “stickiness.” What follows is a four-part process, developed at the Orion Center for Outcomes, around giving clients advice in a way that influences behavior change.

Technology’s role is supplemental to that of the advisor. It can’t replace the expertise and personal nature of the relationship, but it can add much-needed efficiencies that keep an advisor on-task and better able to focus their time on a client’s needs. Nowhere is that more necessary than the race to attract and retain the attention of high net worth clients.

Trends show that sixty-six percent of children fire their parents’ financial advisor after receiving an inheritance. That’s a massive hit to advisors who currently work with high net worth baby boomers, and a massive opportunity for advisors who are interested in adding emerging HNW investors to their book of business.

More advisor firms and institutions are formalizing the study of human behavior with tools like personality tests. The exact language may differ, whether it’s the DISC study categorizing people as types of birds, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or the Big Five, but the desire to “know thyself” is almost as old as human knowledge itself.

Beyond the promise of returns, model investment strategies can encourage clients to stay tuned in to their financial goals and stick with an advisor over the long haul… assuming the models make sense for what the client needs.