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Written by: Catherine McBreen | Spectrem Group
Do financial plans lead to greater financial success for advisors? Absolutely yes.
Based on recent research completed with affluent households, Spectrem found that not only are investors more loyal to a firm with which they have developed a financial plan, they are likely to bring more assets to that firm because of the financial plan.
It’s not surprising that financial plans increase loyalty to an advisor . It’s difficult to initially create a plan. Investors need to dig through all of their documents and turn them over to the advisor’s firm…..it’s a very personal (and sometimes time-consuming) task. Sort of like spilling your secrets…some good and some bad. Because of that, the investor begins to develop a deeper relationship with the advisor….and who wants to go through that process multiple times? In research recently completed for our Defining Financial Planning report, more than 60% of investors spent more than 2 hours gathering information for their financial plan with 28% spending more than 6 hours finding the necessary information.
Sharing one’s financial goals is also a very personal matter. Sometimes we may not even have discussed these goals with our spouse or significant other in a meaningful way. But creating a plan that is actionable is critical for success.
Spectrem also found that investors that developed a plan for an investor were more likely to garner that individual’s loyalty and to receive more assets from that investor.
In a world in which we spend much of our time looking down at a phone, it’s not surprising that the process of actually talking to a person – face-to-face, in most cases – has become an important tool in creating a relationship. While talking about investments also creates relationships, in many cases it does not feel as personalized. Sometimes investors feel they don’t really understand how alpha and beta apply to them.
If your organization doubts the importance of financial planning as part of your overall wealth management services, it’s time to put those thoughts aside. Financial planning is required for success with investors in the future.