Nerd's Eye View

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

When a client first begins working with an advisor, the relationship is often marked with a flurry of onboarding tasks, immediate issues to resolve, and long-term planning goals to establish. And as clients come into monitoring meetings, they may increasingly describe their situation as "fine", with no pressing issues to address.

Clients 152

Clients Financial Planning Planning Management 152

Nerd's Eye View

APRIL 14, 2025

When cultivated with care, these relationships can become valuable sources of client referrals and collaborative insight – especially because COIs and advisors often work with similar client profiles. Centers Of Influence (COIs) play a vital role in the growth and service capabilities of a financial advisory firm. Read More.

Communication 197

Communication Clients Financial Planning Planning 197

Nerd's Eye View

DECEMBER 25, 2024

The typical prospecting process involves multiple meetings, and a fairly common response for advisors to hear after giving their 'pitch' is that the client needs some extra time to think about it. I can only onboard 3 clients in a given quarter. Read More.

Financial Planner 246

Financial Planner Clients Sales Business Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

JANUARY 6, 2025

FINNY AI, an AI-powered prospecting tool, has raised $4.2 FINNY AI, an AI-powered prospecting tool, has raised $4.2 FINNY AI, an AI-powered prospecting tool, has raised $4.2

Startup 188

Startup Financial Advisor Clients Portfolio Management 188

Nerd's Eye View

APRIL 22, 2025

Vanessa is the CEO of Expressive Wealth, an RIA based in Chicago, Illinois, that oversees $135 million in assets under management for approximately 70 client households, including 10 ‘core' ultra-high-net-worth families.

Clients 130

Clients Planning Estate Planning Communication 130

Nerd's Eye View

APRIL 29, 2025

Gideon is the CEO of Drucker Wealth, a hybrid advisory firm based in New York City, that oversees approximately $1 billion in assets under management for 800 client households.

Clients 130

Clients Financial Advisor Planning Assets 130

Nerd's Eye View

JULY 29, 2024

Most financial advisors strive to provide excellent client care and prioritize a systematic process to maintain regular communication with their clients both on a scheduled (e.g., Suddenly, the question of, "What does it mean to provide the best care for clients at this firm as a team?" becomes a crucial one to solve.

Clients 246

Clients Communication Healthcare Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

MARCH 24, 2025

We have provided an onboarding plan template for advisors to download, which breaks up the skills list into two primary categories: 1) client communication skills (e.g., meetings, email communication, and phone calls), and 2) technical skills (e.g., building an initial financial plan). Read More.

Planning 130

Planning Clients Financial Planning Communication 130

Nerd's Eye View

NOVEMBER 6, 2024

In the early days of financial planning, serving clients often meant developing transactional relationships focused on facilitating trades and selling insurance. Over time, advisors shifted toward more analytical approaches, such as investment management and retirement planning.

Clients 130

Clients Planning Financial Planner Financial Planning 130

Nerd's Eye View

DECEMBER 31, 2024

Stacey is the chief operating officer of Morton Wealth, an RIA based in Calabasas, California, that oversees approximately $3 billion in assets under management for 1,300 client households.

Management 243

Management Financial Advisor Clients Numbers 243

Nerd's Eye View

JANUARY 22, 2025

I help clients in retirement by doing X, Y, and Z."). For these clients, connection and understanding are often more important than problem-solving, and advisors who focus too quickly on identifying potential future issues risk alienating these prospects. However, not all prospects have immediate financial concerns.

Financial Advice 237

Financial Advice Financial Planning Retirement Clients 237

Nerd's Eye View

MARCH 3, 2025

And while Black Diamond has cut a deal with Morningstar to be the 'default' option for Office advisors to move to, a host of other portfolio management platforms are offering their own incentives as well, leaving Morningstar Office advisors with an opportunity to evaluate a large and crowded landscape of options to find the platform that will work (..)

Estate Planning 152

Estate Planning Portfolio Management Communication Portfolio 152

Nerd's Eye View

AUGUST 12, 2024

In the modern era of financial advice, the advicer/client relationship is tightly centered on trust. Then, because the client isn't "bought in" to the recommendations, they simply don't act on what the advisor recommends.

Clients 246

Clients Financial Advice Accounting Business Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

APRIL 6, 2023

But some advisors who choose to take more time off from their schedules might be concerned that prospects and clients will consider them to be less committed to serving their planning needs than other advisors. Notably, the choice of work schedule can affect the type of client with whom an advisor might want to work.

Clients 242

Clients Communication Financial Planning Numbers 242

Nerd's Eye View

JULY 13, 2023

Establishing successful client relationships as a financial advisor relies on good communication skills not just to present information persuasively and with confidence, but also to establish client rapport that allows meaningful and engaging relationships to be built.

Clients 246

Clients Financial Planning Financial Planner Communication 246

Nerd's Eye View

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Eric is the Chief Financial Advisor and Co-Owner of Econologics Financial Advisors, an independent RIA based in Largo, Florida, that generates more than $4M of revenue while working with nearly 300 client households.

Financial Planning 246

Financial Planning Clients Planning Financial Advisor 246

Nerd's Eye View

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

Traditionally, financial planning meetings have been held face-to-face in an advisor's office, and over the years, a body of research has emerged showing that how the advisor's office is laid out can have a significant impact on how clients perceive the advisor, their mood during the meeting, and even their resulting financial planning decisions.

Clients 246

Clients Financial Planning Planning Communication 246

Nerd's Eye View

AUGUST 10, 2023

When a firm becomes large enough, though, the firm owner may be compelled to consider stepping away from their long-standing work as a client-facing financial advisor into a more pronounced business leadership role to manage the growing business.

Financial Advisor 238

Financial Advisor Clients Communication Management 238

Nerd's Eye View

APRIL 26, 2023

The 1st category of tasks that advisory firms must handle involves renewing their registration with the applicable state(s) in which they do business each year, which typically involves submitting select documents (e.g., Read More.

Compliance 246

Compliance Clients Advertising Accounting 246

Nerd's Eye View

APRIL 17, 2024

After advisors do all of the work of bringing on a new client (Marketing! And while all may appear well on the surface – the client rarely contacts the advisor with problems but they show up for every annual meeting – they may actually be feeling quite disengaged with the financial planning services being provided.

Clients 246

Clients Financial Planning Planning Compliance 246

Nerd's Eye View

DECEMBER 3, 2024

Eric is the Managing Partner of Prospero Wealth, an RIA based in Seattle, Washington, that oversees $52 million in assets under management for 80 client households.

Planning 130

Planning Financial Planning Financial Advisor Clients 130

Nerd's Eye View

MAY 8, 2024

Measuring a client's tolerance for risk is an essential (and required!) step when onboarding a new client, as making any sort of recommendation is impossible without first understanding how comfortable clients may be when their portfolios inevitably experience volatility. And while few (if any!)

Clients 246

Clients Risk Tolerance Financial Planning Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

APRIL 26, 2023

The 1st category of tasks that advisory firms must handle involves renewing their registration with the applicable state(s) in which they do business each year, which typically involves submitting select documents (e.g., Read More.

Compliance 246

Compliance Clients Accounting Advertising 246

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 2, 2025

Zoe Financial has announced a $29.6M Zoe Financial has announced a $29.6M Zoe Financial has announced a $29.6M

Financial Planning 130

Financial Planning Clients CFP Planning 130

Nerd's Eye View

MARCH 19, 2025

Measuring a client's risk tolerance is both an art and a science. Beyond assessing how a client feels in the moment, advisors must evaluate a client's long-term behavioral tendencies, actual risk capacity, and financial goals – all of which require considerable time and skill.

Risk Tolerance 137

Risk Tolerance Clients Communication Management 137

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 3, 2024

This month's edition kicks off with the news that 'startup' custodian Altruist has completed a $169 million fundraising round as it continues to rebuild the RIA custodial tech stack layer-by-layer while positioning itself as the biggest RIA custodian built from scratch and solely for advisors – which, while making it the clear #3 custodian behind (..)

Risk Tolerance 246

Risk Tolerance Communication Startup Financial Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

For most financial advisors today, a website is a critical tool that allows them to market their services and communicate their fees to potential clients. This can help prospects decide whether the working relationship would be a good fit for them and give them greater confidence in the value of hiring the advisor.

Financial Planning 243

Financial Planning Planning Financial Planner Financial Advisor 243

Nerd's Eye View

NOVEMBER 21, 2022

A common service model for many financial advisory firms is to schedule annual client meetings throughout the year where the advisor meets with each client in the month they started working with the firm, and conducts a comprehensive review of all planning topics for the client.

Financial Planning 244

Financial Planning Planning Estate Planning Clients 244

Nerd's Eye View

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Read the analysis about these announcements in this month's column, and a discussion of more trends in advisor technology, including: Brand design consultancy firm Intention.ly

Communication 246

Communication Portfolio Management Clients Tax Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

AUGUST 24, 2023

However, when these aspirations are delayed or blocked by senior advisory firm partners who choose to delay their retirement plans, it can leave younger advisors frustrated and in a place of uncertainty about their futures with their firm.

Retirement 246

Retirement Planning Retirement Planning Communication 246

Nerd's Eye View

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

For many financial advisors, setting asset minimums helps ensure that their firm can generate enough revenue to maintain business costs and compensate the advisor appropriately. A simple way for advisors to educate prospects about asset minimums is to include the information on their firm’s website.

Assets 246

Assets Communication Financial Advisor Financial Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

Stacey is the President of Envision Financial Planning, an independent RIA based in Memphis, Tennessee, that oversees nearly $200 million in assets under management for 206 client households.

License 244

License Financial Advisor Clients Communication 244

Nerd's Eye View

JUNE 17, 2024

Nonetheless, fewer than 10% of SEC-registered investment advisers report using them, even though the SEC’s updated investment adviser marketing rule allows financial advisors to proactively encourage testimonials (from clients), use endorsements (from non-clients), and highlight their own ratings on various third-party review sites.

Financial Advising 246

Financial Advising Compliance Advertising Marketing 246

Nerd's Eye View

JANUARY 26, 2023

However, at a certain point, initial business growth goals will have been met, leaving the business owner at a crossroads of deciding where to take the business next – should they maintain the firm’s current size or continue the growth trajectory and adapt to the firm’s growing needs to bring on more clients?

Communication 246

Communication Clients Financial Advisor Business Planning 246

Nerd's Eye View

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

Regardless of the size of a financial advisory firm, clients are a constant necessity to sustain a profitable business. As a starting point, there are unconventional marketing principles that can help advisors who do not want to engage in traditional marketing campaigns to effectively attract and acquire clients.

Advertising 246

Advertising Clients Communication Financial Advisor 246

Nerd's Eye View

JULY 31, 2024

Which means the firm will need to provide records of holdings and transactions for each of its clients (which may require some training and practice for employees to be able to quickly pull the needed data from the firm's custodian), as well as archived client communications and any advertisements produced by the firm.

Compliance 246

Compliance Ethics Advertising Clients 246

Nerd's Eye View

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

When a financial advisory firm owner first starts their business, much of their time is spent on finding clients that they can serve. But as they (hopefully) onboard more clients and get busier with servicing those clients, they will also find that they eventually start to run short on time.

Financial Planning 246

Financial Planning Planning Recruitment Clients 246