This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Just a few decades ago, giving financial advice was largely a manual process – printing lengthy financialplans, processing physical checks, and managing paper files. AI offers exciting possibilities as a brainstorming partner, editor, and copywriter.
Advisors have a relatively brief window of time to communicate their value to prospective clients. This means advisors must communicate both their services and values within a very limited – and not always synchronous – span of time. Financially motivated prospects, meanwhile, benefit from clarity and specificity.
After all, it can feel odd to create an estate plan that will impact a client’s grandchildren… when those grandchildren may be older than the advisor themselves! But walking through every page of a financialplan line by line could take up an entire afternoon and often isn’t necessary.
Still others may choose a hybrid model, combining AUM fees with additional charges for other services like tax planning. Pricing the impact of financialplanning can be challenging, because many of its benefits – like peace of mind – are intangible, compelling in value but difficult to match with an exact price.
As a result, financial advisors should start honing the services Gen X members will likely benefit from the most, including retirement planning, estate and tax planning and mortgage refinancing. This means financial advisors would be well-served to focus on courting Gen Xers at this pivotal moment in their lives, Horton said.
Instead, acknowledging their ambivalence as a natural part of the decision-making process can help create space for them to discover the value of financialplanning on their own. One effective way to facilitate this self-discovery is through self-persuasion questions.
I was amazed by some of the findings, including that 68% of the 414 respondents are currently using or plan to adopt AI-powered tools—only 32% had no plans to do so. Q&A: What Was Behind Schechter’s Decision to Sell to Arax? expansion with significant support from some large firms.
While some of these programs still exist, the role of an associate advisor has evolved alongside the broader financialplanning profession. Some programs emphasize technical expertise, while others focus on communication skills needed to engage effectively with clients.
To sustain firm growth, financial advisors often face a dilemma: to focus on what originally drew them to the profession – like financialplanning – they often must first do an extensive amount of business development.
For smaller firms – especially those with little to no experience onboarding new advisors – creating a well-paced financialplan can feel daunting. First, clarity: both the advisor and manager should be able to clearly define the core financialplanning skills that a new hire is expected to develop in their first year.
In recent years, financial advisors have increasingly embraced tax planning as a core element of delivering value to clients. Despite this growing interest in tax conversations, most advisors are still quick to distinguish their services as "tax planning", not "tax advice" – a distinction largely driven by liability concerns.
There's an old joke in the financialplanning industry that the ideal client is "anyone with a pulse". In this 153rd episode of Kitces and Carl, Michael Kitces and client communication expert Carl Richards discuss how advisors can navigate the challenge of managing underpaying clients.
Resonant Capital Merges with Tax, Accounting Firm QBCo by Alex Ortolani Jul 18, 2025 1 Min Read SEC Chair Paul Atkins Alternative Investments SEC’s Atkins Says Changes to 401(k) Plans Must Be Reviewed Carefully SEC’s Atkins Says Changes to 401(k) Plans Must Be Reviewed Carefully by Nicola M. Concept of digital social marketing.
It's natural for advisors to begin discovery meetings by asking questions about a client's current financial situation – understanding cash flow, debt, investments, risk tolerance, or even the burning tax concern that brought them to the advisor's door in the first place is crucial for financialplanning. Read More.
In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Kevin's firm's new hire training program ramps up through the first 6 months, starting with an initial 90-day stage that uses standardized case studies to teach the firm's financialplanning process and how to review and input data into the firm's systems, followed by a second 90-day stage that builds new (..)
True North Expands in SF Deals & Moves: Creative Plannings Snag Hawaii RIA; $5.1B True North Expands in SF Deals & Moves: Creative Plannings Snag Hawaii RIA; $5.1B has acquired a team in Hawaii overseeing $430 million in client assets.
In the early days of financialplanning, 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.
We have a serious communication problem in the industry, and it can be really hard to get hold of clients,” he said, noting that with his technology, advisors can see their clients go to the app every day. I demonize email because email is holding this industry back,” Fields said in a hallway off the exhibit floor near the hotel kitchens. “We
Since the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the mainstream technological landscape, conversations about which areas of the financialplanning industry would be most likely impacted by AI have proliferated.
Whether planning for retirement, investing in volatile markets, or managing tax implications, clients are often presented with intricate information that can leave them overwhelmed, confused, and anxious, undermining their ability to make informed decisions.
Ultimately, the key point is that by following a sequence of emotion first, reasoning second, and logic third, advisors can help clients feel more grounded, confident, and committed to their financialplan.
Ultimately, the key point is that by following a sequence of emotion first, reasoning second, and logic third, advisors can help clients feel more grounded, confident, and committed to their financialplan.
What's unique about Griffin, though, is how he has grown his AUM to $200 million in five years (with a 70% margin in terms of earnings before owner compensation) by providing high-touch planning for business owners and real estate investors even though he doesn't charge a fee on these assets.
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. This transition is a core element of the "Fix, Fine, Flourish" financialplanning framework.
Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the news that a report from Cerulli Associates found that, amidst an industry-wide trend towards comprehensive financialplanning and away from pure transaction-based investment management, asset-based fees currently represent 72.4%
In this article, Tiffany Charles, Chief Growth Officer at Destiny Capital, and Kitces.com Senior FinancialPlanning Nerd Sydney Squires offer a thoughtful framework for approaching COI relationship development with greater intentionality. The first meeting is focused on building rapport and conducting an initial assessment.
As the financial advice profession has matured, behavioral finance has become an increasingly important element of modern advice. Such an approach may also create a more organic environment for advisors to practice and hone their empathy and behavioral finance skills.
Financialplanning can take your money game up a notch by bringing clarity, strategy, and intention to your financial life. A healthy financialplan gives you the tools to take control of your finances and start living your life with passion, purpose, and freedom. So what’s the value of a financialplan?
From Point Solutions to Seamless Intelligence For decades, our industry has relied on integrations—APIs painstakingly connected across custodians, CRMs, planning tools and portfolio management systems. One system talks to another—if an API exists, if someone maintains it, if both systems support bidirectional communication. No problem.
Financialplanning meetings often fall into categories like "Fix Meetings" (where there is an urgent problem that both the advisor and client want to address), 'Fine Meetings' (where everything is on track and the advisor provides reinforcement), or 'Flourish Meetings' (where clients are thriving and the focus is on expanding possibilities).
Financialplanning is inherently complex, especially when it comes to data gathering, analysis, and crafting well-reasoned recommendations. investment strategies or tax planning) – can reduce cognitive overload for clients and keep meetings on track. The goal isn't simplicity for its own sake, but clarity.
FinancialPlanning: eMoney and Envestnet MoneyGuide Related: Former Citadel Quants Raise $36M for Fixed-Income Fintech We’re very solidly going to remain eMoney and MoneyGuide. The advisor experience and transitioning clients to their financialplanning portal are heavy lifts that directly impact the end client.
RIA Edge Podcast: Schwab’s Jalina Kerr on How Resilient RIAs Can Turn Market Volatility Into Growth RIA Edge Podcast: Schwab’s Jalina Kerr on How Resilient RIAs Can Turn Market Volatility Into Growth Jalina Kerr of Charles Schwab shares how the most adaptive firms are expanding beyond portfolio management, into areas like estate and tax planning.
In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Libby divides the onboarding process into three segments, with the first 30 days being a "window of professionalism", the second 30 days aiming to "surprise and delight", and the remainder of the period being an opportunity to "shock and awe", how Libby conducted what she calls "paperwork parties" with her (..)
In these moments, the conversations that advisors have with their clients play a crucial role in helping clients maintain perspective, avoid emotional decisions, and stay committed to their long-term financialplans. Finally, volatile markets offer a powerful opportunity for advisors to reinforce the value of financial advice.
Because we are a multi-generational practice, we are uniquely situated to help family-owned businesses with financialplanning according to their values, and in the independent space, that area is really dynamic—we can bring in new technology to solve for that, and we can do all sorts of energizing activities.”
In examining how these client touchpoints affect advisor productivity, the 2024 Kitces Research on How Financial Planners Actually Do FinancialPlanning found a positive correlation between the number of touchpoints and average revenue per client.
But we’re a financialplanning-based firm, which creates some simplicity in how we allocate assets. FinancialPlanning: eMoney and MoneyGuidePro JW: Orion also has a pretty good integration with MoneyGuide Pro, and they have a decent one with eMoney, as well. They do have a lot more bells and whistles.
Now, he will seek to bring advisors onto Mariner’s 1099 affiliation platform for growth opportunities and succession planning. In addition to financial and business reporting, he has worked in media relations and corporate communications for tech firms and Fortune 500 companies. The Bahnsen Group Names President, CFO $7.5B
Resonant Capital Merges with Tax, Accounting Firm QBCo by Alex Ortolani Jul 18, 2025 1 Min Read SEC Chair Paul Atkins Alternative Investments SEC’s Atkins Says Changes to 401(k) Plans Must Be Reviewed Carefully SEC’s Atkins Says Changes to 401(k) Plans Must Be Reviewed Carefully by Nicola M. Concept of digital social marketing.
RIA SilverStar Wealth moves from being a Kestra-affiliated firm to being part of Bluespring’s Texas-based LifeBridge Financial Group. In addition to financial and business reporting, he has worked in media relations and corporate communications for tech firms and Fortune 500 companies.
In these top videos posted on MDRTs YouTube channel in 2024, learn how MDRT members communicate and work with clients. The ideas they share can help you better attract and retain clients.
Think about these factors: The age, job, and income of people Financial needs such as planning for retirement, managing investments, and estate planning Their values and preferences To make a better referral program, it’s important to understand your ideal client. You can offer a discount on financialplanning services.
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 36,000+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content