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Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (May 16-17)

May 15, 2026 02:00 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the news that a recent study indicates that amidst various 'challenges', financial advisor pricing power remains strong, with advisors charging on a retainer or subscription basis seeing particularly large fee increases during the past three years. Nonetheless, the related survey found that advisors are growing increasingly wary of potential competition from AI-powered tools but appear to be responding by building stronger multi-generational ties within client families and increasingly serving those with emerging wealth.

Also in industry news this week:

A study finds that AI chatbots frequently give incorrect or incomplete answers to questions asked by high-net-worth clients, potentially putting advisors in the position of correcting assumptions of prospects and clients who use these tools
By using alternative benchmarking assumptions, a study finds that the gap between investor performance in passive and active equity funds narrows significantly (while investments in actively managed fixed-income funds are found to have an advantage over those in their passive counterparts)

From there, we have several articles on tax planning:

Five ways financial advisors can help their clients avoid tax penalties in the coming year
How the information contained on 1099-DIV forms can help advisors craft tax planning recommendations that result in hard-dollar savings for their clients
How the flexibility of tax withholding from retirement account distributions can help clients avoid tax penalties while keeping their money invested for longer and postponing tax withholdings until later in the year

We also have a number of articles on education planning:

Why one financial planning expert isn't using 529 plans to save for his kids' future education needs, preferring instead to use taxable accounts
Why 529 plans are more flexible and offer better treatment for financial aid calculations than certain other education saving alternatives
A comparison of the pros and cons of 529 plans and Roth IRAs for college savings (and why it's likely not an either/or savings decision for many clients)

We wrap up with three final articles, all about travel planning:

Airplane ticket prices have risen amidst a jump in the price of oil during the past couple months, though continued strong demand, amongst other factors, could mean elevated prices continue even if oil prices decline
How to get the most out of a trip to the museum, from what to pack to how to avoid "gallery fatigue"
An examination of AI chatbots' travel-planning capabilities finds that while they can recommend thoughtful itineraries, a human touch might be preferred for more a more bespoke travel experience

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

The Advisor Talent Shortage: Will AI Solve… Or Exacerbate It?: Kitces & Carl 190

May 14, 2026 07:06 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Kitces & Carl Podcast

Roles in the financial planning profession have always been molded in dialogue with the technology available; with each generation comes the expansion and compression of different opportunities. Today, much of the enthusiasm around artificial intelligence (AI) centers on its ability to automate non-client-facing work, theoretically enabling advisors to spend a greater percentage of their time in meetings. However, this vision quickly faces practical and human limitations.

In this 190th episode of Kitces & Carl, Michael Kitces and client communication expert Carl Richards discuss the tradeoffs between the emotionally intensive work of financial planning and the automative promises of artificial intelligence. For example, one of the promises of AI is that it allows advisors to have more client-facing time… but what is the upper limit of that effect? Increasing client-facing time from roughly 25–30% to significantly higher levels may not be desirable – or even sustainable – for many advisors. Beyond a certain point, more meetings do not equate to better outcomes, as the quality of advice and the advisor’s own well-being can deteriorate. In this context, optimizing for maximum efficiency risks pushing the profession toward an “assembly line” model that is poorly suited to relationship-driven, high-empathy work.

On the other hand, financial advisors have increasingly turned to AI as a potential solution to the industry’s widely discussed “talent shortage”, with the expectation that greater efficiency will allow firms to serve more clients at a lower cost. Yet this framing assumes that the core constraint is advisor capacity, rather than questioning whether the real issue lies in how advisors are trained, developed, and deployed. As firms rush to automate back- and middle-office functions, a deeper tension emerges: the same tools that promise to expand capacity may inadvertently undermine the very human capital pipeline the profession depends on.

At the same time, the push for efficiency raises critical concerns about the long-term development of talent. Entry-level roles – often responsible for the operational and analytical tasks AI seeks to replace – have traditionally served as the training ground for future advisors. Eliminating these positions in pursuit of short-term productivity gains may hollow out firms’ ability to cultivate experienced professionals over time. The result could be a paradox: firms solve for immediate capacity constraints while exacerbating future talent shortages by failing to invest in the next generation. This dynamic is already evident in hiring patterns that heavily favor experienced advisors, despite a lack of willingness to train newcomers internally.

Compounding this challenge is the nature of AI itself, which often performs best when paired with experienced practitioners who can validate and refine its outputs. While AI can generate recommendations or streamline analysis, it is not infallible. Advisors who have developed judgment through hands-on experience are better equipped to identify errors, contextualize advice, and apply nuanced decision-making. If future advisors are trained primarily through AI-assisted workflows without building foundational expertise, their ability to critically evaluate these tools may diminish. Over time, this could lead to a degradation of professional judgment and an increased risk of systemic errors that go unnoticed and compound.

Ultimately, the key issue is not whether AI can improve efficiency – it clearly can – but determining what firms are actually trying to optimize for. If the goal is short-term productivity or preparing a practice for sale, maximizing efficiency may be rational. However, for firms seeking to build enduring businesses, a more balanced approach is required – one that leverages AI to enhance, rather than replace, human development. By using technology to support training, deepen expertise, and expand advisor capabilities (instead of eliminating formative experiences), firms can position themselves to both serve more clients and cultivate the skilled professionals needed for long-term success.

Retaining The Next Gen In The “Great Wealth Transfer”: Planning Opportunities To Build Relationships With Clients’ Heirs

May 13, 2026 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Estate Planning

A major focus in financial planning circles is the "Great Wealth Transfer" expected to unfold over the coming years, as members of the large Baby Boomer generation pass along their wealth to heirs. For financial advisors, this offers an opportunity to support existing clients through estate planning advice, but also creates a risk of losing continuity once clients' assets pass to the next generation – particularly when the advisor has no existing relationship with the heirs.

In this guest post, David Haughton, VP of Estate Planning at Carson Group, explains that although advisors may feel as though they already know a client's family well, that familiarity is often one-directional. From an heir's perspective, being thrust into the challenging situation of losing a loved one – and potentially being named executor or trustee – can make it difficult to build a personal relationship quickly and from scratch with an advisor. Nonetheless, there are several planning topics that naturally create opportunities for advisors to engage with the next generation, not only to build familiarity in advance of a future wealth transition, but also to add value for the existing client by helping heirs prepare for future roles and responsibilities.

For instance, education planning can offer an early touchpoint, as an advisor might bring a 529 plan beneficiary into a conversation to discuss how the account may eventually be used and to show how financial planning translates into real-world outcomes. Charitable planning can also create a meaningful participation opportunity, such as when clients invite children into conversations about giving values and allow them to help direct a portion of charitable donations. Similarly, smaller investment accounts can give advisors a way to discuss concepts such as asset allocation, risk tolerance, and time horizon in a lower-stakes setting, while trust and estate planning conversations can help prepare future fiduciaries for responsibilities they may eventually need to take on.

As those early interactions accumulate, they can create a foundation for deeper family governance conversations. And because clients might feel hesitant about sharing detailed financial information or estate plan specifics, advisors can frame those meetings not as exercises in disclosure, but as opportunities to prepare heirs for future decision-making roles. Which can help clients articulate intentions that might otherwise go unspoken while also increasing their confidence that their plans will be understood and carried out as intended.

Ultimately, the key point is that while estate planning and inheritance conversations can be sensitive, many advisory relationships already contain natural entry points for involving the next generation in meaningful ways. And when those opportunities are used intentionally, they can improve family dialogue, help heirs feel more prepared for future responsibilities, and strengthen both the likelihood of continuity after a wealth transfer and the value of the planning itself for the current client!

Winning More Clients By Talking Less And Reducing Friction For Prospects: #FASuccess Ep 489 With Sara Grillo

May 12, 2026 07:06 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 489th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Sara Grillo, a digital marketing specialist for financial advisors.

What's unique about Sara, though, is how she has identified several (perhaps counterintuitive) ways financial advisors can win more clients, including by talking less about their expertise and reducing 'friction' by asking less of prospects early on in the relationship.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Sara finds that financial advisors sometimes fail to connect with prospective clients because they put the focus on their services and capabilities (often using intimidating industry jargon in the process) rather than on what's keeping the prospect up at night, why Sara thinks that common phrases used on advisor websites (for example, serving as a "household CFO" or being a "boutique advisory firm") might confuse rather than attract potential clients, and how Sara finds that advisors can encourage prospects to take the next step (whether it's scheduling an initial appointment or becoming a client) by reducing 'friction' points along the way (for example by offering simple, shorter lead magnets and by limiting the scope of information requests).

We also talk about Sara's approach to content creation for financial advisors and how answering common questions for a firm's ideal target client can be an effective place to start, how Sara finds that if an advisor receives the same question three times in a given week or month that it could be a good candidate for a piece of content, and how Sara is less concerned that writing high-value, targeted pieces of content will cannibalize an advisor's business as prospects could likely access this information already (as many will be amenable to working with an advisor to save them time and hold them accountable on execution).

And be certain to listen to the end, where Sara shares how being more targeted with content not only can attract attention from both search engines and AI platforms but also can increase the chances that it's passed around members of the target community the advisor works with, how Sara's involvement in the advisory industry (including her previous experiences as an advisor) has led her to help found a movement dedicated to greater transparency in the financial advice industry, and how Sara has found that building community (both amongst peers and with target client groups) offers rewards in its own right in addition to the business growth opportunities doing so can provide.

So, whether you're interested in learning about the benefits for advisors of talking less and listening more when meeting with prospects and clients, generating productive content ideas by answering the questions an advisor's ideal target is answering, or the benefits of building an advisor community, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Sara Grillo.

Marketing Funnel Breakdown: How A Retirement Podcast Generated 53 Prospects And $130,000 In Recurring Revenue In 12 Months

May 11, 2026 07:05 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Marketing

Marketing for new clients through education has long been a popular approach for financial advisors. Whether it's conducting seminars or speaking at networking events, podcasting or creating educational videos, advisors get an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise, show that they're approachable, and help a broad swath of consumers. As a result, Kitces Research on Advisor Marketing finds that education-based marketing is amongst the most popular marketing tactics that advisors pursue, behind only referrals from clients and centers of influence, and networking (in-person or online). Yet the reality is that nearly half of advisors fail to get a single new client in a full year of trying their education-based marketing approach.

In this guest post, advisor marketing expert Kendra Wright of Rebel Media Agency conducts a detailed "marketing funnel breakdown" of the changes that one financial advisor made to turn his multi-year podcast that had generated virtually no new client results into one that generated more than $100,000 of new revenue in just the past 12 months, and the specific changes that he – and any advisor – can make to whatever their marketing funnel happens to be, in order to drive better business outcomes.

The starting point is to recognize that education-based marketing is really a three-stage "funnel" process, where the actual educational content itself – the seminar or the podcast – is just the middle of the funnel. It's a crucial stage – where advisors demonstrate their competency and build trust – but a great educational podcast unto itself does not create new clients.

Improved results also require paying attention to the top of the funnel, where you earn the attention to attract attendees, viewers, or in the case of a podcast, listeners who will become regular consumers of your content in order to build trust with them. This means getting clarity on who your ideal prospects are (and what kind of content they would be interested in), aligning the title of the podcast and the titles of each episode to that ideal target audience, and then further expanding awareness to others who might be interested (which in the case of a podcast, means appearing as a guest on other podcasts that might have listeners who would cross over).

In addition, advisors also have to pay attention to the bottom of the funnel, where prospects are invited to actually reach out and learn more about how to become a client. Because especially in the age of "finfluencers", it's not automatic for video viewers or podcast listeners to even realize that you are a financial advisor who actually works with and accepts clients! That has to be said – more than once, with a clear statement of what you do (as a financial advisor), who you work with (e.g., retirees nationwide), that you're accepting clients (as they may not realize you have capacity!), and how to take the next action step to reach out and schedule an introductory call.

Ultimately, the key point is that marketing by educating is an incredibly effective way to build trust with prospects, but putting out great educational content alone doesn't drive results. Turning educational content into qualified prospects means paying attention to the top of the funnel to expand your audience, and the bottom of the funnel to help them understand that you're a financial advisor who is accepting new clients, and how they can begin to work with you. The good news, though, is that when it works well, you can quickly reach the point where there are more prospects than you can handle – such that ironically, for the most successful advisor podcasters, their scheduling form is built to introduce more friction to slow down how often prospects reach out (and ensure only the most qualified do so). A nice problem to have!

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (May 9-10)

May 8, 2026 02:00 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the news that a study from the American College of Financial Services finds that advisors with advanced expertise in areas such as tax and retirement income planning tend to serve more wealthy clients than those with less advanced skills. Notably, the study also found no relationship between years of experience and expertise level. Which suggests that relatively newer advisors and those looking to stand out for their ideal client type could benefit from sharpening their skills in key areas to offer a deeper level of planning expertise to (potentially wealthier) clients!

Also in industry news this week:

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) this week adopted amendments to bring four of its model rules in line with the SEC's marketing rule, a key step towards leveling the playing field for state-registered RIAs with their SEC-registered counterparts when it comes to using testimonials, endorsements, and specific performance reporting in their marketing
A state report indicates that dozens of RIAs, amongst more than a hundred financial services firms in total, have experienced data breaches during the first four months of the year, as advancing artificial intelligence capabilities put a further spotlight on the importance of cyber hygiene for advisory firms, including their staff and clients

From there, we have several articles on tax planning:

A four-step framework for financial advisors to effectively manage client equity compensation
How advisors can offer significant hard-dollar tax savings for clients by creating an effective Restricted Stock Unit (RSU) sale strategy
Why leveraging Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) rules isn't always a sure bet and how advisors can offer value for clients by conducting a more personalized analysis

We also have a number of articles on advisor marketing:

Five ways advisors can help clients make more effective introductions (and drive more good-fit referrals in the process)
How advisors can reduce any awkwardness around referral conversations and avoid turning clients into (unintentional) salespeople
Why leaning into value and personalization can help advisors drive referrals from clients in the first few months of the relationship

We wrap up with three final articles, all about greed:

Why greed can be "good, bad, or ugly" depending on how it's applied and why generosity could be an antidote to some of greed's negative side effects
The benefits of resisting "lifestyle creep" driven by status-driven purchases
Why those who have already 'won' the financial game can sometimes be lured into making bets that come with attractive upside but significant downside potential that could threaten their financial security

Enjoy the 'light' reading!