Nerd's Eye View blog

Your Feedback Requested – Reader Survey For Nerd’s Eye View (2024)

May 13, 2024 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Nerd's Eye View

The traditional financial advisory firm is blessed with incredibly high client retention rates. Which doesn't change the fact that each and every client loss that occurs is still very painful. But mathematically, most financial advisors only have to add at most a handful of clients every year to maintain positive growth momentum. To the point that most advisory firms don't really need to worry "Am I providing enough value to my clients?" and instead can focus on delivering the value they already provide more efficiently and effectively.

Yet the reality is that client preferences can and do change over time. Sometimes services that were once valued highly (delivery of quarterly performance reports) are no longer so valid (I'll just check on my accounts from my smartphone when I feel like it). Other times the evolution of the client base makes new services more relevant (e.g., from accumulation planning to decumulation planning). You never really know… until and unless you ask!

Every year, we ask you – our readers – for feedback about what you want to make this website even better for you, to ensure we stay on the right track in adding value to the advicer community and making financial advisors better and more successful. And especially after the amount of change over the past few years, from the rollout of our Virtual Summits on Marketing and Advisor Value to our Kitces Courses on Tax Returns, Insurance, and Estate Document Reviews, and most recently, the launch of IAR CE in our Members Section… we're more eager than ever for your feedback about how we're doing, where we can improve, your thoughts about some new ideas we're considering, and your feedback about what else we could be doing to help the advicer community.

Because we really do take your feedback seriously. Over the years, Nerd's Eye View reader feedback has shaped everything from the visual design of the blog (from its original dense small font!), to the ongoing expansion of our Members section from offering CFP to now CPE credits for CPAs and IAR CE for RIAs that can be earned by reading Nerd's Eye View blog articles, the launch of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, our popular "Master List" of all the major Financial Advisor conferences and Best Books for Advisors, and turning our AdvisorTech Map into an entire AdvisorTech Directory that you can use to build your own tech stack.

So regardless of what kind of reader you are: an advisor or someone who works in an advisory firm home office, an individual consumer who reads this blog for your own benefit, a CPA, attorney, or another related professional that works with financial advisors, or you're associated with a vendor who serves advisors... I hope you'll participate in this year's survey. It's only 12 feedback questions, should take no more than a few minutes, and will remain open until the end of next week.

Thanks in advance for taking a few minutes to access our Reader Survey below, and share your feedback! 😊

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (May 11-12)

May 10, 2024 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 analysis from Morningstar suggests that the Department of Labor's (DoL's) new Retirement Security Rule (aka Fiduciary Rule 2.0) could save retirement plan participants $55 billion over the next 10 years (due to an expectation of more low-cost fees being offered in plans) and those rolling over workplace plans into IRAs to purchase annuities another $32.5 billion (thanks to expected reductions in commissions and the embedded costs in these annuities). Nonetheless, for these potential benefits to come to pass, the rule will likely have to survive legal challenges, including a lawsuit filed led by an insurance industry lobbying group seeking to halt implementation of the rule (which is set to take effect in September), which argues that the rule violates the U.S. Congress' intent in passing ERISA and that the DoL overstepped its authority in adopting it.

Also in industry news this week:

The latest Social Security trustees report offered a slightly rosier picture for the health of the various Social Security trust funds thanks to improved economic conditions, though they warned that time is running out for legislators to take action to ensure the system will be able to pay out full benefits beyond the early 2030s
RIA custodian Altruist has raised $169 million in its latest funding round, giving it a $1.5 billion valuation and added capital to fund technology and staffing upgrades as it seeks to challenge Schwab and Fidelity in the RIA custodial space

From there, we have several articles on retirement planning:

Why considering a client's retirement time horizon and spending flexibility could lead to more accurate (and often higher) safe withdrawal rates than the simpler "4% rule"
While many financial advisors focus on preventing clients from depleting their portfolios in retirement, they might be overlooking the 'risk' that clients might underspend and not achieve their retirement lifestyle goals
How the creator of the "4% rule" is now incorporating inflation and equity valuations when calculating safe withdrawal rates

We also have a number of articles on advisor marketing:

A 4-step process that can help financial advisors craft better stories to use with clients
The best and worst times to use emotional storytelling to communicate an important message to clients
How effective storytelling can increase the likelihood that an advisor's message will resonate with clients amidst a sea of potential information sources

We wrap up with 3 final articles, all about vacations:

How taking a vacation can provide a sense of clarity that can lead to positive changes in one's 'normal' routine
How to decide how much to spend on a vacation, from planning out a year's worth of trips in advance to being aware of "luxury creep'"
Why money spent on vacations and other shared experiences could be considered an investment in an appreciating asset

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

5 Questions Using Risk Assessment Data That Help Advisors Understand Clients’ True Concerns About Risk

May 8, 2024 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Client Trust & Communication

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. Over the years, 2 types of measurement tools have emerged as the standards for assessing risk tolerance: 1) psychometric tests, which feature a series of questions (such as, "What amount of risk do you feel you have taken with past financial decisions?") that are designed to measure risk based on past behavior, and 2) econometric tools, which involve questions based on a particular scenario (such as, "Suppose you can invest $100 and this time, there is a 50% chance you could receive $207 and a 50% chance you'd receive nothing. Would you agree to this investment?"). These tools provide critical insight into a client's preferences and attitudes, but as is the case with every subjective assessment, the results may not always reflect a client's true feelings about risk.

As many advicers have experienced, a client who might claim that they can tolerate a high level of risk may, in fact, behave quite differently during periods of higher volatility. The reality is that a client's true relationship with risk can only be partially uncovered through the results of a questionnaire alone. Like any other data point that an advicer may collect, there are stories behind the numbers, and the true power of a risk assessment is in its ability to help an advicer begin a conversation that encourages clients to share their stories. And when advicers take the time to listen to those stories, they begin creating long-lasting bonds with their clients.

And while few (if any!) risk assessment tools include suggestions on how to discuss the results with clients, advicers can use a series of questions to have meaningful conversations with their clients. To start, open-ended questions that use a command-style approach (such as, "Share with me what these results mean to you.”) can avoid setting an expectation that there is a 'right' answer. These questions also set the stage for follow-up questions that help advicers better understand if the client's main concerns around risk are focused on either fear of losing money or anxiety around missing out on growth potential.

From there, an advicer can ask how the client has reacted to prior bouts of market volatility. As while past behaviors can have a strong influence on current and future reactions, the advicer can peel back additional layers of the proverbial onion by exploring what (if anything) the client might wish they had done differently. Lastly (and perhaps most significantly), the advicer can ask (again using the command-style approach), "Tell me how I can best serve you when the market is rising and when the market is falling". Using this approach, the advicer can highlight one of the real values in a true financial planning relationship and start to set expectations around the working relationship as a whole.

Ultimately, the key point is that, while determining a client's risk tolerance is a critical step during the onboarding process and while developing an appropriate portfolio, the true usefulness of risk assessment tools lies in creating stronger bonds with clients. Because the opportunity for advicers to start meaningful conversations not only helps them understand their clients' true concerns, but also demonstrates the value of a real financial planning relationship while clarifying how they can best serve their clients!

#FA Success Ep 384: Growing An Advisor Career From (Bank) Assistant To Partner While Also Growing A Family, With Hannah Provost

May 7, 2024 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 384th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Hannah Provost. Hannah is a partner and financial advisor at Lomanto Provost Financial Advisors, a hybrid advisory firm based in Plattsburgh, New York, that oversees approximately $150 million in assets under management for about 380 client households.

What's unique about Hannah, though, is how she began her career in retail banking, where she rotated positions from lending to working as a teller and eventually becoming a bank-based financial advisor, and then, after realizing she would benefit from time spent learning from a more senior advisor than just continuing to work with her bank clients, took a step back to work as an assistant under an experienced advisor, which ultimately led to becoming a lead advisor with his firm, and eventually a joint partner of their firm.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Hannah embarked on this career journey while also building a family, including how Hannah balanced work, family, and the educational demands of building the credentials needed to effectively serve clients (by reminding herself that the demanding workload was a temporary stop on the way to more long-term rewards), how Hannah found that the path towards attaining her CFP certification was able to serve as a north star while navigating her career path through the industry, and how Hannah was able to jump-start the process to becoming a lead advisor by finding an opportunity where she could sit in on client meetings from day one (and be treated as a peer by her mentor).

We also talk about how Hannah and her partner have leveraged referrals and visibility in their small-town community to drive client growth, how Hannah uses email and calendar automations to more efficiently manage their growing client base while still maintaining a personalized touch using email merge fields in MailChimp, and how Hannah has structured her week to treat Wednesdays as "flex days" that give her the opportunity to spend time with family, go for a hike, or get some catch-up work done, and how she holds that space for herself despite averaging 20 client meetings per week between her and her partner.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Hannah discusses the importance for those getting into the financial advice business not just to avoid 'red flags' but to find 'green flags', or people who will see and support their human value from Day 1 as a new advisor, how Hannah's reflections on how her experiences with mentorship and rotational work were the key to leveling up her skills and presence and kickstarting her advisor career, and how Hannah has found that the investments she made in herself earlier in her career, including 5AM wakeups to study for the CFP Exam, have paid off today in the form of a successful practice and strong work-life balance.

So, whether you're interested in learning about entering the financial advice industry as a career changer, how to build a partnership with a more senior advisor, or how to maintain work-life balance while advancing in your career, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Hannah Provost.

The Latest In Financial #AdvisorTech (May 2024)

May 6, 2024 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

Welcome to the May 2024 issue of the Latest News in Financial #AdvisorTech – where we look at the big news, announcements, and underlying trends and developments that are emerging in the world of technology solutions for financial advisors!

This month's edition kicks off with the news that self-directed retirement planning software provider NewRetirement has raised a $20M Series A round as the company demonstrates that its DIY tools really do turn a subset of consumers into bona fide prospects for financial advisors. Which positions the software as either a white-labeled solution for advisory firms that want a way to engage a high volume of prospects in their funnel, or simply a solution to convert its own 70,000+ active users into paying clients of NewRetirement's own financial advisors. Especially given that NewRetirement has already managed to get some sizable 401(k) providers and recordkeepers to offer the software on a paid basis to their own plan participants… which means NewRetirement is effectively getting paid to market its own advice services (a marketing funnel that pays for itself!?).

From there, the latest highlights also feature a number of other interesting advisor technology announcements, including:

Betterment Premium raises fees for its human CFP service to 0.65%, putting it remarkably close to the 0.70% average revenue yield of the typical advisory firm, as the robo-advisor ends up emulating the human advisor service and pricing model it once sought to disrupt
Trust & Will announces a strategic partnership with LPL and its 22,000 advisors, as more and more advisory firms look to include estate document preparation as part of their suite of value-added services to clients (while outsourcing the actual legal work)

Read the analysis about these announcements in this month's column, and a discussion of more trends in advisor technology, including:

A pair of new research studies (one from Cerulli, another from Fidelity) highlight how "tech-savvy" firms with high technology adoption are outgrowing the rest… not by attracting more clients with a better digital experience for clients, but simply by finding more of their own operational back-office efficiencies to be able to scale faster
The SEC serves up a series of very sizable fines to make examples of financial services firms that didn't do enough to supervise their employees' use of texting and other messaging apps (e.g., WhatsApp), in a reminder to all advisory firms that all business-related communication must be archived (and reviewed!)
As the buzz and hype continue around AI, a warning (coupled with a pair of enforcement actions) from the SEC not to engage in "AI-washing"… advisory firms that promote how they're using artificial intelligence in their practices need to be certain that they are actually doing so

And be certain to read to the end, where we have provided an update to our popular "Financial AdvisorTech Solutions Map" (and also added the changes to our AdvisorTech Directory) as well!

*And for #AdvisorTech companies who want to submit their tech announcements for consideration in future issues, please submit to [email protected]!

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (May 4-5)

May 3, 2024 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 nearly a third of advisors in the independent broker-dealer channel have considered transitioning to the RIA channel during the past year as they seek higher payouts and not just "independence" but greater autonomy over how they run their businesses and serve their clients. At the same time, the study found that potential breakaway brokers view the operational and compliance requirements of transitioning to and doing business as an RIA as a major concern, which could lead some of them to either leverage the growing number of service providers available to RIAs, or perhaps join an existing corporate RIA platform to take advantage of its existing infrastructure.

Also in industry news this week:

Large asset managers offering hybrid digital-human advice services are eating into the market share of purely human advisors, signaling that a smaller firm's ability to offer a differentiated value proposition could be a key to success in the coming years
A recent study indicates that tech-forward advisory firms not only are seeing greater client and AUM growth than are other firms, but also are associated with greater advisor income and job satisfaction

From there, we have several articles on healthcare planning in retirement:

Why framing Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as "Medical IRAs" could lead clients to better leverage their potential for tax-advantaged, compound returns and have more money available for healthcare spending in retirement
How financial advisors can help clients evaluate the health insurance options available in early retirement, from staying on their previous employer's plan through COBRA to obtaining a (potentially subsidized) plan on their state health insurance exchange
How advisors can adapt clients' financial plans to account for the unpredictable healthcare expenses they will experience in retirement

We also have a number of articles on practice management:

How the ongoing competition for advisor talent and a lack of viable successors at many firms could drive a flurry of RIA M&A activity in the coming years
Instead of pursuing an outright sale, a 'merger of equals' can give owners of firms with similar sizes and compatible cultures an opportunity to boost profitability and scale relatively quickly while maintaining a high degree of control, though successfully consummating a deal requires delicate negotiations between the potential partners
A review of the revenue and profitability metrics that are most often used to value RIAs, and how selling firm owners can maximize the ultimate payout they receive by negotiating the underlying terms of the deal

We wrap up with 3 final articles, all about handling challenging political conversations:

How preparation and empathetic listening skills can help a financial advisor prevent political conversations from derailing client meetings
How advisors might respond when clients want to make major portfolio changes based on the upcoming presidential election
How teams can create ground rules to promote constructive discussion on political issues and other challenging topics

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

Kitces & Carl Ep 137: When Does Your Career Transition From Saying “Yes” To Opportunities And Focusing More On “No” Instead

May 2, 2024 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Kitces & Carl Podcast

A career as a financial advicer can be remarkably rewarding, as it offers the opportunity to have a meaningful impact on clients' lives all while making a good living. However, the main hurdle that almost every advicer faces, particularly those who launch a practice from scratch, is that the early years are often a struggle as new advicers try to attract clients, generate revenue, and start to build their businesses. And, even for those advicers who have deliberately identified a particular niche to serve, the need to generate cash flow can sometimes mean onboarding clients that might not ideally fit into their long-term vision. However, many advicers successfully navigating those first few years can find that they've reached a point where they've taken on too much and need to be more selective about using their time and the clients they serve.

In our 137th episode of Kitces & Carl, Michael Kitces and client communication expert Carl Richards discuss the most important factor that determines an advicer's eventual success, issues that can arise from early-stage dynamics in their career, and strategies to implement once they've reached their own professional capacity.

The financial advice industry is notorious for having a high failure rate among new entrants, which makes getting through the first few years crucial. In fact, research shows that the single greatest determinant of an advicer's success is the number of years in the profession, and it's often the case that the only way to stay in the game long enough to get through those difficult early years is to say "yes" to any source of revenue they can generate. For many advicers, though, the challenge isn't always about taking on the 'wrong' clients; instead, it's more often about making unsustainable promises around pricing and relationship length; advicers who have successfully built viable businesses can feel guilty about having to break promises made to early clients who might be better served elsewhere.

Meanwhile, targeting a particular niche is one of the most important decisions an advicer can make to help them focus on serving ideal clients and transition out of those initial difficult years. While newer advicers might chafe at the notion of marketing to a smaller audience, the reality is that, while growth rates for advicers who niche versus those who don't are similar over the first 3 years, over the ensuing years, the niching advicers tend to grow much faster, not because they decided that they wouldn't serve anyone who wasn't their ideal client, but because they put all their marketing 'eggs' in their niche 'basket'!

Figuring out where an advicer's own personal capacity tipping point lies can also be a challenge. Instead of determining where that point is ahead of time, advicers often realize that they've reached their limit only after they've blown past it and are starting to feel uncomfortable. It's at that point where implementing some sort of filtering mechanism can be most helpful, whether it be creating a "stop-doing" list, getting accustomed to saying "no" to tasks that don't benefit their business and wellbeing, or implementing an "automate, delegate, or delete" framework.

Ultimately, while many advicers face the same initial challenges, those who avoid making unrealistic promises early on and focus on serving a niche often transition out of those first few difficult years more easily. The key point is that, by being intentional about the market they serve and the work they do, advicers can put themselves in the best position they can to offer their clients the excellent service they deserve!

How To Register And Remain Registered With The SEC As An Internet Investment Adviser

May 1, 2024 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Regulation & Compliance

A little over 20 years ago, when the Internet was still just a few years into gaining widespread use, the SEC understood its potential to transform how financial advisory firms conducted business with the ability to deliver advice digitally, lowering the barriers to serve clients across the country. However, the challenge for firms that wanted to use their websites to advise clients, but didn't otherwise qualify for SEC registration, was that they would ostensibly need to register in all 50 states… at least until they qualified as a "multi-state adviser".

Understanding that this would place an unnecessarily heavy burden on advisors, the SEC issued an exemption in 2002 allowing for certain "Internet advisers" to register with the SEC even though they wouldn't otherwise qualify to do so. The rule, colloquially referred to as the "Internet Adviser Exemption", applied to "entities that exclusively provide investment advice through an interactive website", save for a de minimis exemption of fewer than 15 clients served outside of the interactive website within the preceding 12 months.

A lot has changed over the ensuing 20+ years since the issuance of the Internet Adviser Exemption, and after observing numerous instances of non-compliance (and issuing a Risk Alert to that effect in 2021), the SEC issued an amendment to the Exemption on March 27, 2024. The amendment didn't make any sweeping changes to the requirements for firms to qualify for the exemption, but instead was intended to offer additional clarification around "what it means in 2024 truly to provide an exclusively internet-based service."

Specifically, the amendment clarifies that an interactive website (which now also includes mobile applications or similar digital platforms) must be "operational" at "all times", save for temporary outages due to periodic maintenance or factors outside the adviser's control. Moreover, the advisory services must actually be delivered through the website using "software-based models, algorithms, or applications" only, thus barring investment adviser personnel from generating, modifying, or providing "client-specific investment advice through the operational interactive website or otherwise." The amendment also eliminates the previous de minimis threshold, now requiring Internet investment advisers to provide advice to all of their clients exclusively through an operational interactive website without exception, and requires that advice be provided on an "ongoing basis" to at least 2 clients at all times.

Ultimately, the key point is that while the original intent of the Internet Adviser Exemption created in 2002 was to reduce the regulatory burden of SEC registration for advisers who provide advisory services through a website using software-based models, algorithms, or applications, the recent 2024 amendment offers several clarifications and updates to the rules for qualifying for the exemption. And while the updates may have constricted the already narrow path to SEC registration even further, the good news is that the amendment remains agnostic in regard to technology, which means that the Internet Adviser Exemption should remain evergreen for years to come.

#FA Success Ep 383: Leveraging YouTube Videos To Organically Grow 9X To $750M In Just 5 Years, With Troy Sharpe

April 30, 2024 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 383rd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Troy Sharpe. Troy is the Founder and CEO of Oak Harvest Financial Group, an RIA based in Houston, Texas, that oversees approximately $750 million in assets under management for about 1,000 client households.

What's unique about Troy, though, is how his firm's emphasis on driving organic growth through a multi-pronged marketing strategy, including a radio show, in-person seminars, and most substantively and scalably, a YouTube channel, that has allowed the firm to grow its AUM from $85 million to $750 million during just the past 5 years.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about Troy's approach to marketing, from how his firm has built a strong prospect pipeline in part by taking educational topics he covered in his seminars and turning them into YouTube videos aimed at his firm's target client of pre-retirees and retirees, why Troy typically does not issue immediate calls to action during these videos to get prospects, instead preferring to build trust with viewers over time and providing them a trail of breadcrumbs to find their way back to the advisory firm when they're ready, and how Troy structures his marketing efforts into what he characterizes as short, medium, and long-term marketing initiatives, for which he targets an overall ROI of generating 3 times the dollars in new revenue for every marketing dollar spent.

We also talk about how Troy's firm has hired a number of marketing professionals to improve the performance of its marketing campaigns, how Troy has also grown his advisor staff to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding client base, and adopted a 3-advisor pods approach to ensure clients have touchpoints with multiple advisors (and that advisors can focus their work on what they do best), and how Troy created a system for his firm called the "Retirement Success Plan" that encompasses their approach to dynamic retirement income planning, incorporating both a client's willingness and capacity to take risk, and then generating a spending plan that adapts (and that the firm monitors) over time.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Troy explains why he believes that his firm's ability to communicate in a jargon-free way that prospects can relate to is what's really driving his firm's growth (across all the in-person, radio, and video channels it markets towards), how Troy learned patience and the need to be more measured when committing to a new marketing strategy that sometimes takes 6-12 months to really start to pan out, and how Troy's constant growth focus has often led to a lot of self-doubt over whether he was over-investing and still not getting to where he wanted to be, and how the book "The Gap and the Gain" helped to build more appreciation for how far the firm has already come.

So, whether you're interested in learning about leveraging YouTube videos to drive client growth, how to measure marketing efficiency and set goals for the output of marketing spend or how to manage a rapidly growing firm, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Troy Sharpe.

How Advisors Can Work With Attorneys To Drive Better Estate Planning Outcomes For Clients

April 29, 2024 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Estate Planning

Financial advisors add value for their clients not only by helping them grow their wealth, but also by working with them to create a plan for how to use it. While much of this process may focus on the client's own lifetime planning needs (e.g., helping them develop a retirement income plan), it often also addresses the client's goals for their wealth after their death. With this in mind, many financial advisors offer estate planning guidance to clients. However, because few advisors are also legal professionals (who can offer more detailed guidance and draft legal documents), many often collaborate with estate planning attorneys to ensure their clients' estate planning needs are met.

In this guest post, David Haughton, Team Lead for Advanced Planning at Commonwealth Financial Network, explores the relationship between financial advisors and estate planning attorneys, how advisors can add value for clients during the estate planning process, and how advisors and attorneys can create mutually beneficial arrangements.

Financial advisors can play a valuable role in the strategy, implementation, and funding stages of the estate planning process. For example, advisors can start by identifying whether a client even has an estate plan in the first place and, if so, what the current plan entails. The advisor can then consider whether the current plan (if it exists) meets the client's estate planning goals and, if needed, encourage the client to engage with an estate planning attorney who can recommend potential solutions (ideally in consultation with the advisor, who will be intimately familiar with the client's financial situation and goals) and draft the legal documents necessary to execute them. In the implementation phase, financial advisors can review the estate planning documents to ensure they are appropriate to meet their client's needs and confirm that the client actually executes the documents. Finally, in the funding phase, advisors can provide value by ensuring that accounts are retitled as necessary so that the client's assets are appropriately positioned to meet the goals of their newly crafted estate plan.

Sometimes, estate planning attorneys might be reluctant to work closely with a client's financial advisor. For instance, an attorney might balk at the estate planning suggestions offered by a client's financial advisor (who does not work on estate planning issues full time), while an advisor might question an attorney's proposed strategy (e.g., the attorney might not be aware of a client's ability to actually execute the proposed plan). Nevertheless, the reality is that both the financial advisor and estate planning attorney have much to gain by cooperating with each other, not just to ensure that their mutual client receives a properly prepared estate plan that meets their goals, but also because building a trusting relationship could lead to mutual client referrals down the line (as many estate planning clients could benefit from financial planning services, and vice versa)!

Ultimately, the key point is that financial advisors can add significant value for their clients throughout the estate planning process, from evaluating their current plan to helping them find a qualified estate planning attorney, to working with the attorney to ensure the new or updated plan meets their client's goals and is executed and funded appropriately. And while the advisor's engagement in the estate planning process can increase the level of trust and loyalty between the advisor and their client, it also sets the table for a strong relationship with their client's heirs when the client's assets are distributed at their death, continuing the legacy of providing valuable financial planning to family members when they may need it most!