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5 Design Tips To Boost Trust And Credibility On Your Advisor Website

January 24, 2022 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Marketing

In recent years, the evolution in digital marketing for financial advisors has transformed advisor websites from a static, online version of the advisor's sales brochure into a crucial part of the marketing funnel and a place where many visitors actually decide whether or not to become clients (or at least to contact the advisor about talking further). But as the role of advisor websites in the marketing process has increased, so too have the standards for website design – since, in order to entice visitors to stay and (ideally!) engage with the advisor, the site needs to be a place where visitors actually want to stay to begin with. The ability to establish trust and credibility is one of the critical components of a website that creates a favorable impression for visitors – an impression that often extends to the advisor themselves.

In this guest post, Mikel Bruce, CEO of TinyFrog Technologies, explains why trust and credibility matter for financial advisor websites, what strategies can help with establishing trust and credibility, and how advisors can implement these strategies into their own sites.

First impressions tend to have a lasting impact on how a person views a business, so the earlier in the visitor's experience that the website can establish a baseline level of trust, the easier it is to build on that foundation until the visitor feels comfortable enough to take action. This is particularly important in the COVID era, where many potential clients rely solely on the internet for finding an advisor, because the advisor's website may be the only physical manifestation of the business for potential clients. And while it is difficult to objectively measure trust and credibility with website visitors, one way for advisors to know whether their site is effective at establishing trust and credibility is to track the site's conversion rates (e.g., the percentage of website visitors who submit a contact form), because website visitors who do "convert" are likely to be those who feel comfortable enough with their impression of the advisor to do so.

As humans, most of us rely heavily on our vision for sensory information; accordingly, one of the most immediate ways to establish a baseline level of trust in a website is to create 'visual trust' – which can be as simple as having a clean, modern-looking site, but can also involve creating a visual hierarchy that subtly emphasizes the most important information for the visitor to know. Another element, 'social trust', creates the reassuring impression to visitors that other people similar to them find the advisor trustworthy; this can be established by highlighting metrics about the advisor's existing clientele (such as the number of clients served or assets under management) as well as the advisor's prominence within the industry (for example, by showcasing the advisor's industry awards or media appearances). Finally, firms can seek to create 'longevity trust' by emphasizing the expertise and experience of the advisor (e.g., how long they have been in business or which industry credentials they hold) and reminding visitors of the advisor's stability, reliability, and professionalism.

Implementing a strategy to create trust and credibility begins with choosing which areas are the most relevant to the niche or target client that the advisor seeks to serve, which will then drive the decision of which elements to emphasize. For example, a "trust and credibility panel" located in a hard-to-miss place on the advisor's main landing page, with the information the advisor wants to highlight most (e.g., an "As Seen In…" section highlighting the advisor's media appearances), puts the most important information in the place where it is most likely to create a first impression. From there, advisors can build other credibility-generating elements into the site (such as a resource page or a case study), with the caveat that these sections will most likely build credibility only if they are well-organized and easy to navigate (and that cluttered, busy site can actually have the opposite effect of reducing trust!).

Ultimately, it's important to remember that building trust is a gradual process, and that a well-designed advisor website can establish a baseline foundation of trust with a positive first impression, gradually building layers of additional trust by incorporating other trust-building elements. And because trust and credibility are such crucial components of a website – since, after all, people naturally want to feel confident in the advisor to whom they entrust their finances – advisors who invest the resources to build those elements into their websites can boost engagement, bring in more prospects, and potentially grow their business!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Jan 22-23)

January 21, 2022 02:07 pm 1 Comment CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of “Weekend Reading For Financial Planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the news that subscription-based advisory firm Facet Wealth has raised $100 million from venture capital firms in a Series C funding round. At a time when private equity firms are buying up AUM-based RIAs for their current income generation, the venture capital firms’ huge investment in Facet suggests that they see the real potential for Facet’s subscription fee model to become the next big business model for financial advisors in the future.

Also in industry news this week:

Advocates for the fiduciary standard have sent a letter to the SEC requesting that it adjust its guidance to allow RIAs to specifically use the word “fiduciary” on their form CRS to better differentiate themselves from broker-dealers who are not full-time fiduciaries
A study finds that higher-income individuals have better investment returns in their Roth IRAs, suggesting that they (and their advisors?) are more often leveraging best practices in asset location to use the tax-free accounts to hold assets expected to appreciate the most

From there, we have several articles on advisor technology:

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini’s acquisition of digital asset portfolio management platform BITRIA will give advisors a new way to invest client assets directly in cryptocurrencies (not just crypto futures) via SMA or TAMP structures
Fidelity plans to introduce a direct indexing product for retail customers with a $5,000 minimum investment, in a sign of the strategy’s growing popularity not only for tax benefits but also for allowing investors to adjust indexes based on ESG/SRI or other preferences
Four years after acquiring Junxure CRM, AdvisorEngine has released AdvisorEngine CRM, an upgraded cloud-based offering that perhaps signals a bet on the growing importance of CRM at the center of the advisor tech stack

We also have a number of articles on advisor marketing:

Why specializing in a niche can help an advisory firm overcome many of the challenges of marketing to prospective clients
How serving a niche can help advisors focus their communications, be more intentional with their marketing budget, and scale their practices more effectively
Why being bold in marketing may seem scary but ultimately helps advisors stand out from the rest in a crowded marketplace

We wrap up with three final articles, all about how to enhance your lifestyle:

The steps you can take during the daytime to sleep better at night
How to design a home gym that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing
How living a ‘rich’ life does not necessarily involve significant assets or material possessions, but rather features the experiences that are important to you

Enjoy the ‘light’ reading!

Reducing Digital Miscommunication By Setting Clear Expectations And Appropriate Tone

January 19, 2022 07:08 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Client Trust & Communication

Communicating clearly and effectively online can often be a challenge, and the surge in digital communication during the pandemic has increased the potential for misinterpreting messages. Without the verbal inflection available in oral communication, conveying tone through written communication is much more difficult. In the absence of these tonal clues, our brains fill in the gaps with our own assumptions, which may not match up with the intended meaning!

Furthermore, online messages can lack mutually agreed-upon expectations for how to communicate; in a face-to-face meeting there is an immediate back-and-forth exchange of ideas with the opportunity to notice body language and facial gestures, but when communicating online, the time between responses (and the recipient’s unwritten/unspoken reactions) can be much more ambiguous. This can lead to anxiety and frustration, which can, in turn, lead to a passive-aggressive tone-deaf dance of digital (mis)communication. Stress related to online communication can lead to general unhappiness in an advisor-client relationship, which can adversely affect client satisfaction and retention. This is a particularly important risk to be aware of now, with the skyrocketing rise of digital communication!

Two simple changes – clearly stating what is needed and offering a concrete time frame to work with – can make a huge difference in setting clear expectations and reducing any potential stress that would otherwise arise from misinterpreting ambiguous expectations. One effective method of setting expectations for responding to email is using an email signature to outline what clients can expect from you. For example, you could write in your signature that you only check email on certain days of the week or do not respond to emails after 4 pm. Additionally, it helps the recipient understand expectations when messages include explicit descriptions of what is needed, and a deadline for when they are needed.

In addition to setting clear expectations, thoughtfully setting up the appropriate tone in digital messages can also have a tremendous impact to help mitigate potential stress and frustration that can arise from digital communication. For example, you can use punctuation marks (!!!) or emojis (😊) to convey tone. For those who feel uncomfortable using emoji faces or lots of exclamation points in their messaging, recording a simple video message (so that the recipient can hear your use of vocal expression and see your facial gestures) can also be a way to communicate tone.

Ultimately, the key point is that effective digital communication can reduce stress levels for both the sender and the recipients of the message, as good digital communication helps the recipient understand what the sender is trying to tell them and what needs to be done, without the need for body language or vocal cues. Accordingly, working to make digital communication more effective by setting clear expectations and thoughtfully setting up the appropriate tone not only helps advisors communicate with clients more effectively, but also reduces the stress levels for both advisors and their clients as well!

#FA Success Ep 264: Outsourcing Lead Generation To Accelerate Growth When Starting From Scratch, With Dan Callahan

January 18, 2022 07:05 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 264th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Dan Callahan. Dan is a Partner and the Chief Investment Officer at Capasso Planning Partners, a rapidly growing independent RIA based in Charleston, South Carolina that oversees about $250 million of assets under management for 300 client households across the country that are all served virtually.

What's unique about Dan, though, is the way he and his firm began with nearly zero clients but grew substantially in client acquisition over a 3-year period, especially in areas outside of the local Charleston area, by outsourcing lead generation to online third-party platforms.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Dan incorporates third-party lead providers like Zoe Financial, SmartAsset’s Smart Advisor, and Fee-Only Network (to name just a few) to maximize the reach of potential clients beyond his local area, how Dan highlights his firm’s fee structure and flexible meeting times to position the firm to stand out amongst a crowded marketplace of other virtual financial advisory firms pushing for the same leads, and how Dan justifies the non-trivial revenue-sharing and other marketing costs that it takes to buy leads by having gotten from $0 to almost $50 million of assets under management in barely 3 years.

We also talk about how Dan’s perseverance in client outreach allowed him to keep pace with larger firms (despite not having a business development or marketing team), how Dan’s experiences at fee-only firms gave him opportunities early in his career to experience senior-level investment and portfolio work (which lead him to acquire his CFA designation), and how those experiences and his CFA designation gave Dan the confidence to start and grow an advisory firm from the ground up.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Dan shares how developing a financial firm from scratch involved enduring a rollercoaster of fluctuations in his own satisfaction and disappointment (especially when dealing with acceptance and rejection from prospects), why Dan feels strongly about taking risks and being vulnerable to create better career goals and overall achievements, and how Dan places importance on the flexibility of meeting clients virtually to create a less stressful work-life balance for him and his firm.

So whether you’re interested in learning about how Dan leveraged online third-party platforms to generate client leads, how he aids his firm in standing out to compete with larger firms, or how he grew his firm to $50M of AUM in close to 3 years, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Dan Callahan.

Bundling Financial Planning To Recurring Advice Fees For Long-Term Profitability

January 17, 2022 07:08 am 8 Comments CATEGORY: Practice Management

Providing financial planning services takes time. A lot of time. In fact, according to a recent Kitces Research study, the average advisory firm spends 10 hours just constructing a financial plan, and more than 30 hours across the firm servicing a client throughout the first year to gather data, analyze and produce a financial plan, deliver it to the client, implement the recommendations, and begin the ongoing monitoring process. Which means, not surprisingly, that it’s often necessary to charge clients a non-trivial financial planning fee upfront to recover the time investment. Especially as financial advisors are increasingly shifting to AUM fees and other recurring revenue fee-for-service models, rather than earning a (potentially sizable) upfront commission for the products implemented after the plan is delivered.

Yet the reality is that with the rise of AUM and subscription models in particular, along with their recurring revenue potential, it’s actually not necessary to charge upfront for time-consuming financial planning to get paid for it. Instead, as long as delivering financial planning still provides value, deepens the advisor-client relationship, and, most importantly (from the business perspective), improves long-term retention, it’s entirely possible to be ‘paid well’ for financial planning without charging for it separately at all! Because even a relatively small improvement in client retention rates can produce a very sizable Return On Investment (ROI) for putting in the time and effort to do the financial planning in the first place.

In fact, charging separately for financial planning (and maintaining lower ongoing fees once the upfront planning work is completed) actually introduces the risk that clients will have ‘sticker shock’ about the upfront cost and will choose not to purchase it at all, which means, ironically, that charging for financial planning can actually reduce the number of clients who engage in it. By contrast, bundling financial planning into an AUM or subscription fee changes the client psychology, subtly encouraging clients to take advantage of the service by making it already included… knowing that clients who do engage in financial planning will be more likely to stick around for the long run anyway.

On the other hand, there is a simple appeal to the ‘purity’ of having clients pay for financial planning at the time they receive financial planning, and keeping costs and fees more directly aligned in each and every year. Nonetheless, the reality across a wide range of industries is that it’s quite common to bundle services together, in a manner that makes some clients more profitable and others less so in any particular year, as long as it averages out over time. And at least with a recurring revenue model, it’s the client’s less-time-intensive years that help to cross-subsidize the more-time-intensive ones (and with retention rates for ongoing financial planning firms approaching 98%, most clients appear to be quite comfortable with that reality!).

Of course, it’s still impossible to offer ‘free’ financial planning, paid for with AUM or subscription fees over time, for clients who don’t have assets to manage in the first place; for those clients, a fee-for-service model where clients pay directly for financial planning is the only option. Yet for those who do have other means to pay, and other business models to reach them, it’s important to recognize how an advisory firm really can ‘give away’ financial planning and still be paid well for their efforts over time… at least for firms that have the confidence in their client retention and the patience to grow profitability over time!?

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Jan 15-16)

January 14, 2022 01:57 pm 2 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of “Weekend Reading For Financial Planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the news that 2021 ended with inflation hitting 7% – its highest annual rate since 1982 – which makes it more likely that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates in early 2022 (and potentially more than once throughout the year), contributing to uncertainty not only over the Fed’s ability to tamp down inflation, but also over the potential effects of higher interest rates on financial markets and the greater economy as the country continues its recovery from the pandemic.

Also in industry news this week:

The impact of higher inflation also extends to taxes, and some components of the tax code that are linked to inflation (such as the tax brackets themselves) will see higher-than-average boosts this year (while other taxpayers could experience higher taxes from the components that aren’t linked to inflation, like the income threshold for Net Investment Income Tax)
Though the news about the twin surges of inflation and the Omicron variant has been grim lately, a closer look at the numbers gives some cause for hope, as the rate at which inflation has increased went down between November and December, while the news from South Africa and the United Kingdom shows that the U.S. could soon see Omicron cases start to decline as swiftly as they rose initially

From there, we have several articles on efforts to improve diversity and inclusion within the financial industry:

A new company called Choir aims to incentivize financial conferences to include more representation of women and people of color by creating a “diversity certification” (for conferences that choose to hire Choir to assess their conferences and engage Choir’s consulting services to improve their conference diversity)
A paper suggests that “pre-CFP” designations could serve as a “gateway” to CFP certification for more diverse candidates by providing a lower-cost alternative to the CFP educational requirements that candidates can use to “test the waters” before committing to pursuing the CFP mark
Kamila Elliott recently began her term as CFP Board chair, and though much attention has been given to her being the first Black woman to serve in that role – a significant milestone for the profession – the reality is that the industry’s diversity issues go beyond anything she can solve in her one-year term and require more structural change in the industry as a whole

We also have a number of articles on how individuals can make the most of their retirement years:

Why a ‘challenge list’ might be a better choice than a ‘bucket list’ in retirement, and how advisors can help clients discover how they really want to spend their retirements
While many clients are worried about running out of money in retirement, recent studies show that many retirees can actually safely increase their spending significantly (if only because they are being more conservative than they actually need to be!)
Why many individuals can lose a sense of purpose in retirement, and how advisors can help clients develop strategies to regain this feeling

We wrap up with three final articles, all about the importance of committing to goals:

Why personal and professional commitment is undervalued in a world of almost infinite options where we increasingly try to ‘keep our options open’ instead of committing deeply to one path in particular
Why progress is almost never linear, and how to overcome the inevitable dips and stalls along the way
How most success stories, from bloggers to financial advisors, are the result of years of hard work and persistence before material results start to show up

Enjoy the ‘light’ reading!

Kitces & Carl Ep 77: Virtual Or In-Person Meetings: What Do Clients Really Want?

January 13, 2022 07:08 am 1 Comment CATEGORY: Kitces & Carl Podcast

Traditionally, financial planning meetings were held in person, which created intimacy, but limited an advisor's clientele to those who could physically get to their office. Advancements in technology allowed some advisors to increase their virtual communication, but almost all advisors found themselves operating in a virtual environment at some point during the pandemic. For many advisors, this created a flux in meeting culture – while some advisors found that they preferred the availability, ease of use, and non-geographic constraints, there are still many advisors and clients that prefer to meet in person. Deciding which meeting format (in-person, virtual, or hybrid) to implement has recently become one of the more challenging aspects for advisors in developing the client experience.

In our 77th episode of Kitces & Carl, Michael Kitces and client communication expert Carl Richards discuss how the emergence of remote culture has changed the conversation about how advisors approach meetings, and the benefits and limitations of different meeting mediums.

As a starting point, it’s important to identify how each meeting format impacts communication between the advisor and client. Advisors will often work with clients that share similarities, such as age group, interests, socioeconomic status, and communication styles. Understanding these similarities can clarify which meeting style can be utilized best. For example, younger clients are more accustomed to working remotely and may be a better fit for advisors who meet virtually.

In-person meetings can provide clarity for advisors and clients in judging whether a relationship is a good fit, as it is much easier to interpret trust, emotions, or body language and can make having difficult discussions more comfortable. Virtual meetings can increase the distribution of information and allow for more flexibility and frequency in meeting times and locations, especially as the advisor-client relationship matures. The hybrid method blends meeting styles and offers benefits such as the ability to meet asynchronously, but can also add additional progress tracking and may limit advisor or client responsiveness.

Ultimately, the key point is the right decision for which meeting format to implement is up to the advisor. When designing a great client experience, instinctually, client preferences are put first. But in this case, advisors can benefit from prioritizing and internalizing their meeting preferences to develop more trust, confidence, and better expectations. After deciding the best meeting format for them (just as advisors define their niche or specialization), advisors can develop a client experience and attract clientele by being upfront, honest and clear with clients about the meeting methods utilized. Overall, the benefit of choosing a meeting format is to increase efficacy and efficiency in communication, creating a better, more meaningful experience for advisors and their clients!

3 Essential Client Meeting Skills For Financial Advisors (And How To Develop Them!)

January 12, 2022 07:01 am 2 Comments CATEGORY: Client Trust & Communication

As increasing numbers of new financial advisors enter the industry through support roles (e.g., analysts, paraplanners, and associate advisors), many newer advisors today spend much of their time on ‘back-end’ tasks like data input and analysis rather than meeting with clients (which is reserved for more-experienced lead advisors). Which means that, while many newer advisors have the opportunity to deepen their technical financial planning expertise early in their careers (simply via the day-to-day tasks of their roles), the same may not be true when it comes to mastering the skills necessary to meet and communicate with clients in a one-to-one setting.

Accordingly, for newer advisors who plan to progress into lead advisor roles – and for more-experienced advisors looking to enhance their client communication abilities – practicing client meeting skills can be a valuable way to improve their ability to communicate effectively with their clients. But ironically, many advisors do not get a chance to practice these skills until they actually start to meet with clients—which, given the nuance and complexity of many conversations around clients’ finances, can be somewhat akin to learning how to build an airplane while it is already flying!

A better approach to deepening client meeting skills may be to find (or create) opportunities to practice those skills before meeting with clients. Because, contrary to many people's intuition, the ability to communicate effectively in a client meeting is not an inherent trait limited to extroverted personality types; rather, it is a skill that can be learned and mastered through regular and deliberate practice. And by practicing the most essential of those skills – which include meeting preparation, creating supporting materials, time and agenda management to stay on topic, and active and passive listening to create an environment of open communication with the client – advisors can improve their performance when they get the opportunity to hold a real client meeting, no matter their level of extroversion!

While formal opportunities for newer advisors to practice client meeting skills are not always readily available, advisors do have several options that they can explore based on their goals and available resources. One is to hold mock client meetings with other advisors, which can provide hands-on practice at presenting and managing a meeting (as well as giving valuable feedback from the other participants). Additionally, on-demand virtual training courses (such as Amplified Planning’s CORE program) allow enrollees to observe real client-meeting scenarios while providing additional learning tools to help advisors deepen their skillset. Finally, more comprehensive training programs, like ACP’s Success, Money Quotient’s True Wealth, and Kinder Institute’s EVOKE training, go beyond client meetings to teach whole systems of financial planning and client communication (which may require an advisor’s buy-in to a specific planning philosophy, but can also provide intensive training to incorporate that philosophy into all aspects of the advisor’s process, including client meetings).

Ultimately, good client meeting skills are about creating an environment where the advisor and client can communicate openly. It follows, then, that practicing client meeting skills can improve an advisor’s overall ability to communicate with their clients. Which, given that clients generally value advisors who communicate openly and honestly with them, means that enhancing client meeting skills (by practicing them before meeting with clients) can also make advisors more trusted – and more valuable – in the eyes of their clients!

#FA Success Ep 263: Building A High-Touch Boutique Firm Serving Tech Executives As Their Personal CFO, With Joyce Franklin

January 11, 2022 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 263rd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Joyce Franklin. Joyce is the founder of JL Franklin Wealth Planning, an independent RIA based in the San Francisco Bay Area that oversees about $200 million of assets for 40 client families.

What's unique about Joyce, though, is how she built a true boutique financial advisory firm by serving as a personal CFO for high-profile tech executives, creating loyal relationships by not only helping them leverage their equity awards and stock options and positioning herself as a steward of their wealth with her firm averaging of 71 hours of service work provided to each client every year.

In this episode, we talk in depth about how Joyce started out as a CPA preparing tax returns at Big 4 accounting firms during the tech bubble in the 90s (where she developed her expertise in stock option and equity award planning), how Joyce has intentionally maintained a smaller boutique-style client base to ensure she can provide all of her clients with a deep personal touch (but has recently turned her sights on growing her staff to create a succession plan), and how Joyce continues to execute high-touch comprehensive planning services for her clients while still only charging an Assets Under Management fee.

We also talk about Joyce’s desire to stay away from commission-based products from the very start of her career and how she instead focused on building client trust through expertise-based service (and writing two books in her niche to demonstrate that expertise), how Joyce turned a side business of preparing tax returns in her early days into an independent advisory firm (after realizing her entrepreneurial spirit and passion for financial planning), and how Joyce implements her core values by focusing on every last little planning detail for her clients.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Joyce shares how she realized that, by having a trusted team, she was able to let go of time-consuming tasks and hone in on the bigger picture of her firm, how Joyce motivated herself to become a go-to expert for entrepreneurs and executives building wealth with startups, and how Joyce uses the years of information she gathered through interviewing other advisors to help educate future advisors.

So whether you’re interested in learning about how Joyce provides high-touch CFO services to tech executives, how she helps her clients leverage their equity awards and stock options, or how writing books on her specialty attracts new clients in her niche, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Joyce Franklin.

Four Financial Advisor Trends Reshaping #AdvisorTech

January 10, 2022 07:07 am 10 Comments CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

Despite the reality that change is inevitable, it’s remarkably difficult to identify in real-time which new innovations will stick around and change the world, and which will never manage to gain traction (or turn into a fad that is quickly adopted but just as quickly forgotten). In some cases, the reality is that the idea was good but its execution was poor, and couldn’t stand up to reality. In other cases, the idea was ‘right’ but was before its time. In the end, it takes the right execution of the right idea, and the right environment that fosters the demand, to make innovation happen.

The past year witnessed an immense amount of change in the AdvisorTech landscape, driven by a combination of new innovations that came to market, and some ‘old’ ideas whose time has seemingly come. All of which is driven by broader structural trends that are slowly but steadily reshaping the financial advisor landscape… and formulating the conditions that allow new technology to take hold.

In the current environment, the four trends reshaping #AdvisorTech include: 1) an ongoing transition From Products To Advice as advisors increasingly sell advice (not products); 2) a growing hunger to Automate The Back Office, as the shift to recurring revenue business models is driving a push to better scale the back office (to service that recurring revenue more efficiently); 3) Scaling New Revenue Growth, as advisory firms increasingly separate the advisors who service clients, and the (non-advisor-driven) marketing systems that bring them in; and 4) Evolving Investment Demand, as anticipated low returns for both stocks and bonds lead to a growing desire to invest in… almost anything else (from alternatives to structured notes and annuities to cryptoassets).

In last week’s discussion, we explored the first two trends – the shift from products to advice, and the growing demand for solutions to automate the advisor’s back office – while this week, we delve further into the #AdvisorTech trends that are driving some of the biggest investments: scaling new revenue growth, and platforms to meet the evolving investment demands of advisors (and their clients). As the reality is that advisors pay substantially more for #AdvisorTech solutions that power revenue growth – either directly in the form of marketing solutions, or indirectly by powering the portfolios of advisors still primarily operating on an Assets Under Management (AUM) model. Which means trends that impact the ways advisors generate (new) revenue are especially lucrative (as reflected in some eye-popping capital raises in 2021!).

In the end, though, it’s important to recognize that trends persist (which is what makes them trends, and not fads!), which means the trends that drove AdvisorTech innovation in 2021 are likely to continue well into 2022 and beyond. So hopefully this discussion provides some helpful perspective in not only looking back at where AdvisorTech has come over the past year… but where it will continue to go in the year to come!?