feed - Part 79

How Webinar Marketing Beats Traditional Seminars For Financial Advisor Prospecting

May 9, 2016 07:01 am 34 Comments CATEGORY: Marketing

Seminar marketing has long been a staple of financial advisor marketing strategies, and while it's more challenging in today's environment given the declining efficiency of direct mail (used to get prospects to show up in the first place), many advisors still use educational seminars as a way to introduce themselves to potential clients. Yet as our world becomes increasingly digital, and we substitute e-mail for snail mail, some financial advisors are experimenting with webinars as the next strategy beyond seminars.

In today's guest post, financial advisor Jeff Rose shares his experience in making the transition from seminar marketing to doing webinars instead - and how the outcome was not only better results in terms of new clients and revenue, but an investment that took less time and effort and had just 1/5th the upfront cost... and was ultimately more scalable as well.

In addition to sharing the success story itself, Jeff also shares his tips and best practices for financial advisors who want to adopt webinar marketing strategies for themselves, from the software and hardware tools he uses to the way he set up the registration process, and how he follows up with them afterward to ask for their business. So whether you've been thinking about switching away from seminar marketing, are looking for a new marketing strategy like webinars, or are already doing webinars and want a few tips for improvement, hopefully, today's guest post will be helpful food for thought!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (May 7-8)

May 6, 2016 02:44 pm 5 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - this week's edition kicks off with an interesting new Fidelity study, finding that female and Millennial advisors are becoming more and more likely to change firms as they gain experience... and that it's the most successful advisors who are the most likely to switch, raising serious questions about the ability of advisory firms and platforms to retain the best next generation talent. Also in the news this week is a notable lawsuit filed against T. Rowe Price for "excessive fees", claiming that the otherwise-moderately-priced mutual fund company was taking advantage of its retail investors by not doing more to drop the price of its mutual fund expense ratios to match its institutional pricing as its funds grew their AUM.

From there, we have a number of technical financial planning articles this week, including a look at the shifting buying habits of LTC insurance policyowners when it comes to inflation riders (as the use of 5% compound inflation riders has crashed, replaced by 3% compound inflation, guaranteed purchase options, and rising-premium structures), a discussion of whether it's better to "de-risk" a portfolio by owning less in equities or just owning less volatile equities, and a fascinating analysis of whether the shift towards passive investing really risks making the market less efficient or whether it could actually make the economy as a whole more efficient instead.

There are also several practice management articles this week, including: a Pershing Advisor Solutions announcement that it will be launching an open API initiative similar to TD Ameritrade Veo, and is bringing on 3 new "robo" tools to help advisors (SigFig, Vanare, and Jemstep); how Fidelity is building in the exact opposite direction with its coming new Wealthscape platform, designed to make the process simpler for advisors by constructing a single fully integrated solution (while maintaining some open architecture for those who still want to mix and match); tips for why you should hire an intern for your advisory firm and how to do it; and a look at how the ability to connect with people virtually, thanks to the internet and social media, is leading to a rise of "virtual mentors" as well.

We wrap up with three interesting articles: the first is a look at how consumer spending is rising more quickly amongst the top 5% of earners than the other 95%, which is driving rapid growth is a wide range of ultra-elite services to cater to the affluent (even as companies get better than ever at identifying top customers, and figuring out how to better cater to them); the second is a fascinating discussion of "authoritarianism" in American politics, which helps to both explain the sudden rise of Donald Trump's candidacy for President, and suggests that even if Trump loses, the authoritarian voting block may divide the GOP for years to come; and the last is a fantastic reminder than we often remember history as being more modest than it actually is, and that even though the remember with nostalgia the days that the government didn't overspend, markets were less volatile, and everyone had a pension plan, the truth is that the government has run a deficit for most of the past 100 years (except for what turned out to be bubble years in the 1920s and 1990s), monthly market volatility is actually less this decade than any decade for the past century, and even at its peak only 38% of private sector workers were ever covered by a pension (in 1979), compared to a much-larger 64% of people who actively participate in a 401(k) plan today! In other words, even as we lament that times have never been worse, the truth is that they've never been better.

And be certain to check out Bill Winterberg's "Bits & Bytes" video on the latest in advisor tech news at the end, which this week includes coverage of Wealthbox CRM's five new integration partners (from TD Ameritrade to Office365 and Zapier), a new Orion Advisor Services feature that sends portfolio information to clients via text message, and the launch of a new client portal from Morningstar's ByAllAccounts!

Enjoy the "light" reading!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Apr 23-24)

April 22, 2016 02:44 pm 1 Comment CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the announcement that United Capital is launching a white-label service for advisors called FinLife Partners, intended to offer a form of turnkey financial planning platform that includes United Capital's proprietary financial planning tools, along with a bundled and integrated technology stack of CRM, financial planning software, and more (the solution that United Capital built internally for its own advisors over the past several years!). Also in the news this week was the big release of G4, the newest version of the MoneyGuidePro financial planning software, which has gone through a significant redesign to be able to better facilitate client conversations as an interactive planning tool.

From there, we have several practice management articles this week, including a look at how focusing on "best practices" often leads to just chasing fads and being stuck in the past rather than building towards the future, why it's time for the traditional advisor "elevator pitch" to die (or at least, be substantially reinvented), how the ongoing evolution of advisory firms is making them structure and operate more like large accounting firms, and the emerging battle for the advisor desktop as advisor platforms increasingly position themselves as being first and foremost a technology platform.

We also have a few more technical articles this week, including: the latest research on Millennials, and how they may not actually be risk-averse investors after all (but they do appear to be real-estate and debt averse!); an in-depth look at the growing awareness that the typical risk tolerance questionnaire may be doing a remarkably poor job of actually measuring true client risk tolerance; and a great explainer and analysis on whole life insurance, how it really works, and when it's appropriate (or not) to use.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of a growing focus on consumer spending behaviors: the first is a profile of Peter Adeney, also known as the blogger "Mr. Money Mustache", who has built a tremendous blogging platform around the idea that thrifty living isn't about self-denial but being a better global citizen; the second is a fascinating interview with four men, who have incomes varying from the poverty line to over $1,000,000/year, about their financial challenges and goals (and the fact that all of them, regardless of income, are hoping to double or triple their income to meet their goals in the next 10 years!); and the last is a fascinating "confessional" article from a writer who makes a good middle-class income, but is living from paycheck to paycheck, along with as many as 47% of other Americans who couldn't afford a $400 emergency expense without going into debt, but due to taboos of talking about money and debt are so ashamed it's difficult to even talk about the problem, much less get some help.

Enjoy the "light" reading!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Apr 9-10)

April 8, 2016 02:44 pm 2 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the huge news this week: that the Department of Labor issued its final fiduciary rule, with some final concessions to Wall Street firms but the substantive core remaining intact... although we may not know for years, until the attorneys get involved, whether or how much more protective the rule will really be.

From there, we have several practice management articles this week, from a look at how to engage in data-driven (digital) marketing tactics, to what you should consider in getting started with digital SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tactics, along with how to edit your advisory firm's bio page, who to recruit to your client advisory board, and why it's increasingly necessary for advisors to check their technology stack for duplicative services they might trim (and whether it's time to start pressuring technology providers to better unbundle their services).

We also have a few more technical articles this week, including: the difference in tax treatment between ETNs versus ETFs (and why ETNs are more favorable in some circumstances); how to use Roth conversions to protect clients from higher future tax rates; and the latest research from Wade Pfau on how best to incorporate a reverse mortgage as part of the retirement income picture.

We wrap up with three interesting articles: the first is a look at how sometimes the greatest blocking points to growing an advisory business and being successful come from our own personal challenges that get expressed in the business; the second is a great reminder that an advisory business isn't a business because you earn a living by working in it... it's only a business when it has value beyond the work that you do yourself; and the last looks at the rising phenomenon of the 'workaholic' and why many seem to feel so compelled to work so hard, and can't seem to escape our jobs as a prison, even as the reality is that more than ever we find our sense of identity and purpose in our work (and not merely the activities we do in our off-work hours, as was the case just a generation ago)!

Enjoy the "light" reading!

The Importance Of Creating Small Financial Planning Goals

April 6, 2016 07:01 am 4 Comments CATEGORY: General Planning

Financial planning is focused heavily on establishing and working towards very big long-term goals, from saving for a child’s education to accumulating the assets to fund a multi-decade retirement.

Yet the fundamental problem of “big” goals – financial planning or otherwise – is that they can seem so big and overwhelming that it’s actually demotivating. In the extreme, the goal may feel so distant and unachievable that it simply leads the person to give up on pursuing the goal at all!

Accordingly, the reality is that to really make long-term financial planning goals achievable, the key is to break them down into smaller pieces first. As the saying goes, the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. And the research of behavior change and motivation is increasingly finding that the “small wins” of successfully achieving small goals may actually be the key to helping us rewire our brains to stick with the new behavior in the long-run!

Unfortunately, though, financial planning education provides little in the way of training on how to break down big goals into small ones, and most financial planning software does a poor job of helping clients to track short-term goals!

Nonetheless, in the world where the actual implementation of goals – i.e., into saving and investment accounts – is becoming increasingly commoditized, arguably it will be the process of helping clients break down big financial planning goals into smaller SMART goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, and then providing them the tools to track progress and serving as an accountability partner to ensure follow-through, that may be the greatest financial planning value-add of all!
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Nerd’s Eye View 2016 Reader Survey – Your Input Is Requested!

March 29, 2016 07:01 am 1 Comment CATEGORY: Nerd's Eye View

At Nerd’s Eye View, the goal is always to make this an ever-more-valuable resource for all of you, the readers. And over the years, reader feedback has shaped everything from the visual design of the blog (right down to the default font size!) and the comment system we use, to the expansion of our Members section to offer CFP CE credit (and more recently, also IMCA CE credit) for Nerd's Eye View blog posts, and more.

And while I'm happy with the progress we've made, I'm sure there's still more than we could do differently to serve you better. Accordingly, every year I try to survey all of you who read this blog, to get your thoughts and feedback about the features we're offering, some ideas we're considering, and whatever other input you're willing to share about what we could do to make this a more valuable site and a better user experience for you.

So regardless of whether you're an advisor, an individual consumer who reads this blog for your own benefit, a related professional that works with financial advisors, or you're associated with a vendor who serves advisors, I hope you'll take a few minutes to answer this year's survey. It's only 10 questions, should take no more than a few minutes, and will remain open until the end of next week (April 8th).

Thanks in advance for clicking through to today's blog post to share your feedback! 🙂
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Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Mar 26-27)

March 25, 2016 02:29 pm 7 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" - this week's edition kicks off with the big industry news that the CFP Board is modifying its Terms and Conditions, and beginning in May will require all CFP certificants that have a dispute with the CFP Board to go through mandatory arbitration, forever ending the possibility that the CFP Board will have to defend another case like Camarda in court. Also in the news this week is the continued escalation of life insurance companies changing internal costs to make up for losses due to low interest rates, which has now triggered a class action lawsuit being filed against Transamerica (though it's certainly not the only company engaging in the practice!).

From there, we have a couple of technical articles this week, from a discussion of the importance of Active Share (the more unique the portfolio, the greater its upside and also downside potential), to a look at how to read through a Financial Aid Award letter (as many have just started going out to college students matriculating in the fall), as well as a look at the practical challenges of using an HSA as a supplemental retiree medical savings account, and the growing concern from the "father of Smart Beta" Rob Arnott that parts of the Smart Beta universe may be in a self-induced bubble that could lead to a Smart Beta crash (even if the underlying concept remains structurally valid when done properly).

We also have a couple of financial technology articles this week, including the launch of a new portfolio design and risk analytics tool called Totum Wealth, some helpful reminders about how to stay on guard against potential cyberattacks, and a discussion of the big #FinTech news that Intuit is going to be shutting down its APIs, potentially leaving a number of account aggregation and client portal services in search of a new partner (and while there are alternatives to choose from, including Intuit's suggested replacement Finicity, advisors using software relying on Mint APIs may still find their clients soon have to reconnect all their accounts just to get up-and-running again!).

We wrap up with three interesting articles: the first looks at how "99%" of networking events are a waste of time, and the real ways to leverage networking value and opportunities (first hint: when it's time for sessions, take a nap, so you can be awake and refreshed for the actual social time for relationship-building!); the second is an interesting hypothetical letter from a Millennial to her parents' advisor, providing a great reminder of the ways that advisors could (and often fail to) engage the children of their clients; and the last is a discussion of the challenge in figuring out, when you're raising children, how to define what is "Enough", particularly for a family that is affluent enough to afford whatever their kids want, and have to introduce an "arbitrary" line to tell them no, create some financial discpline, and hopefully instill values of fiscal responsibility.

Enjoy the "light" reading!

Financial Advisor’s Guide To Choosing The Best Financial Planning Software (For You)

March 21, 2016 07:01 am 77 Comments CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

Good financial planning software is an essential tool for today's financial advisor. Yet the reality is that it's incredibly difficult to determine what is the best financial planning software... in part because advisors vary in how they use financial planning software in the first place, which means what is the "best" software for one advisor may be a terrible match for another.

In this financial advisor's guide to the best financial planning software, we attempt to clarify what the important criteria are in choosing financial planning software in the first place, in recognition that what might be a crucial "deal-killer" required feature for one advisor may not even matter to another. Whether it's the distinction between goals-based and cash-flow-based retirement projections, to the ease of input, the depth of the output (especially in technical areas like detailed income and estate tax projections), available integrations to other components of the financial advisor technology stack, or the availability of account aggregation and "PFM" tools... the reality is that no financial planning software is the "best" at everything, so trade-offs must be considered.

In addition, as someone who's seen virtually every financial planning software company in the landscape - including some that aren't even around anymore - the end of this guide includes my own brief high-level review of each of the leading financial planning software packages (including some of the newest players, too), to give further context to each software package's strengths and potential weaknesses. Also included are the pricing details of the various financial planning software packages, which still have a remarkably amount of variance for what are nominally "similar" financial planning software tools!

I hope this guide is helpful to you in considering whether you're got the "right" financial planning software, or whether there may be an alternative solution out there that's a better fit for your business and client needs!

Announcing IMCA CE Credits For CPWA, CIMA, and CIMC On The Nerd’s Eye View Blog!

March 1, 2016 07:01 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Nerd's Eye View

At Kitces.com, we’re always listening to your feedback about how to make this blog and our Members Section a more valuable resource for you. Over the years, reader feedback has shaped everything from our visual design, to the frequency of the articles, suggested topics, and even the size of the reading font!

And with your continued feedback, we’re excited to announce today the launch of a new feature: the ability to earn IMCA CE credits for reading Nerd’s Eye View blog posts, as well as receiving additional IMCA continuing education credit for The Kitces Report newsletter and the exclusive webinars in our Members Section.

In the coming weeks, you’ll also see our upcoming 2016 Reader Survey, in which we’ll be asking you more questions about ways we can continue to make this site more useful (including other types of CE credit you may want to receive for our content!).

Thanks for your continued feedback, and for all of you who have your CIMC, CIMA, or CPWA certifications, I hope you enjoy the new opportunity to earn IMCA CE credits!

Getting New Clients By Building A Narrowcasting Platform On Your Financial Advisor Website

February 29, 2016 07:01 am 15 Comments CATEGORY: Marketing

Financial Advisor Website Design Checklist pdf image

In today’s increasingly competitive financial planning landscape, it’s becoming harder and harder for advisors to differentiate. Yet as the world of financial advisors gets more crowded, arguably the biggest problem is simply being seen in the first place. After all, if a prospective client doesn’t even know you exist, there’s never an opportunity to even try to differentiate yourself!

In his recent book entitled “Platform”, author Michael Hyatt makes the case that the rise of the internet has created a unique new way to try to stand out from the crowd and be seen – not by trying to network and get referred to one potential new client at a time, but by building an entire “platform” that can showcase your expertise, and create opportunities for prospective clients to find their way to you. In other words, don’t just wait for referrals to come in (or ask for them); instead, build a platform that makes your expertise referable and attracts potential clients to you.

Notably, though, the biggest caveat to building a successful financial advisor platform is simply to be certain it’s built upon a solid foundation in the first place. Which means owning your own domain name, the site itself, and all the content that’s on it – your digital real estate. And whatever you do, don’t just share your expertise on other websites – from LinkedIn Publishing to third-party Q&A sites – which ultimately just build the value of their platform, rather than your own!