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hot topics
Rosy Outlook
for Advisory Firms
The economy is in rough shape, the
American Dream has undergone
major revisions and clients’ investing
goals may be out of reach, but independent financial advisors say their
own firms are doing just fine.
One possible reason: Uncertain
times deliver more potential clients
and help advisors retain existing
ones. Amid the turmoil of the past
five years, Schwab data shows that
advisors have retained 97% of assets,
says Bernie Clark, Schwab’s head of
Advisor Services.
“The markets have inherently
become more complex,” Clark notes.
He cites U.S. regulatory uncertainty,
continued fears over the fate of the
euro and growing jitters over China’s
economy. “I don’t know how individual investors do this without help,” he
says. — Rachel F. Elson
Changes Coming
for CE Credit
Big changes to the continuing education requirements for planners are
expected this month following a meeting of the leadership of the CFP Board.
In addition to expanding the 30
credits required every two years to as
many as 40, planners may also have a
chance to earn credits in practice management, pro bono efforts and ethics.
“The board has looked at what other
professional organizations have been
doing,” says Alan Goldfarb, chairman
of the CFP Board and director of wealth
management at Weaver Wealth Management in Dallas. “The fact that we
have 30 hours every two years seems
inconsistent with growing this as a true
profession. — Scott Wenger
Account-Opening
Difficulties
Inefficient account-opening processes
are leading to client defections and
advisor dissatisfaction with broker-dealers, researchers found.
“Account opening is not just a
back-office problem — it’s also a front-office problem,” says Sophie Schmitt,
a senior analyst at Aite Group who
wrote the report.
“It’s about setting expectations and
showing that their practice has professional processes, and the advisor
demonstrating that they can deliver,”
Schmitt says. — Samantha Allen
Retirement Sweet Spot
Most households with $100,000 to
$500,000 in investable assets do not
have a retirement income plan and
have not worked with an advisor, presenting a sweet spot for client development, a new study found.
“This represents a great opportunity for asset managers, broker-dealers and retirement plan providers to
increase retirement income planning
education — guidance many investors
will welcome,” says Alessandra Hobler,
an analyst at Cerulli, which released
the study. “This lack of planning can
result in rollover opportunities after
retirement.” — Samantha Allen
Don’t Ask, Don’t Grow
A leading wealth manager says most
advisors don’t spend enough time
on two critical tasks to help them
grow their business: rainmaking and
client interaction.
Ron Carson of Carson Wealth Management told more than 300 planners
in October at the Peak Advisor Alliance
conference in Omaha, Neb., that the
average advisor spends only 13% of his
or her time rainmaking with clients.
A small boost can help advisors grow
their revenue substantially, he said.
Adding more clients is a matter
of asking for referrals, he said. Only
11% of advisors ask for referrals, even
though 50% of clients come as a result
of referrals. — Matt Ackerman
