The digitization of financial services is upon us and with it comes an opportunity to grow—not just in our use of technology, but also in the way we serve clients. In this age of hybrid financial advice, where clients wish to experience the same autonomy they have on Amazon with the customized advice they get from their therapist, we have a lot of growing to do in the industry to meet these demands. Innovation is the key and technology is just a piece of the puzzle.
I’ve sat in those rooms, and you have too. You know the ones, where some war-weary veteran of the good old days of financial services talks about how they used to walk uphill both ways in a blizzard to every client meeting.
How the account application was as small as a postcard. How they didn’t even have calculators and surmised rates of return on the back of a napkin.
We are all told that a return to such days would be a good thing for clients and advisors alike and that all of this technology “stuff” is simply ruining a business that at its core is about helping people save for their future, not do calculus.
But those are not the only rooms.
...Independent advisors need to lead the recruiting and training of a new generation of wealth managers, according Jeff Motske, president and CEO of Trilogy Financial, $3 billion hybrid RIA based in Huntington Beach, Ca.
“The public wants independent advisors and the industry is moving in that direction,” he said. “Clients are already asking older advisors about who is going to advise them when the advisor retires. Older clients want someone who can see their family through the estate transition process. A younger planner gives clients confidence that someone will be there to help them through their entire life and afterward.”
...
