Pay Off Student Loans Or Save For Retirement? 11 Ways To Balance Your Financial Goals

It’s human nature to address challenges based on their most pervasive effects, rather than dissect their causes. Take the ongoing discussion about the need for diversity in wealth management as an example. Endless articles have been written about the need to have more women, more people of color and more age diversity in the industry. As one of the white males who too often exemplifies the status quo, I couldn’t agree more with the impulse: the future of financial advice must be more female, more ethnic and age diversified than it is today.

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Given projections for a 100,000 financial advisor shortfall over the next 10 years, successfully recruiting next-gen advisors has taken on added urgency for both our industry as a whole and the wealth management firms seeking to thrive within it.

Meeting this demographic challenge head-on is complicated by the evolving nature of wealth management. Increasing numbers of breakaways forgoing the wirehouse model, as well as the growing presence of aggregators, consolidators and private equity, are altering the landscape. The expansion of W-2 models in the independent space is redefining what it means to be independent. At the same time, technological innovation, particularly AI, offers great promise and an equal amount of trepidation.

The generational differences next-gen advisors and their clients bring to the table – priorities, expectations, skills and values – present yet another challenge when it comes to effectively engaging this group. However, meeting next-gen advisors where they are is a solid recruiting practice some firms can’t get their arms around. There’s a reason firms currently thriving in the marketplace with younger advisors are enjoying success…Read More