In this new year, we all owe it to ourselves to make it a memorable one. Maybe it won’t be the best, but it’s well within our power to commit to living life fully. After all, the financial advisory profession is a rewarding career path. It’s a gift to be able to help clients attain financial success.

Throughout 2023, as always, your clients will be relying on your expertise as they prepare for the future. One challenge will be the ability to stay forward-looking in spite of short-term distractions — especially during a time when people are struggling with stress and uncertainty.

Here are some resources to help you sharpen the impact you make in your clients’ lives as the pace of technology continues to accelerate at superhuman speeds.

1. Breaking the Short-Term Cycle: Discussion and Recommendations on How Corporate Leaders, Asset Managers, Investors, and Analysts Can Refocus on Long-Term Value

Source: CFA Institute

This report, published in 2005 (a pivotal year leading up to the Great Recession), is a good reminder about what the financial advisory profession is all about.

“The insights of our symposia participants (“the Panel”)—thought leaders from the corporate issuer, analyst, asset and hedge fund manager, institutional investor, and individual investor communities—confirm what the academic research suggests: namely, that the obsession with short-term results by investors, asset management firms, and corporate managers collectively leads to the unintended consequences of destroying long-term

value, decreasing market efficiency, reducing investment returns, and impeding efforts to strengthen corporate governance.”

Good business fundamentals are crucial to the future of the global economy. This report provides a voice of reason and reminder.

2. Biggest stories of 2022: Financial Planning’s Covers from the Last Year

Source: Financial Planning

With a new year on the horizon, it’s human nature to lose sight of our immediate past. As we turn our attention to the future, it’s helpful to reflect on a distinct set of signals from 2022. This curation offers guidance. Topics covered:

  • The trend of private equity coming for RIAs
  • The rise of direct indexing
  • Increasing cybersecurity incidents from other areas of financial services
  • Balancing corporate financial risk with environmental, social
  • Elevating your financial advisory practice’s brand

These refreshers provide a valuable foundation for the year ahead.

3. Turning Social Media Leads into Clients

Source: Advisor’s Edge

There’s a lot in our economy that’s outside of our individual control. What we can influence, however, is how we connect with others. When we do well, so do our businesses.

One way to uplevel the impact of our communications is to implement a defined marketing strategy to convert social media leads into clients. According to a survey from New York-based Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., advisors with a defined social media strategy are driving results to their businesses. The same survey found that fewer than one in three advisors (28% of respondents) had a defined marketing strategy. 

“Digital media usage is a bright spot and continues to show upward-trending success, as advisors double down on digital strategies and maximize the use of websites, LinkedIn and Facebook to generate leads,” said Kevin Darlington, general manager and head of Broadridge Advisor Solutions, in a release.”

The key is to be a voice of reason and source of support. Closing leads means having thoughtful answers to questions.

4. 10 New Year Resolutions Clients Can Make for 2023

Source: Financial Advisor Magazine

The beginning of the year is a valuable time to engage with clients. If you’re looking for helpful reading material (or tips) to pass along to investors, this resource is a good one.

Here are a few recommendations to consider making to your clients:

  • Encourage investors to pay more attention to their investments
  • Help them consolidate investments in one place
  • Support them in paying down high-interest debt
  • Offer resources for making IRA contributions
  • Provide support establishing a budget and living within it
  • Find pathways to contribute to local communities

The goal, through these small steps, is to encourage more positive relationships between investors and their money.

5. 10 Ways to Help Clients Cope with Death

Source: Think Advisor

As younger generations are set to inherit their parents’ and grandparents’ wealth, advisors need to be prepared for tough conversations. It’s never easy, but this resource from Think Advisor can help. Here are some recommendations:

  • Ensure that clients have established the right legal foundations before the passing of their loved ones
  • Make sure that digital documents continue to be available
  • Be prepared to offer a sounding board or provide empathy
  • Proactively educate clients about their options

Dealing with death is one of the toughest parts of the financial advisory profession. But it’s a fact of life, and your clients will be lucky to have your guidance.

6. The Latest in Financial #AdvisorTech

Source: Michael Kitces

If you’ve been celebrating the holidays — and taking time offline — you probably haven’t been paying attention to recent tech releases from all the top companies.

For a quick catch up, take a look at Michael Kitces’s most recent roundup of releases. Some highlights:

  • Docupace launches an ‘RIA Productivity Toolkit’ as it increasingly expands beyond its document management roots in a bid to become more of the back-office workflow engine of small-to-mid-sized advisor enterprises
  • Raymond James launches ‘Opportunities’ as the latest competitor to facilitate ‘Next Best Conversation’ insights to help their advisors engage with the right clients at the right time for the most meaningful conversations
  • FMG partners with Catchlight to integrate its marketing insights about the prospects on an advisor’s email list to better target content that can turn them into clients

Thank you to Michael Kitces and team for keeping us up to date and informed, as always.

7. Pinterest Predicts: 2023 Forecast

Source: Pinterest

Here’s a curveball for financial advisors who are reading this roundup.

These days, everyone is looking for more inspiring and engaging ways to connect with one another. When you’re working with clients, it’s important to prioritize the humanity of everyday conversations.

So what are investors, particularly young people, thinking about beyond the value of their investments?

This resource from Pinterest provides an enjoyable crystal ball to view. Believe it or not, 80% of their predictions came true over the previous three years. Some examples:

  • Interior decorations with old rather than new stuff
  • Caretaking for parents after having a new baby
  • Mental health, mood management, and wellness
  • Drought tolerant landscapes

Here’s a look into the report — be sure to search by demographic so that you have the right conversation starter.

Learn more about CircleBlack

CircleBlack is an all in one management platform for the wealth management industry. You can think of it as an operational dashboard to better connect financial advisors and their clients around a shared perspective. The outcome is better collaboration and communication for relationship-focused advisors.

To learn how our software can help you build, manage, and grow your wealth management practice, get in touch to request a demo.

 

Disclosures
This material has been prepared for educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for, investment, accounting, legal, or tax advice.