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Summary: The planning industry is full of buzzwords, particularly in marketing. Anything that someone writes or develops is now “thought leadership.” Every special report or longish article is now a “white paper.” These terms are in danger of losing their meaning.Having worked with financial advisors for 25 years, I can say that most of them will never be seen as thought leaders – they just don’t have the time. That’s what it takes to be a thought leader: One must take the time to really think and advance the conversation around a body of thought.
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Summary: Let's hope most advisors are better at planning their clients' futures than their own. Just 17% of respondents in a new study -- largely focused on advisors who have strategic plans for their firms -- say their strategic planning factored strongly in their recent success
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Summary: If you take a look at your book today, are you on track? When I ask that question to many advisors, the first response is usually “On track for what?” What I am asking is: Do you have goals and are you tracking and measuring against those goals? Unfortunately, most track their book by AUM or gross revenue (sometimes GDC).
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Summary: Sometimes it isn't what you say to the client. It's how you say it. If an adviser comes across as impatient or condescending, for example, the message won't be heard. "If you don't strike the right tone, your advice won't be followed, no matter how good it is," says Karol Ward, a New York psychotherapist and presentation coach.
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Summary: Newly minted financial planning assistant Airionne Givens didn't have a lot of money when she was growing up in St. Louis. And she saw plenty of other African-American families who struggled with college costs, retirement saving and other financial challenges. Until Givens went to college, she had never heard of, or knew about, financial planning. But once she did, she was hooked. "I wanted to help people who were in the same predicament as the people I knew, and I saw that this was a way I could do that," Givens says.
