Making Choices; 4 Trends for the Future; Unlocking Information: December Investment Advisor—Slideshow

Slideshow November 25, 2013 at 10:32 PM
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It's a too-familiar problem: paralysis-inducing numbers of choices that leave consumers wondering how they'll ever make a decision. It's especially problematic when it affects their long-term financial security. How can advisors help clients see the best choices for their needs? Olivia Mellan and Sherry Christie talk to three behavioral finance experts for strategies on weeding out what clients don't need and focusing on what they do.

Advisors are facing on other challenges, too, that could affect the way they do business in the future. Jamie Green looks at the four big trends of the next year that could have advisors struggling to keep up.

Finally, an innovative software application from Trv can help advisors get a full and accurate view of their clients' true wealth by including all of their property not just investable assets.

Too Many Choices: How You Can Help Clients Overburdened With Options

In a now-famous experiment, Sheena Iyengar and her research assistants offered jam samples to supermarket shoppers at two different tables. One table had six different jams and the other had 24.

Several shoppers who stopped at the table with the smaller sampling ended up buying a jar of jam, while only a few who visited the table with the larger selection made a purchase. The startling conclusion: Having more choices made the decision to buy harder, not easier.

Does having more choice really make us better off? Can we improve the process of choosing? What lies ahead as we're faced with more, not fewer, decisions?

Olivia Mellan and Sherry Christie talked to three experts to get their thoughts on the subject: Dr. Dan Ariely, professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University; Thomas Frey, executive director and senior futurist at The DaVinci Institute; and Iyengar herself.

4 Trends You Can't Ignore

The future always presents challenges, but also opportunities for those who are prepared. In the future, that is, today, four major trends are affecting your clients and your businesses.

Advisors always are dealing with uncertainties—from the markets, the regulators, the economy and your clients—and are always planning for an essentially unknowable future. Knowledge of these four trends and getting ahead of them will, I humbly suggest, allow you to achieve your business goals while successfully serving your current clients and, yes, getting more and more desirable clients.

Group Editor-in-Chief James J. Green talks about those trends and how advisors can rise up to meet the challenges they bring.

Treasure Trv

Scott Walchek, CEO and founder of San Ramon, Calif.-based Trv, has been around the technology block. He's been in the industry for nearly 30 years, working at firms like Macromedia in the '80s and Entertainment Arts in the '90s. He was a founding investor and served on the board of Baidu, the "Google of China," and has been involved in several technology startups over the years.

He's used that experience to build an application that allows consumers to easily compile information about valuable property they own and store it online. Managing Editor Danielle Andrus talked to Walchek to learn what Trv is and how it can help advisors.

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