8 Ways Financial Planning Is Evolving for Advisors and Clients

Creating a client experience that includes premier investment management, tax mitigation, goals-based planning and wealth protection services is a goal most advisors strive for, but that doesn't mean achieving excellence in all these areas will be easy. In fact, as explored by a panel of advisor industry experts during a recent ThinkAdvisor webcast, the rapid pace of innovation unfolding across the financial service industry is pushing advisors to elevate their game and demanding ever-greater investment of time and resources. As the panel detailed, advisors must respond to many changes in tax policies, retirement plan rules and financial products to effectively help their clients with long-term wealth issues. Advisors must also address the behavioral and psychological elements of client service, while grappling with ever-increasing service expectations and technical complexity. Fortunately, the panel emphasized, a groundswell of new investment technologies and planning tools is helping advisors achieve greater degrees of efficiency than ever before, and leading firms are already delivering personalized and scalable solutions for their growing books of business. Speakers on the panel included Colin Barber, managing director of strategic partnerships at Sierra Mutual Funds and Ocean Park Asset Management; Chet Bennetts, assistant professor of financial planning and the CFP/ChFC program director at The American College of Financial Services; Marcia Mantell, owner of Mantell Retirement Consulting; and Sean Meighan, managing director of advisory services at Atria Wealth Solutions. According to the panel, the coming years represent a pivotal time for the burgeoning registered investment advisor industry, and it is beholden on firm leaders to stay ahead of the many countervailing market and competitive pressures that will increasingly challenge those who fail to evolve and innovate. See the slideshow for eight key highlights from the presentation. While each individual topic deserves advisors' attention, it is the collective impact of these trends that will help to remake the advisory industry in the coming decade.