Page 8 - Investment Advisor March 2022

EDITOR’S NOTE
Getting Ready for April 18
When it comes to
doing everything
for their clients and
taxes, advisors need
to know and work
with each of their
client’s accountants,
Slott insists: It’s “a
great thing to connect
with the client’s CPA.
Clients love that
their advisors are
strategizing for them
… everybody wins.”
6 INVESTMENT ADVISOR MARCH 2022 | ThinkAdvisor.com
By Janet Levaux
his month’s cover story — written by Melanie Waddell — highlights many
tax issues that are top of mind for retirement expert Ed Slott, who graciously
Topened his office doors to us at this busy time for a photo shoot.
According to Slott, he sees his base in Rockville Centre, New York, as “command
central.” It’s where he does “everything,” including lots of virtual presentations. “It’s
a mess,” he admits, “but I know where everything is!”
When it comes to doing everything for their clients and taxes, advisors need to
know and work with each of their client’s accountants, Slott insists: It’s “a great thing
to connect with the client’s CPA. Clients love that their advisors are strategizing for
them … everybody wins.”
As tax season approaches, he and other experts — including Wade Pfau, Robert Bloink
and William H. Byrnes — weigh in on lots of issues and share a variety of ways advisors
can help clients. Slott, for instance, also delves into areas of tax and retirement planning
where advisors can be particularly beneficial in adding value to their client relationships.
Looking at how the latest technology can benefit advisors, Industry Insights contribu-
tor and consultant Tim Welsh says the many tools for the average advisor are now here.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing and robotic process
automation are indeed now “ready for prime time in wealth management,” he explains.
Their advantages, Welsh notes, “reside in the back office of advisory firms, not
necessarily in the front, and can dramatically affect an advisory firms’ operations,
compliance and administrative workflows — all of which are essential to improving
service in a highly competitive service profession.”
Meanwhile, Fast Track columnist and industry consultant Angie Herbers high-
lights the immediate need for advisory firms to recognize and respond to employee
stress. “Among the hundreds of companies in our consulting network, we’ve seen
upward of a 30% to 40% increase in employee stress,” she points out, which can “lead
to frustration and burnout.”
According to Herbers, what’s most needed is an “enlightened management
approach” that brings creative solutions to managing stress and “encourages mutual
support.” As she points out, “The new management approach encourages mutual
support. The idea is that employees should take care of themselves, and the organiza-
tion should give them latitude to do that.”
For many advisory firms and clients, tax time can bring extra stress. We hope the
advice and insights from the experts we call attention to in this month’s issue can bring
you some relief through April 18 — and improve your practices well beyond tax time.
GROUP EDITOR-IN-CHIEF