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in five years, according to a recent Cerulli Associates report. The industry still has a sink-or-swim prospecting approach that offers little sales or development training, and many young advisors don’ t understand the offerings in the industry or the different pathways they can take.
Fortunately, the financial advice industry has made tremendous progress in several critical areas. Today’ s advisory offerings— spanning financial planning, investment management and beyond— are more accessible, robust and client-centric than ever. Once seen as a complex and exclusive service, financial advice has evolved into a profession that embraces simplicity, cutting-edge technology and a deeply service-oriented mindset.
We’ re also seeing an explosive growth in university-level financial planning programs and clubs that allow students to graduate from their four-year undergraduate programs with the education credits required to sit for the Certified Financial Planner( CFP) exam. Additionally, organizations like the FinServ Foundation are focused on developing next-gen leaders and advisors through its work with more than 40 universities and colleges. It has helped more than 700 students by offering twoyear fellowships providing coaching, mentorship and networking opportunities.
Other organizations in the industry are trying to bridge this training and mentorship gap as well. The Association of African American Financial Advisors offers a Securities Industry Essentials scholarship and complimentary student membership. The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors provides student conference scholarships. The nonprofit organization called 100 Women in Finance pairs young women with mentors. And the Financial Planning Association has student chapters in universities across the country.
Once seen as a complex and exclusive service, financial advice has evolved into a profession that embraces simplicity, cuttingedge technology and a deeply service-oriented mindset.
But these organizations need your help. We need firms and alums to step up to donate, volunteer, mentor and offer company pathways to hire and support young professionals through in-depth training.
Advisory firms and the industry need to reimagine how to bring in new advisors— through rotational programs, by transitioning interns into full-time employees, and by giving young professionals pathways to serve new clients that their firms haven’ t historically served. The BLX Internship program for Black and Latinx financial planners creates a great internship pathway for firms to model, but we also need more advisor development pathways to follow.
Financial advice is an amazing profession set up to serve everyone: All Americans should be able to reduce their anxiety, improve their decision-making, and be empowered through their finances. They all deserve access to quality advice, regardless of whether they have $ 5,000 or $ 50 million.
But the current models won’ t solve this problem. The future of professional advice won’ t be built by copying what’ s worked before. It’ ll be reimagined and rebuilt by advisors who think differently, who reflect the communities they serve, and who understand that technology isn’ t replacing us— it’ s amplifying us.
Our offerings should be more like the Goldilocks story: It’ s about serving the small, the large, and the just right of our market today. If it isn’ t, clients and future leaders will continue running into the woods.
JAMIE P. HOPKINS, ESQ., LLM, MBA, CFP, is chief wealth officer of Bryn Mawr Trust, and chief executive officer of Bryn Mawr Capital Management. He is the founder of the FinServ Foundation, a nonprofit focused on coaching and developing the next generation of financial professionals.
VICTORIA O’ TOOL is the executive director of the FinServ Foundation, where she empowers the next generation of financial planners through mentorship, education, and connection, impacting over 500 students across 40 + universities.
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Many advisors are seeing results by nurturing their referral pipeline with emails— sending different versions of the notes they’ re already( hopefully!) sending to clients but tailored to influential professionals in other fields. These messages can cover timely topics like market updates or planning insights or they can offer your take on breaking news that affects the clients you have in common. The key is to make the emails valuable to those other professionals personally and not to necessarily ask them for referrals.
You can also talk with other professionals about ways to collaborate: suggest co-hosting a webinar, offer content they can share with their clients, or flag an issue you’ re seeing that might affect both your client bases. They will remember that you helped them, not that you asked for something. And that’ s what keeps you in people’ s minds when referral opportunities arise.
A Summer For Growth The best marketing this time of year is intentional, not intensive. A few well- placed personal posts, a client-first event, or a quick touchpoint with your referral network can all deliver outsized results. You don’ t need to do more— just the right things.
For some other examples of high-performing content you can use this summer, visit fmgsuite. com / summer-playbook, which includes sample emails, social posts and event ideas. Feel free to personalize and make them your own. Content such as this will help keep you top of mind when everyone is changing pace this summer.
SUSAN THEDER is the chief marketing and experience officer at FMG.
58 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | JULY / AUGUST 2025 WWW. FA-MAG. COM