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diagnosis of chronic health conditions is on the rise . Roughly 20 % of people in the U . S . are currently acting as an unpaid caregiver — frequently to the detriment of their own health , financial security and professional growth .
Knowing more about these issues can help you retain clients . You ’ re also positioned for growth with the next generations .
What Advisors Get Wrong About Wellness
Remember the old saw : When you have a hammer , everything looks like a nail . The same is true with financial products . When you have one , you ’ re looking for a need and you do things backward .
Consumers aren ’ t looking for product . They ’ re looking for someone who deeply understands their needs ; is empathetic ; and offers objective , product-agnostic resources and advice .
Advisors also get things wrong if they ’ re not looking at the risks of a client ’ s entire family . After all , a client is only as financially healthy as the people who depend on them . Even if your clients seem to have their act together , how much do they know about their parents ’ ability to navigate a major health set- back ? Or their parents ’ ability to afford staying in their home as they age ? How much do they know about their family ’ s financial plans and the impact events might have on their balance sheets ?
And how well do you understand these risks your clients have taken on as you look across your book ?
We also err if we forget that this is a journey . Let ’ s say that your clients have manageable debt , three to six months of emergency savings and are basically on track for retirement . Does that mean they are financially well ? Life happens . Things change . Most advice givers think that the key is to get people to retirement , but it ’ s actually to get them through it . Given that most of us may live a third of our life in retirement , how exactly does that work ? Our offering must also get into things like how retirees maintain independence , secure income and ensure long-term care , as well as their ability to share wealth with the next generations .
The biggest mistake is to play a short game .
STEVE GRESHAM is managing principal at Next Chapter , a consultancy helping the wealth management industry better engage with aging clients and their families . Before founding Next Chapter , he was the executive vice president and head of Fidelity ’ s Private Client Group .
SUZANNE SCHMITT is managing director of Next Chapter . Before that , she led financial wellness efforts at Fidelity , Prudential and New York Life . See more at nextchapterinnovation . com .
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aspiring financial planners , I thought of 22-year-old college students . It was only after I began understanding the realities of our profession ’ s barriers to entry that the demographics made perfect sense .
As it happened , only about 20 % of the externs were traditional students . Most of the people who signed up had already been in the workforce . Some stumbled upon financial planning well into their careers and wished they ’ d known about it a decade ago . Some were parents returning to the workforce . Some were military veterans .
My takeaway ? Don ’ t discount careerchangers . Their transferable skills are invaluable . I ’ ve seen it every summer for the last four years . Your firm might benefit by hiring a former university administrator , for instance , someone who knows the financial aid process inside and out — every loophole , every deadline and every detail . You might get a veteran who knows about team-building and financial planning considerations for people with security clearances . You might get a former teacher who understands the peculiarities of state retirement systems or parents used to juggling responsibilities and facing crises with calm .
Millennials and Gen Zers generally don ’ t have the same motivations as baby boomers or Gen Xers . You won ’ t get far in your recruiting if you talk to them only in terms of their earning potential .
LESSON 3 : Candidates need tech knowledge . Aspiring financial planners will find it easier to get in the door if they come with a deep knowledge about common financial planning platforms . This will also benefit the firms that employ them . Experience with common fintech tools and software experience is not an add-on skill or a “ nice to have ” checkbox on a résumé in today ’ s digital age . It ’ s a critical component of hiring , one that allows both the new planner and the firm to hit the ground running .
Inside the Externship , we ’ ve included access to tools such as eMoney , Asset- Map and Morningstar , and found that it ’ s made both aspiring and working planners feel much more capable in their work . They can make an impact faster and do the actual work of a planner with more accuracy . You ’ ll attract stellar talent if you offer access and training on these tools .
LESSON 4 : Next-gen planners are changing the narrative . We work in a profession that is easily caricatured ( think of the Wall Street boss in the three-piece suit ). Nextgen planners are largely the opposite of that . Millennials and Gen Zers generally don ’ t have the same motivations as baby boomers or Gen Xers . You won ’ t get far in your recruiting if you talk to them only in terms of their earning potential . What we hear from our past externs backs this up . Every year , we ask them at the start
58 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | JUNE 2024 WWW . FA-MAG . COM