Our latest whitepaper, “The quest to become the best – becoming the trusted wealth coach and adviser”, is a part of our WealthTech Insight Series (WTIS), and was developed in partnership with Ortec Finance. The paper focused on identifying the role of technology in supercharging the adviser’s capabilities and becoming the client’s trusted wealth coach.
This article provides a summary of the last section of the research, which considers the best ways of reporting and discussing financial planning processes with clients.
Key points:
- Respondents were all in the process of building realistic investment planning tools that would be fit for purpose.
- Respondents diverged when it came to using tools such as signals and monitoring, wealth projections, and complex ‘what if’ scenarios.
- Detailed analytics were less appreciated by clients at the top of the wealth scale who had esoteric investments that were perhaps not as liquid, or harder to value.
- Consumer Duty is a positive move that articulates a framework and the means to demonstrate that clients are in the right investments to get the right outcome for the client.
Interested in reading the research? You can read and download the whitepaper here.
The last section of our research saw all participants currently working on supporting their goals-based conversations with a robust investment plan. All agreed that showing clients' data and its analysis in the early stages was a great way of demonstrating that the adviser had a solid handle on the client’s affairs.
However, there was a disagreement when discussing the specific tools that could be used for this, including signals and monitoring, wealth projections, and complex ‘what if’ scenarios. The level of detail with which advisers present the information to the clients created the disagreement. One of the participants explained: “Once you have identified the big picture aspirations, the goals, then the investment planning comes into play. But the second you go to a granular level with cashflow modelling or wealth protection tooling, you risk the client taking those projections as fact when it’s unlikely to pan out the exact way the projection initially illustrated.”
However, goals-based financial planning and investment advice do go hand in hand. The importance lies in giving people the confidence that they can achieve their overall long-term goals, as opposed to the granular level analysis and forecasting around individual investments.
Interested in reading the research? You can read and download the whitepaper here.
About the WealthTech Insight Series
This research is part of our WealthTech Insight Series (WTIS), an ongoing and developing research process mixing online surveys and interviews. It focuses exclusively on technology in the wealth management sector across the world. Rather than a one-off research process, the WTIS will seek to build an ongoing programme of research among wealth managers of different types across the world on a broad range of technology and related topics. The aim is to build up an aggregated knowledge base of both qualitative views and perspectives as well as quantitative data points.
Research partner
Ortec Finance is a leading global provider of technology and solutions for risk and return management, enabling wealth managers and banks to manage their clients’ investment decisions. It models and maps the relevant uncertainties to help them monitor clients’ goals and decisions.
Founded by leading experts in the fields of econometrics and technology, we have, in over 40 years, achieved an outstanding reputation built on reliability. With over 500 clients in over 20 countries, it plays a vital role in helping our clients improve investment decision-making and manage uncertainty. Headquartered in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, the firm also have offices in Amsterdam, London, Melbourne, New York, Toronto, and Zurich.
More information is available here.
