A recent survey has found that the younger generation is least likely to be happy with the value they get out of financial advice.
Clients aged under 30; those with less than $50,000 to invest; and those who had been with their adviser for less than two years were the least happy financial planning clients, according to the Lifeplan Funds Management/International Centre of Financial Services (ICFS) survey of 410 investors.
Communication and expectation management are vital for financial planners in successfully building and establishing relationships with their younger client base. This is all the more important during times of heightened market volatility – a hallmark of the past couple of years.
While advisers can’t change the performance of financial markets, they can influence how their clients view their own technical ability, trust and reliability. Younger clients with less life and investment experience may have unrealistic expectations around what their financial adviser can deliver. So in creating a financial plan for younger clients, it is critical to clarify exactly what you can (and can’t) do for them.
The research suggested that advisers could do more to recognise and respond to the concerns of younger investors, and relate to them proactively, despite their dissatisfaction with markets.
Perceptions of trust and reliability are affected by regularity of contact with clients, openness and transparency, and whether advisers do what they say they will do for clients. All of these things can be managed and enhanced by advisers – and they go a long way to improving the perceived value that any client derives from financial advice.
