Client adviser divide

Statistics released by ING regarding consumer and adviser sentiment toward financial planning services have revealed a significant divide exists on the type of issues clients would like their adviser to help resolve and, from the adviser perspective, the perceived importance these services have for their practices.

Results from the AC Nielsen survey of over 1,000 customers and advisers showed 63 per cent of consumers felt they were using their adviser to make their current savings grow, but only 34 per cent of financial planners thought this was something their clients used them for the most.

Similarly, 34 per cent of consumers admitted to using their planner for financial budgeting, with only 17 per cent of advisers feeling their clients were using this service the most.

Finally, investing for their children's education was a goal for which 20 per cent of consumers used their advisers, but as few as 7 per cent of planners thought this service was most important for their clients.

ING executive director for sales and marketing Dan Powell said the statistics illustrate that financial planning customers are demanding a broader range of services from their advisers, and it is an issue that will have to be addressed promptly.

"The challenge for advisers is they have to decide to offer more services to their clients by either skilling themselves up or recruiting people. Conversely, they can establish a clear definition of what they do and don't do, and they [can then] outsource what they don't do," he said.

"I'm not saying advisers must do everything because, inevitably, if you try to do everything you become a generalist. I think advisers have got to understand what they don't want to be, but at the same time they have to understand what their clients want them to be," Powell explained.

The most practical solution he sees to bridging the expectation gap is for advisers to work toward positioning themselves as the financial hub for their clients.

"I think to a certain degree financial advisers could become the one stop to putting their customers in the right direction. So you'll go to your financial planner with your issues, but they won't resolve all of them. Instead, they will refer you to people who will do that, and that's where you want to be as an adviser," he said.