Consumers want planners to deliver lifestyle goals

Consumers increasingly want financial planners to assist them with achieving lifestyle goals, according to Investment Trends’ latest research.

The data in the Investment Trends 2017 Adviser Product Needs Report, which was based on a survey of 459 financial planners, signalled a shift from traditional financial planning advice that focused on the attainment of financial goals.

Growing numbers of consumers pointed to the attainment of lifestyle goals, rather than just financial outcomes, as key to what they would seek in a financial planner.

“While virtually everyone who sees a financial planner expects the planner to help improve their financial outcome to achieve their financial goals, over half of those who are looking for a planner today also want the planner they find to help them achieve their personal and lifestyle goals,” Investment Trends research director, Recep Peker said.

The report also found that despite a desire for more goals-based advice from financial planners, about half of consumers do not know who they see as leaders in the goals-based space.

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Although AMP Capital and Challenger lead for name recognition in this area, it is still only a lightly contested space. Other spaces (for example, value for money) are, in contrast, heavily contested.

Peker believed that shifting to a goals-based advice model may help firms retain clients.

“We find planners who better tie their advice to their clients’ goals achieve higher levels of satisfaction, loyalty and referrals. Aligning the client conversation with their lifestyle goals gives planners an additional avenue to demonstrate their value-add,” he said.

This may prove meaningful to forms seeking to establish or expand their reputations, considering that the report also found that planners are losing active clients in greater numbers that they are acquiring them.