High net worth is not where its at
THE search for high-net-worth clients is misguided and is based on the large fees and commissions planners can draw from them, according to Strategic Consulting and Training managing director Jim Stackpool.
Stackpool says rather than concentrating on these factors planners should be more concerned with creating a service offering that would dig much deeper into the relationship between the planner and the client and for which the latter would be prepared to pay.
He says the general belief that double digit earnings are gone for the immediate future and its effects on ongoing fees to advisers also reflects a focus on funds under advice that is wrong and planners should not look to leverage businesses off such a base.
“Planners should remember they are in the business of getting paid to give advice, not just give advice,” Stackpool says.
The reason planners need to consider adopting this type of service and advice model is that there are a number of players in the industry who are now starting to promote planning costs as their main sales focus and will start to do so forcefully.
“The role to clarify is that of planners, but too little is happening and for too long there has been an interest in the fat, upfront slice,” he says.
“What financial planning is about is joining investments with people and maybe you should question who is actually reading your financial plans, because what they are buying is the trust they have in you, and if they have that there is a glorious future ahead.”
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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