June 27, 2019 | Article

As someone in the financial services industry, you know that making good financial decisions is a key factor in achieving financial security. However, many individuals are still “winging it”, relying on minimal financial knowledge or long-term planning. Look at these facts from a recent WealthManagement.com study:

  • The United States ranks 14th in terms of financial literacy.1
  • Only 16.4% of students in the country are required to take a personal finance class in school.1
  • More than 75% of millennials lack basic financial knowledge.1

Studies showing the correlation between financial literacy and financial decisions have found the lack of financial literacy can cause a disconnect and barrier to improving client outcomes. For example, “According to the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, residents of states with high financial literacy rates are less vulnerable to predatory lenders, have fewer underwater mortgages, and are more likely to establish rainy-day funds.”1 With that being said, helping clients build their financial literacy is another great way to strengthen your relationship with them. Here are a couple things you can do:

  1. Offer educational workshops and events.Being able to offer different workshops and events is a great way to develop your relationships with clients, garner referrals and prospective clients while at the same time providing financial education to help build upon your clients/prospects financial literacy quotient. These events could include an hour-long lunch seminar or an all-day workshop covering various topics of interest. These types of events should also include an in-office (to be scheduled at the workshop) private consultation with yourself and/or advisors within your firm to further discuss a topic of interest and answer any questions
  2. Set up quarterly one-on-one meetings to go over topics of interest. Clients will appreciate it when you take the time to set up a quarterly update one-on-one meeting to review their portfolio, cover questions that they may have, or address topics of interest they want to learn more about. These interests could be discovered during regular meetings/workshops, phone conversations and/or a discovery meeting when you first begin working with a client. This shows the client you’re invested in them and helping them secure their financial future.

We’ll leave you with this question: how can you help reinforce your clients’ financial literacy while strengthening the relationship you have with them?

RoboWholesaler is a technology that was created to help financial advisors looking for ways to save time and enhance their productivity. With their time spent more efficiently, they’re able to focus on developing the interpersonal component of their client relationships and grow their businesses. The RoboWholesaler app is now available for free in the App Store and Google Play. It offers you a fast, easy way to review fund performance rankings, and get up-to-date fund fact sheets for top-performing funds and at-a-glance summaries of key fund information.

1 “The Challenge of Financial Literacy in the Information Age”  Lindsay Faussone. WealthManagement.com.

 

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