Podcast Recap: Rebirth of the Proactive Advisor

Recently, Bento Engine’s CEO Philipp Hecker joined the Rethink Podcast, hosted by Derek Notman and Adam Holt, along with Dr. Meghaan Lurtz, PhD in Personal Financial Planning, to discuss whether the timing of financial advice delivery matters. 

Spoiler alert: It does.

While clients tend to turn to their advisors at the moment they experience a pain point, advisors who can bring proactivity into their practices can not only make a huge difference in their clients’ lives, but also on their own bottom line. 

The problem? Proactive advice is difficult to scale.

Dr. Lurtz explains that while more and more advisors are leading with financial advice and are not focusing as much on selling products, there’s still more work to do. In fact, in a research report with Bento Engine, she found that 60% of top end investors are not getting advice on catch up contributions upon turning age 50, and 94% of families reported they did not receive guidance on working papers or setting up a custodial IRA for their kids when they turned 14. 

These stats should serve as a call to action for all advisors. While most Americans have access to holistic advice, it’s difficult to guarantee across the board, regardless of assets under management. Philipp explains that this advice gap presents an opportunity for financial advisors to decrease attrition, grow existing clients’ assets, and reach new prospects.  

But how can advisors make this a reality? Through technology. 

Dr. Lurtz shares that advice engagement technology doesn’t make anyone faster, but it does make them better. Advisors can go deeper with more clients, which leads to better outcomes for people’s lives. Advice engagement technology allows advisors to operationalize a minimum standard of care across clients’ lifetimes. 

With the availability of this new category of technology, Philipp poses four thought-provoking questions for advisors to consider as they think about delivering advice proactively. 

1. Can you call yourself a fiduciary and not advise your clients’ on upcoming opportunities?
2. Is it time that we agree on what holistic and comprehensive mean as minimum standards of care? 
3. How can we quantify and communicate in dollar-terms the value you create for your clients? 
4. How will connecting with the next generation at key age milestones allow advisors to maintain these relationships even after the wealth transfer occurs? 

Listen to the complete episode by clicking here, and contact us for a demo if you’re interested in learning more about how Bento Engine can power your advice delivery in a scalable, personalized way.