“We see some of this already happening. It’s been happening for some time, but the pandemic has accelerated certain things, particularly around digitization,” said Lee. “It’s the ability to continue to expand and scale via technology, but as cost effectively as possible. By being able to scale and improve the efficiency and effectiveness, it then provides opportunities to reach into areas that historically haven’t been covered by as many.
“I’m personally a big proponent of how we can have greater financial inclusion, how we can educate better, and how we can elevate the financial literacy of that broader financial wellness continuum. I realized, at the end of the day, you need to have the technology to be able to do this effectively and efficiently and, clearly, economically. That has mutually beneficial results for both the advisor and the customer. So, there’s a lot of work to be done. But, I think that it’s honestly something that the industry, going back to that duty of care standard, can really elevate its brand broadly across global markets if it’s able to do these things in a way that can address the ability to include more with the opportunity to get the service and education that they need to truly understand.”
Lee suggested advisors do that by re-evaluating their client segmentation strategies to include not just what clients have, but who they are, what their backgrounds are, and what their experience is. Having more of that psychographic profiling will help them decide what kind of service to provide.
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“It’s not just the income levels that are important – though those obviously reflect the business model for wealth management because that’s going to dictate fees,” he said. “but I do think values are an important element.
