Enjoy the current installment of “Weekend Reading For Financial Planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the news that the T3/Inside Information Software Survey is available, providing insights into which technology tools advisors use and their level of satisfaction with them, which highlighted the continued rise of specialized financial planning software tools for topics like taxes and Social Security as advisors continue to seek tools tobroaden and deepen their planning capabilities.
Also in industry news this week:
- FINRA has announced that, on the heels of its first enforcement action under the Reg BI rules, it will be ramping up its examinations of broker-dealers for potential violations (after a long period of relative leniency when firms were still determining how best to comply with the rule)
- A recent study from Ameriprise found that a growing number of Millennials are ready to listen to financial advisors, and that those who do have a financial advisor feel greater confidence in their financial situation
From there, we have several articles on practice management:
- How growth in the advisory industry can be a double-edged sword, allowing for more scale and ability to attract talent but also introducing greater complexity and reducing the control that firm leaders have over their business
- A 4-step framework for advisors to audit their processes and make changes when a process isn’t fulfilling the function it was intended to do
- How transparent organizational goals – translated into clear objectives and reinforced regularly firmwide – can help create a shared sense of purpose that keeps everyone working toward the same goal
We also have a number of articles on client communication:
- Why different parts of the client journey present opportunities to ask different types of questions (and which questions to start with when deepening one’s question-asking skills)
- The best practice for administering personality assessments to ensure clients respond honestly (and not with what they think is the ‘best’ answer)
- Why digging into clients’ past history with money – rather than discussing future goals – can be the key to understanding what really motivates them
We wrap up with 3 final articles, all about finding balance:
- Why people are reluctant to change their beliefs, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, and why it’s important to have the mental flexibility to update or abandon beliefs
- How the concept of ‘work ethic’ can result in more material wealth but less happiness, and why paying more attention to ‘life ethic’ can help prioritize enjoying one’s life
- Why the idea of ‘work-life balance’ misses the fact that people fulfill different psychological needs from multiple areas of life, and how to craft a life structure that satisfies those needs
Enjoy the ‘light’ reading!
