Enjoy the current installment of “Weekend Reading For Financial Planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with a new study from Herbers & Company that provides insight into the financial planning services that consumers demand the most, and which services financial advisory firms offer the most often. The study also identified factors that separated firms experiencing the greatest organic growth from others, which include offering a comprehensive suite of services, having a higher ‘close’ rate with prospects, and, perhaps counterintuitively, a lack of satisfaction with their client experience.
Also in industry news this week:
- A study from the FINRA Foundation has found that objectively knowledgeable investors tend to pay less in investment expenses, while those who perceive that they have expertise tend to pay more
- A new report shows how pro bono financial planning can benefit not only financial advisors and their pro bono clients, but also advisory firms as well
From there, we have several articles on college planning:
- How the FAFSA form and its timing have changed for this year and how advisors can support clients going through the financial aid process
- How the lesser-known CSS Profile plays an important role in determining financial aid for many families, particularly those with students applying to private colleges
- How the Private College 529 Plan allows families saving for college to ‘lock in’ today’s tuition costs at a wide range of private colleges
We also have a number of articles on practice management:
- How building a ‘family’ environment can allow financial advisory firms to promote employee wellbeing and retention
- What firms can do during the candidate selection and onboarding processes to promote the mental health of new employees
- How taking a step back to articulate a vision, and then allowing employees to work towards that vision using their unique skills, can allow a firm and its staff to thrive
We wrap up with 3 final articles, all about research and happiness:
- How teams of academics are working to uncover faulty research practices, which has resulted in the retractions of papers in a variety of fields that received significant media attention
- A new study looks at whether previous research regarding what makes individuals happy was sufficiently rigorous
- A thought experiment that can help advisors and their clients manage the tradeoff between saving and spending
Enjoy the ‘light’ reading!
