The first half of 2024 has been a solid start for most advisory firms, with markets enjoying moderate growth (a pleasant follow-through after a particularly strong 2023!), client retention rates remaining robust, and at least a bit of client referral growth trickling in. Which is leading to healthy profit margins at the typical advisory firm, as more and more advisors eye the possibility that AI will produce even more business efficiencies (and stronger profitability) in the year to come. Fortunately, change never happens fast in the slow but steady evolution of the advisor industry, which affords advisory firms the time to pause and take a fresh look at the landscape of opportunities.
In this context, the approaching summer season will once again bring its usual respite – a time when most advisors take more time off (if only because clients are harder to pin down for summer meetings, especially as post-pandemic summer vacations away from home are back in full swing)… and find some time to read and catch up on a few good books!
For those who love to read, though (and especially for those who have limited time and will only get to read just 1 or 2 books over the summer), the perennial question is always, “So… what’s a good book worth reading this summer?”
As a voracious reader myself, I’ve always been eager to hear suggestions from others of great books to read, whether it’s something new that’s just come out or an ‘old classic’ that I should go back and read (again or for the first time!). And so, in the spirit of sharing, a few years ago I launched my list of “Recommended (Book) Reading for Financial Advisors“, and it was so well received that in 2013 I also started sharing my annual “Summer Reading List” for financial advisors of the best books I’d read in the preceding year. It quickly became a perennial favorite on Nerd’s Eye View, and so I’ve updated it every year, with new lists of books in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and a fresh round last year in 2023.
And now, I’m excited to share my latest Summer Reading list of top books for financial advisors in 2024, from new perspectives on how to transform your business into what you really want it to be (whether the goal is to ’10X’ the business, scale up the systems and dial back your own time, or get your team working together better), tactics to improve on client communication (from scripts you can use to cultivate more referrals, to better connect with clients and prospects as a ‘Supercommunicator’), ideas for reinvesting into your own under-developed capabilities to tap your’ Hidden Potential‘, or ways to take a pause and consider how to improve your health and personal wellbeing (not just the business).
So as the summer season and summer vacations get underway, I hope that you find this suggested summer reading list of books for financial planners to be helpful… and please do share your own suggestions in the comments at the end of the article about the best books you’ve read over the past year as well!
