For most of your clients the 60-90 minutes of your annual review is where they will see the value of your services for the entire year and will determine whether they want to continue their relationship with you.
The challenge for most advisers is how do you provide an annual review experience that is valuable to your client, covers your compliance requirements and is done efficiently to allow you to have a profitable business.
A simple way to have better quality review meetings is to approach it as a process. What do you want to your client experience to include and what tools do you need to achieve this?
A technology solution may provide the answer:
Client Portal
A client portal provides a secure way for you and your client to communicate when you are not in a face-to-face meeting and with cybersecurity concerns increasing, they are fast becoming a mandatory tool for financial planners.
Clients will appreciate not just the security of the portal but also that all their financial information is available to them at any time and their important documents are stored safely and are easily accessible all in the one place.
Prior to the meeting clients are tasked to check and update their personal and financial information and if any changes are made, these automatically flow into the database and a summary report of draft changes is generated for the adviser to review.
Clients review their existing goals, make comments, determine how they are tracking and add new goals. Demonstrating how you help your clients achieve their goals becomes an important part of the review meeting and the advice you are providing.
Clients will realise that by providing information in this way allows the adviser to better prepare for and deliver a more valuable meeting.
For you the adviser, receiving this information prior to the meeting makes an enormous difference as you are already aware of any material changes to the client’s circumstances or goals. This allows you to plan a considered response rather than just reacting as these changes are disclosed in the meeting.
Investment Portfolio Reporting
Clients will expect to have a discussion regarding their investment portfolio, how it has performed in the last year and over longer periods and whether any changes in underlying investment are required or rebalancing of asset classes.
For the annual review process many advisers are finding efficiency benefits by investing through investment platforms and the use of managed accounts can provide further time savings.
Investment platforms can provide online tools to review the clients’ investment performance and comprehensive reports can be generated quickly and easily. Economic and investment market outlooks information is also available.
Using investment platforms in this way can substantially reduce the time it takes to prepare for each client review.
Cashflow and Capital Modelling
Every client wants to know whether they are on track to retire comfortably, how long their money will last and whether they can achieve all their goals.
Using a cashflow model live in the client meeting transforms the experience and makes it far more interesting and valuable for the client. Once the initial model is determined this can be used to track the clients’ progress each year and strategies added or changed over time.
For a retiree you can instantly show them what the impact is if they draw down more money each month or if they go on that holiday or upgrade their car. It empowers them to make informed decisions about the quality of their life and provides peace of mind about their long-term financial security.
For pre-retirees you can explore the positive impact of various wealth creation strategies and how this can improve their retirement outcomes. Semi-retirement options can be explored and the impact of downsizing their home, or the effect of a future inheritance can be factored into the model.
Even younger clients with decades before retirement will appreciate a cashflow model that provides a lifetime view of their work and retirement years and what the impact of various decisions will have on that model.
Having an easy-to-use cashflow model in your review meeting allows you to prepare various scenarios before the meeting but then also allows the client to ask ‘what if’ questions that are simple to answer through the model. In this way the client is actively involved in their financial plan and is far more engaged in the meeting.
The Review Report
With the right financial planning software, a comprehensive review report can be generated from the client database within a few minutes.
This becomes a far more relevant document if the client has updated their personal and financial information prior to the meeting including any changes to their goals and any new goals that have been added.
The previous year’s cashflow model is automatically updated with the new client information and changes in the clients’ circumstances and so the review report is up to date and relevant when presented in the meeting.
This provides a much better experience for the client and also enormous efficiencies for the adviser and the advice practice.
Compliance
The same review report information can then form the basis of a ‘No Change’ ROA (template) that can again be generated within minutes and either signed by the client at the meeting or uploaded to the client portal to be electronically signed and saved in that secure environment.
If material changes require a new ROA or SOA then the relevant updated client information and any changes in their goals has been captured in the system and discussed.
The pre-prepared cashflow and capital modelling calculator has captured any recommended strategy changes and any adjustments the client wants to make. These have been modelled in the meeting and can form an instruction to the paraplanner for the basis of the new SOA/ROA.
The software provides an evidence trail of time & date stamped activities associated with the review meeting and through task lists or workflows.
Questionnaires, documents and file notes are linked to the review project providing a central location and progress tracking for an audit if required.
Conclusion
If you’re ready to progress from an inefficient paper-based and low value review process, then there’s never been a better time. Tech solutions are now available to transform your client reviews to an experience that your clients will find more interesting and valuable and can be produced efficiently with compliance embedded in the process.
You can also use the same approach to conduct virtual meetings as the visual and interactive tools and outputs make these screen shared sessions far more interesting than simply referring to a document.
Implementing an efficient, compliant and effective review process into your practice does not have to be a big challenge, especially if you are able to leverage your technology to deliver a great client review experience.
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