Advisors Friend

Breakaway brokers and others look for established RIA

Richard — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:05:26 +0000

Those advisors bailing out of the wirehouses and banks are looking for established RIA practices to join. This in lieu of taking the start-up path. Some of the initial work and pain to establish a practice of their own is looking less attractive to a majority of advisors according to a new study released by Schwab.

According to the survey results, 59% of advisors with full-service firms said that going the independent route sounded appealing. 56% said they would favor joining an existing practice instead of putting out a shingle on their own. 52% of the respondents had been in the business for ten or more years.

One of the primary reasons cited for not striking out on their own was the lack of back office support. One component of that support would be marketing, copywriting and content development support. Those advisors should take stock of the fact that Advisors Friend can provide them with all the help they need in these critical areas.

If you are leaving the full-service environment behind and pitching your own tent, contact us for the support that will make your practice a success. We write to attract new clients, retain existing clients and inform and educate.

Specialized content and copywriting for financial advisors

Richard — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:07:50 +0000

(previously published on The Great Writer)

There is an old adage; ‘jack of all trades and master of none’ that explains the need for specialization and the downside of generalization. Investment advisors are a case in point; they know tax strategies, estate planning and investment management, but may not know web design or content development. Their clients pay for specialized advice and don’t expect their advisors to be a jack of all trades.

This last point explains why investment advisors should leave web content, marketing collateral and other forms of copywriting and content development to a specialist. They may have the ability to write accurately, observing good grammar and sentence structure, but the goals of effective writing are best left to a professional.

Writing has to achieve a number of goals, among them entertainment, information, disclosure, education and persuasion. All of these goals can be achieved through carefully crafted writing. All of these goals are also important elements of an advisor’s website, marketing collateral, client communications, engagement standards and newsletters. Some creativity even helps craft engaging biographies.

Advisors Friend can help advisors develop an image and a message that is effective and engaging. We can also help devise a strategy for utilizing social media, blogs and viral marketing as an extension of the advisors’ current written documentation.

As the chief copy and content writer for Advisors Friend, K Richard Douglas offers special insights for advisors that most writers would be hard-pressed to match. With twenty-six years in the financial services business, Richard held several Principals registrations as well as other professional designations. He has expertise in the areas of defined contribution plans, annuities, mutual funds, TSA’s, insurance, brokerage ops and asset allocation.

Advisors can outsource their writing tasks to a real specialist. There is no need to be a jack of all trades when your written materials and web content may be compromised in the process. Let us know how we can help. Contact us today.

The Growth in the Advisor Market

Richard — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:51:43 +0000

A lot changed during the years that I was in the financial services business. At the beginning of the eighties, when I sat down with a young teacher and started talking about retirement saving, it was a tough sale. These young teachers were thinking about money for the coming weekend or a new car or a new stereo. Saving for something that was forty years off was not thought of as a priority. That may be an understatement.

Saving and goal-setting

Fast forward a dozen years. The same young teachers in the early nineties had heard a steady drumbeat of pundits talking about the jeopardy that social security faced. They heard a barrage of consumer education information about saving for retirement.

When I ventured back out into the field and sat down with teachers again in the first part of the nineties, their attitude and mindset had changed dramatically. Instead of reluctantly throwing a few dollars every pay date into a tax-deferred savings vehicle, these young teachers wanted to invest as much as they could afford to make sure they were ready for retirement. What a difference a decade makes.

It should come as no surprise then that the baby-boom generation and generation-X take financial advisors very seriously. The wealth management, financial planning and asset management services provided by advisors are seen as a necessity and no different than regular visits to the dentist. Evidence of this paradigm shift in public perception is the current savings rate. It is nearly three times higher today than two years ago. (yes, a recession and the accompanying fear can change the American psyche)

Fee-based has caught on

Even before the shake-up on Wall Street, there were brokers and clients moving away from full-service brokerage firms and towards registered investment advisors in small to medium-size firms. The other lesson the public has learned is the value of no-bias investment advice. Fee-based advisors work within a model that is now appreciated and understood by the public.

The transactional nature of big brokerage firms has been the topic of another education campaign that has changed public perception. Although a large percentage of brokers ‘annuitized’ their own books of business many years ago, the average baby-boomer and gen-Xer has found a level of comfort with the fee-based approach.

An educated public will ensure a rosy future for those who work within the fee-based advisor community. This positive perception will be handed down to generation-Y and the Millennial generation. Splurging on the weekend or buying a new Blu-Ray player will take a backseat to sitting down with a good advisor. Times have changed.

“advisors need specialized writing”

Richard — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:32:18 +0000

In the universe of writers for hire, there are very few who understand the work of a money manager. There are fewer still who understand the message that clients and prospective clients want to hear. A tiny percentage of writers can lay claim to having the experience of sitting across from clients and dispensing competent advice.

We are uniquely different.

For two and a half decades, we have been managers and account executives in the financial services business. Our hands-on experience with wealth management is atypical of writers. We speak from the perspective of someone who gets it.

Your business is complex. Economic changes, legislative changes, regulatory changes, cultural changes all impact every consideration. The written words that were meaningful to your clients a decade ago or a month ago may not meet muster today.

Your needs may go beyond a good business writer or copywriter. You may need someone who has the ability to explain a Sharp Ratio or Modern Portfolio Theory. You may need someone who can concisely conceptualize the relationship you have with your client as you see it and how you want your clients to understand it.

It’s not every day that you can find a writer who understands compliance or who spent years as a principal.

Advisor’s Friend really is an advisors’ trusted friend in many ways. We are your copywriter and content developer, traditional and digital marketing professional, compliance-focused writer and web design consultant.

Contact us today for the expertise that sets us apart. Our writing will compliment your practice and provide just the right voice for your clients and prospective clients. To continue to grow assets requires a message that resonates with those you serve.