What is the “real value” that financial advisors deliver and that clients are willing to pay for?

The value delivered by financial advisors has morphed over time. Decades ago, it was picking stocks and facilitating transactions. Then asset allocation and money management came into vogue. In the past 15 years, financial planning has become popular in parallel with the rise of financial planning software such as MoneyGuidePro, eMoney, and NaviPlan.

Underlying this has been the accelerating pace of technology change as smartphones make the non-behavioral aspects of saving and managing money as simple as a few screen taps. Today, average financial advisors who remain wedded to the way they’ve been doing business will soon find themselves perfectly suited for a world that no longer exists. They’ll be chased out of business by prospects who never became clients, by clients who left to work with advisors better-suited to their evolving needs. Just like smartphones replaced laptops, and laptops replaced desktops, the value delivered by financial advisors is shifting from being “all about the money” to a focus on helping clients align their money behavior with their life satisfaction.

In this world, money is simply a tool. And the advisor’s role is to smartly manage the money and collaboratively guide the client’s behavior so they can live their best life possible with the money they have. In this world, advisors who remain focused on the “mechanics” of money will be replaced by advisors who focus on the “alignment” of money.

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