Elementality for Financial Advisors | Elements Financial Vitals System™

Do you ever consider how money should create occasional joy for your clients? Or do you see your job as merely providing a guide map to retirement? As advisors help counsel clients on how money can positively affect their overall well-being, they need to learn how to improve in their role as “financial therapists.” On this Elementality, Reese welcomes a real financial therapist, Dr. Meghaan Lurtz, who examines why it may be time you learn how to bring more financial happiness to your clients.

Advisors are approached by clients for a variety of reasons, but usually there's a financial pain they're trying to solve. However, one question often stands out, “How am I doing?” On this episode of Elementality, Reese and Chad discuss why clients look for confirmation that their financial life is on track—and for reasons to be confident in the advice they are receiving. This is not a financial question with a quantitative answer. Find out how to articulate the value you provide when you answer.

As advisory firms grow, successfully attracting and hiring the right talent is essential to unlocking efficiencies and, more importantly, a positive client experience. Attracting the right candidate starts by defining firm goals and establishing the right responsibilities that contribute to those goals. And only after this can an advisor seek candidates that are not only technically competent but also contribute in ways that enhance the client experience.

Historically client communication has revolved around meetings an advisor plans with clients. Face-to-face meetings are essential, especially early in a relationship. But over time the value of these meetings diminishes. That’s when "asynchronous" communication—like email, text, or direct messages—becomes more important. On this episode of Elementality, Reese and Chad examine how using a process to deliver asynchronous messages builds value and increases the trust clients have in their advisor.

Clients carry a lot of emotional baggage that can hinder their financial progress. Many advisors’ initial reaction is to use facts or logic to get clients to move forward. But that reaction can actually make clients even more resistant to change. So says Dr. Daniel Crosby, behavioral finance expert and Reese’s guest on this episode of Elementality. Daniel and Reese explore how to approach common behavioral tendencies that can keep clients from reaching their goals and improving their financial lives.

For decades financial services were driven by product sales. This led to ethical standards that guide advisor behavior but left us without functional standards for financial wellness. What makes a healthy savings rate, ample liquidity, or the right amount of capital to use for speculation vs. consistent asset allocation? On this episode of Elementality, Reese and Chad discuss how standards of advice can positively impact clients, improve practice efficiency, and enhance the efficacy of all advisors.

Last week we wrapped up Season 1 and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. If you haven't already, we hope you'll go back and listen to previous episodes where we told the story of how Reese Harper built his independent niche RIA and developed the Elements Financial Planning System—a turnkey solution for making it easier to do our work as financial advisors. In Season 2 we’ll explore even more how financial advisors can improve the experience they deliver to clients, how to provide value that is worth charging for, and learn from a ton of awesome guests. Season 2 is coming in early 2021. If you’re subscribed, you’ll get updates and announcements right here. From all of us at Elementality, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season and look forward to filling your feed with more great content early next year!

As a result of new technologies, product marketers began overusing phrases like “paradigm shift.” Now we’re seeing what a real paradigm shift looks like as COVID has caused an upheaval whose effects are changing cultures across the globe. With 2020 finally coming to a close, how can advisors absorb this “new normal” and be ready for whatever comes next? How does working from home play into the equation? What does it mean for personal relationships? How do you manage a team from a distance? With home as your office, can you ever actually relax? On this Season 1 ending episode of Elementality, Reese sits down with his wife Barb to address some of these vexing questions. Reese and Barb share personal stories and strategies, as well as work-from-home findings, statistics, and recommendations from illuminating new research. That includes a Microsoft study done for the Harvard Business Review Big Idea Series, as well as ideas from other prominent researchers. Of course, no one has all the answers yet, but this episode is sure to provide some good insight into how to tackle this sudden and dramatic “we’re all in this together” shift.

Running an advisory business can feel a lot like riding a roller coaster. At first, you’re in high gear trying to get some traction in the market. Eventually, you reach a tipping point. Then suddenly you find yourself going full bore servicing an influx of new clients. When the joyride stops, you’re right back where you started, facing another uphill climb. It's downright exhausting. And it’s not so great for the bottom line either. But there’s a better way, and today on the Elementality podcast, business development coach Mark LeBlanc joins Reese Harper to discuss it. They talk about why advisors get caught up in this roller coaster dynamic, and what it takes to break free of it. That includes essential business development activities, the importance of tracking monthly targets and trend lines, and the unexpected impact of your compensation structure. Finally, Mark shares the 3 keys needed to pull off the transition to this alternative model. Even if you're a big fan of roller coasters, you’re sure to appreciate the smoother, more predictable business performance it delivers.

FinTech can dramatically streamline the process of onboarding new clients and serving existing ones. It can shrink the wait time between first contact and delivery of actionable advice. It can even enable richer client interactions. But it won’t do any of that unless you and your clients actually use it. Today’s guest on Elementality is Todd Reynolds, the User Experience (UX) Designer for the Elements app. He joins Reese Harper for a behind-the-scenes peek into the art and science going into creating a user experience that advisors and clients will love to use. He shares his experiences getting up to speed with everything that goes into financial planning, distilling that into concepts clients can understand, and turning it into a frictionless solution. It’s this careful attention to design that permits Elements users -- you and your clients -- to efficiently gather, organize, and analyze your clients’ data, so you can more effectively help them complete their functional and emotional financial jobs.