by Spenser Segal

As we discussed in our introductory post, the Top 10 Technology Trends can be divided into three categories. The first of those, “Computing, Storage and Mobility,” encompasses trends one, Increasing Technology Capability and two, Mobility

The two macro trends within this fundamental category affect everyone and every industry. They are not specific to the advisory space – they cut across both consumer and business IT.

The first trend, Increasing Technological Capability, underpins all the other trends that we’ll discuss in future posts.  The concept of increasing technological capability covers a lot of territory and includes cheaper/faster storage, increasing processing power and increasing bandwidth/wireless speeds.

You may have heard of Moore’s Law, which in essence discussed the doubling of processing power every 18 months. There are corollaries both in terms of storage and networking speeds as well. In terms of storage, processing power and bandwidth, what was in the past potentially unaffordable or impractical is now becoming both practical and affordable. For example, 100 megabytes of storage cost more than $100 just a few years ago. Today, that same amount of storage can be found for free as a trade show give-away in the form of a logoed memory stick.

Wireless bandwidth speed are expanding even faster.   Isers are getting actual 12 Mpbs speeds (+/-) on Verizon and 18 Mbps (+/-) on AT&T using LTE on the newest iPad. Cellular wireless speeds are 200-300x better than they were in 2000.

One of the effects of those expanded capabilities is that financial institutions can store more data than ever before at a cost that simply wasn’t feasible in the past. Continue Reading »

It’s not news to anyone in this business that things change fast in the financial world – and often in profound ways. It’s your job to react and adapt to those changes and make the most out of every situation for every client you serve. However, if you’re not working on developing your own skills and growing professionally, you might find yourself at a disadvantage when it comes to competently reacting to changes in markets, regulations or anything else that the industry throws at you.

In a world as fast-paced and variable as financial services, it’s all too easy to tell yourself that you don’t have time for personal development. You’re focused on your clients, and making sure that you do everything you can to give them positive outcomes – that can easily take up most of your work day.

However, to ensure that you’re performing to your ability, you need to treat your personal development as if it were a client. This is especially true if you fall into the habit of being self-deprecating, telling yourself that time is a luxury you can’t afford to spend on yourself. Don’t think of it as serving yourself, but rather as an extension of what you do for your clients.  Continue Reading »

by Spenser Segal

There are some important technology trends that are making a major impact on the lives of financial advisors, broker-dealers and custodians. Ignored, and these trends have the potential to put you out of business. Embraced, and these trends can increase your revenue, profits, employee satisfaction and client satisfaction. In this, the first in a 12-part blog series, we will discuss each trend, what its short-term implications are, and what you need to consider over the long term.

These trends vary in how far they’ve developed and in how far-reaching they can be. Some of them are impacting your business today and it’s likely that you are acting on them as I write. Others are issues and opportunities that might not yet be on your radar, but will likely impact your future.

For example, crowd sourcing is an example of a trend you’ll likely need to deal with in the future. Continue Reading »

Being introspective is a positive attribute for a firm to have – carefully examining your capabilities, benchmarking against your peers, and evaluating where you can improve are all important to building your reputation and the quality of the services you provide. As we discussed in our series on practice management, taking a careful, step-by-step approach to self-evaluation is the key to ensuring that your efforts produce results.

As you examine your practice, one of the most important things you can do is determine the capabilities you have internally to meet the needs of your target client group. Simply put, your firm can’t flourish and move in the direction you’re aiming if you’re unable to satisfy those essential needs.

If you find your firm missing the mark, it’s time to develop a plan to improve your accuracy. And even if you find that you are capable of meeting those needs, that’s great – but how well are you able to meet them? Chances are, there’s always a way to improve on your existing capabilities.

Finding new solutions often means looking outside your firm for tools that can help you improve performance. Continue Reading »

In the financial industry, one of the biggest keys to adding and retaining clients is assuring them that you possess the expertise to get the most out of your clients’ investments. One of the best ways to demonstrate your prowess is to share your knowledge with your clients and the public by hosting a seminar on one of the more pressing financial topics of the day.

Choosing a topic that’s relevant to your audience is the first key to attracting interest in your event. What are your clients’ most frequently asked questions? What are you doing that’s relevant to financial issues that are currently in the news? Your topics should relate both to your clients’ self-interests and the public’s general interest.

Promoting your event

However, even if you select the most intriguing topic in the world, your presentation will fall on deaf ears if you don’t promote it. Continue Reading »

One of the fundamental concepts in business is that employees with a common goal who work in the same direction achieve much more than if each individual is only out for him or herself. If you have a financial practice, it’s crucial you manage a team that understands its individual roles within the larger objective of the organization.

This may be easier said than done. To position your company for success, it might be time to take a step back and update job descriptions and task manuals to ensure clarity throughout the organization.

Mutual respect throughout a company can provide a healthy and productive work environment for everyone. Too often in the financial sector, job roles can cross over, causing confusion and even resentment between colleagues. Continue Reading »

As much as the markets and financial regulatory environment change, so too do your clients’ needs and goals. However, in financial advisory practices, you can’t rely on clients to always express those desires and needs. In a worst case scenario, your clients’ needs might change and they might not even share those changes with you, and thus your inability to adapt to changes you don’t know you need to make can cause the relationship to deteriorate.

To prevent that from happening, you need to proactively drive communication with your clients. Of course, communication is a natural part of client interaction, but to get more specific, client-directed answers, using a client needs survey, can provide insight that you might not be able to extract from a phone call or normal email exchanges.

We’ve previously discussed one way to distribute surveys [GC1] to clientele – using the Survey Monkey service. However, you need to consider what, exactly, to put in the survey to get the information you’re after without anything else clouding the message.  Continue Reading »

You want be viewed as a leader in your field for several reasons, not the least of which is that it’s good for your reputation and good for business. But it takes more than just being a knowledgeable financial adviser who’s good with clientele to be known as the expert.

Growing your business and enhancing your personal brand in a competitive field means putting yourself “out there.” Sure, that’s a rather nebulous phrase, but it’s an important way to become known. One of the ways to do this is to make presentations at conferences and seminars.

Does this thought terrify you? You aren’t alone – a Gallup survey ranked public speaking No. 2 among Americans’ fears (behind only snakes). That’s why instead of starting with a big national or regional conference, start small.  Continue Reading »

In the previous post of our seven-part series on practice management, which we’re calling the ActiFi Practice Management Primer, we covered how to benchmark your firm against your peers. In this, our final blog in the series, we focus on execution.

In the past six Practice Management Primer posts we shared an approach to translating your most important business goals into specific actions.  This series of blogs has been  broken into five segments, which you can focus on one at a time. The aim has been to help you envision how you can apply these principles and practices to your business in a practical manner. Lofty goals and ambitions are good, but without a clear path towards achievement, those goals and ambitions might well be left in the realm of what “could be.”

Now that you’re familiar with the concepts, it’s time to execute. As you do so, it’s important to have a broad view of the financial services industry’s macro-trends, which include:   Continue Reading »

Preserving your position as an industry expert is crucial if you want to stand out from the competition. When maintaining a relationship with a current client or when pitching a potential client, you want to demonstrate thoughtful leadership.

Creating an intriguing presentation about a particular wealth management topic is a great way to get your message in front of a prospect’s and/or client’s eyes. Here are some considerations for producing a presentation that gets noticed:

1. Choose a timely and distinctive wealth management topic. Continue Reading »