Over the past month there has been some interesting research published regarding two important issues regarding providing financial planning services to younger clients. (under age 45 years)
The research I am referring to comes from Business Health Future Ready VIII analysis and Netwealth’s Advisable Australian – The Emerging Affluent survey.
Both of these report talks to issues and opportunities for financial planners providing advice to younger Australians.
- Children of financial planning clients have no relationship with their parent’s financial planner (in most cases) and that as many as two thirds will terminate their parent’s financial planner soon after the inheritance passes. (Business Health newsletter 2 March 2021)
- The Emerging Affluent are Advisable Australians who are the ideal future clients for financial advisers, now and in the future. They are younger individuals with higher-than-average incomes, household wealth that is growing, and a strong appetite for investing
It is my experience that most financial planners are not fully prepared to seize either of these opportunities.
Children of Financial planning Firms
According to our latest analysis of Australian financial planning firms, (Future Ready VIII, Jan 2020), 55% of clients are aged 60+, while 45% are now retired.
The baby boomer generation is finally greying and is today faced with grown-up children, growing up grandchildren and their own ‘once indestructible’ parents. Interests and needs are slowly and surely changing across so many sectors of our society. And when their estate eventually passes to the children, there’s no guarantee that the adviser who has helped to create the estate, will remain a part of their plans going forward. In fact, various research suggests that as many as two out of every three children will terminate their parent’s adviser soon after the inheritance passes – for no reason other than that they don’t perceive that they have a relationship with mum and dad’s adviser.
The Advisable Australian – The Emerging Affluent
As the name suggests, these are younger individuals who are on the way to becoming affluent – a group of people with more potential to earn. They are typically highly educated and often have senior job roles and management positions. They have healthy incomes, sizable investments and a large appetite for further investments. They are generally found in metro areas and are extremely confident technology users.
Other interesting points to consider in reaching out to this group
- Almost eight in 10 (78.8%) Emerging Affluents would be likely to use a financial adviser if they could see more clearly the benefits of financial advice.
- The Emerging Affluent have high to very high Technology Adoption characteristics, so it makes sense that education should be via digital mean and channels.
- Creating interesting articles or blogs, commissioning research, producing podcasts or recording video interviews is likely to pique the interest of Emerging Affluents.
- Given their relatively high Financial Capability, content topics should be more advanced appealing to their greater financial knowledge and awareness.
- It would be wise to provide them information that is not easily available in the general media, expose them to new and interesting financial concepts and opportunities plus share with them ideas to help them better prepare for their future.
- It’s worth noting that podcasts are a medium enjoyed by the Emerging Affluent: more than four in 10 (43.7%) of them listen to a podcast daily and a more than three in 10 (32.8%) listen to one each week – which means a staggering three-quarters (76.5%) listen to a podcast at least once a week.
In our work with different firms it is quite common to address the digital marketing capabilities of the business, and the content required on an ongoing basis. This should be addressed as part of your overall marketing plan.
Looking at the research it is clear this is a must do if you are serious about attracting children of clients and others in the same demographic.
(This summary includes quotations from the Emerging Affluent research paper provided by Netwealth.)
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