Financial planners are embracing tech – make sure you don’t get left behind

By AdviceBridge

The days when financial planning meant reams of paperwork and multiple face-to-face meetings are long gone.

Over the past few years, financial planners and advisers have been integrating technology into their business practices.

From onboarding clients to drawing up financial plans and providing ongoing monitoring, technology is helping financial planners to work more efficiently and improve their services for clients.

Coronavirus is fuelling tech adoption

The coronavirus pandemic has seen the rate of technology adoption significantly ramp up.

Meetings that would previously have been carried out face-to-face are now being carried out almost entirely remotely, and documents are being shared via online client portals.

As Heather Hopkins, Managing Director of consultancy NextWealth, said in a recent Financial Times article: “The first and most obvious [change] is to client engagement. Advisers are relying heavily on phone and video conferences to connect with clients.

“The other big change is working with a team remotely.”

Tech can extend financial planning to smaller clients

For smaller, less wealthy clients, technology has the potential to ensure they’re able to access the benefits of financial planning.

Over the past few years, financial advice has increasingly become the preserve of the wealthy. Figures quoted in the FT’s article reveal that between 2013 and 2015, the proportion of advisers insisting on a portfolio of at least £100,000 more than doubled to 32%. This is largely because of the regulatory ban on commission charging on retail investment products.

“I think the efficiencies will mean that advisers will be able to work with clients that might not have been a target audience in the past,” said Hopkins. “If costs can be brought down for onboarding clients and working with them on an ongoing basis.”

Advisers have an opportunity to boost profits

Technology has the power to create more efficient and cost-effective ways of providing financial planning. There are several processes in which technology can reduce admin for firms, including:

• Onboarding clients
• Investment analysis
• Producing illustrations
• Risk profiling
• Automated cashflow planning
• Producing financial plans
• Providing ongoing monitoring and alerts.

As well as making processes more efficient and freeing up the financial planner’s time, technology can open up additional advice opportunities.

Legacy clients, who financial planners may have struggled to serve economically, can be offered an efficient, automated advice service.

It’s time to embrace innovation

With the coronavirus pandemic resulting in people’s lives being conducted remotely, there’s never been a better time to embrace new forms of technology.

Technology is becoming better, faster and more intuitive all the time, giving financial planners the ability to extend their services to a much wider range of clients.

A survey by Octopus Investments found 76% of advisers believe a hybrid financial advice model will be the future, and 81% thought the next generation of financial advisers will have to incorporate aspects of robo-advice into their offering.

“This sentiment reflects advisers’ increasing awareness that robo-advice could become the way some people initially get financial advice, presenting an opportunity for advisers to show the benefits of advice and expand their client base in time,” the report said.

Tech can be efficient and personalised

AdviceBridge’s financial planning app is an example of the type of technology that financial planners can use to work more efficiently and extend their services to more clients.

The automated and personalised retirement planning tool lets clients input their personal and financial data, and the app does the rest. It shows how much spending money the client is likely to have in retirement, the savings they could make by investing more tax-efficiently, and how likely it is that they will meet their goals.

Whether you want to provide your clients with a cashflow modelling tool, make your business more cost-efficient, or get automated alerts for potential advice opportunities, the easy-to-use app is a great way of maximising profits.

Get in touch

If you want to find out how AdviceBridge can benefit your business and your clients, please get in touch. Email hello@advicebridge.com or call us on 020 3925 3850. You can also visit our website at www.advicebridge.com to book a quick demo with our friendly team.