If you have attended a meeting of the U.S.-based Financial Planning Association in the past 10 years, you probably have encountered certified financial planner Marc Freedman of Boston.

Freedman’s charismatic personality befits his former part-time job as a karaoke host, and his infectious passion for the profession of financial planning has made him an excellent frontman for numerous educational sessions, committees and conferences.

In Oversold and Underserved: A financial advisor’s guidebook to effectively serving the mass affluent, Freedman shares the lessons he learned under the tutelage of his well-regarded father, Barry, a financial planner who recently handed Marc the reins of his firm. The son offers thoughts on what it takes to build an advisory practice that is considered notable not only by its peers and competitors but by its clients, as well.

Capturing and articulating his father’s 40 years of experience — along with almost two decades of his own — Freedman has written an impressive 430-page compendium of insights, ideas, procedures and philosophies, some of which may be of more interest to novices than to veterans, but all valuable. A shameless bias in favour of financial planning over investment advice pervades it all.

For context, let’s start with a description of the “mass affluent”: demographically, they enjoy household incomes of $75,000-$175,000 (all figures are in U.S. dollars); they have a net worth of $500,000-$2.5 million; they will have $500,000-$1.5 million in assets at retirement; and they want to be able to spend $4,000-$10,000 a month when they retire. Psychographically, they worry about not saving enough and leaving a legacy for their children, and they would never call themselves “high net-worth” or “millionaires.”

The mass affluent are “underserved,” Freedman believes, because they are looking for a connection with a financial advisor that goes beyond the technical analysis and investment strategies on which most client/advisor relationships appear to be based. They are, in Freedman’s opinion, “oversold” because they were too often enticed into those relationships by promises of greater intimacy and understanding of their individual needs than actually gets delivered in the real world of financial advice.

The first section of the book opens with Freedman’s credentials. In 1991, his firm had 500 clients generating $300,000 in net revenue; today, it has 350 mass-affluent clients, who generate $1.8 million.

Part of making that transition, Freedman argues, is accepting responsibility for providing the leadership clients expect of their advisors to help visualize their lives, play devil’s advocate, assist with choices and be the steady hand through economic uncertainty. It also means ensuring the compensation model reflects the depth and breadth of the work, so clients understand how much they are paying for financial planning.

There is a section devoted to tips on practice management. These include sticking to your principles. So, if you believe the only way to work with a client is through a full-scale financial planning exercise, do not accept a new client who seeks only investment advice, Freedman advises, no matter how tempting the account. And create good first impressions befitting the calibre of client you would like to have.

Freedman addresses the actual process of data-gathering, analysis and development of strategies. He has a team of five in his practice, so he is able to leave the mechanics of developing the plan to others while he acts as overseer. This section includes an example of a written comprehensive financial plan, suggestions for presenting the plan and a checklist for ongoing review and update.

The final section delves into marketing and service strategies to attract and retain mass-affluent clients. The cornerstone is the “ideal client” profile, followed by client segmentation. Examples of how to deal with existing clients who do not fit the profile are also provided.

Freedman makes a distinction between internal and external marketing and he stresses the importance of identifying and implementing promotional activities appropriate to the mass-affluent market.

He is a big proponent of seminars as a result of his (and his father’s) success with them. There is also a strong endorsement of client advisory boards for idea generation, networking and feedback.

This is not a book you are likely to read from cover to cover. Rather, it is probably better looked upon as an encyclopedic resource to be consumed in bite-size chunks or periodically consulted for inspiration and examples. IE