Anna Stepec has been recently helping a client through the financial labyrinth of divorce and planning for life as a single person. Stepec, a financial advisor with Generis Financial Corp. in Toronto, is aware that the emotional storm of divorce may lead clients to make decisions or omissions they may later regret. So, she decided to use one of the tools that are available to help advisors guide clients through life’s difficult passages.

Stepec chose a new web-based resource and information service recently launched by Toronto-based Dynamic Funds Ltd. called Snapshots. This program has enabled her to provide her client with information on important details that are often overlooked when couples are divorcing.

As the wealth-management industry matures along with its clients, financial advi-sors are realizing that their clients’ needs go beyond contributing to an RRSP every year. Various life events, from the birth of a baby to the death of a spouse, present opportunities for advisors to provide guidance and access to specialized expertise or additional sources of information. By becoming involved in the more personal aspects of your clients’ lives, you can savour the satisfaction of steering your clients through important life transitions.

There are a number of tools and strategies you can use to help you guide clients through these significant life changes.

“It’s important for advisors to have the conversations that help them find out what’s really going on in their clients’ lives, and what their clients’ aspirations and fears are, as well as their financial goals,” says Terri Williams, director of value-added programs, marketing, with DundeeWealth Inc., an affiliate of Dynamic. “And once [advisors have] uncovered this kind of information, advisors need to be equipped to help their clients or steer them to the appropriate experts or community resources.”

The volatile financial markets of the past year and the losses that many clients have experienced on the equities side of their portfolios have resulted in many complaints from clients, and poor performance has often been the dominant topic of conversation. It is more important than ever to find ways to have positive encounters with your clients and to have meaningful discussions on topics other than investment returns.

“Advisors are tired of being defensive and want to have a different kind of conversation with clients,” says Julie Littlechild, president of Toronto-based Advisor Impact Inc. Littlechild has developed a tool called ClientAudit, a client survey designed to identify areas in which clients may need advice, and it can point to additional ways in which you can expand each client relationship.

“When advisors and their clients are beholden to the vagaries of the market and markets are in turmoil, advisors who don’t look at new ways of doing things are vulnerable,” says Barry LaValley, consultant and president of LifeFirst Approach in Nanaimo, B.C. “With the markets offside during the past year, many clients are questioning the value of the advice they receive and, if it focuses only on investments, the advisor may be seen as less relevant.”

You can assert your relevance by going beyond financial advice.



> Online Tools

“Clients can feel overwhelmed when they are going through an important life change,” Stepec says, “and if the advisor can help make their life easier, that’s tremendously valuable to the client.”

For example, Stepec says, divorcing couples may get so caught up in the legalities of child support and the division of financial assets that they may forget to change beneficiaries on life insurance policies and RRSPs, or to discontinue joint accounts and credit cards. Dynamic’s Snapshots provided Stepec with a checklist of divorce-related tasks that could save her client a lot of trouble and expense down the road. Using this tool has helped position Stepec as a provider of customized, valuable service, and that has strengthened the bond with her client.

The Snapshots tool has information for clients experiencing specific life events, including parenthood, divorce, dealing with an ailing parent, retirement and the death of a spouse. Dynamic plans to add marriage, buying a house, disability and selling a business to the list in the near future.

The Snapshots program provides a deep pool of information in a variety of formats, presented in a way that allows you to cherry-pick the items most useful and relevant to each client. Snapshots offers a selection of articles written in consumer-friendly language about financial and non-financial issues connected to each life event. The articles may be emailed directly to your client, or they can be printed and either mailed to the client or presented in a face-to-face meeting.

@page_break@The online program also allows you to custom-design a client newsletter that can contain both a personalized note from you and a variety of articles or information documents.

For example, in the “ailing parent” category, the program offers seven articles, covering topics such as Alzheimer’s disease and the importance of a will. Snapshots also provides links to community resources and valuable information, such as a page on the Canadian Association of Retired Persons’ website offering a list of retirement homes by area.

“The articles and documents can help advisors make an instant connection with their clients and position themselves as a source of knowledge and support,” says Williams. “The information pieces can be sent after a meeting, and be in the client’s inbox when they get home.”

Snapshots also offers access to online continuing education-credited courses specific to various life events. For example, the program offers CE courses on retirement designed by Daryl Diamond, a partner with Diamond Retirement Planning Ltd. in Winnipeg.

While Dynamic is among the leaders in developing a web-based program that organizes information according to life events, a number of other financial institutions are focusing on helping clients in areas besides investments. Invesco Trimark Inc. of Toronto launched an online wealth-management program last month called AdvisorInc, which offers tools — including access to articles and other research, as well as specialized calculators — to help advisors guide clients through their life stages. The program covers tax and estate planning, retirement, income protection and tax-efficient investing.



> Strategy: Focus On Planning

Although programs such as Snapshots and AdvisorInc are useful tools, they do require a shift in focus on the part of advisors from products to planning.

To that end, LaValley recommends embarking upon what he calls a “client rediscovery” program, which examines the events occurring in your clients’ lives. He has picked five life areas that he uses as a guide for probing client concerns. They are: helping family; structuring a lifestyle; planning for changes in work and health; creating financial comfort; and leaving a legacy.

Often life planning leads to financial planning, which may in turn lead to the sale of products such as education plans, disability and critical-care insurance, trust services and charitable-giving funds. The solutions go beyond investment products, which, LaValley says, are simply a commodity.

“These conversations with clients are not just anecdotal; they reinforce the relationship and frequently lead to business opportunities,” LaValley says. “They allow advisors to reinforce their value proposition by letting clients know what can be done for them, and to help in areas that the client has not anticipated. The advisor is able to see the overall picture, and ensures all the pieces fit together. No area of conversation is off limits. It’s necessary to understand the client’s life for advisors to do their jobs effectively.”

LaValley also suggests assembling a database of material, such as articles, brochures and charts on life-planning issues to send to clients, and to make use of regular emails, letters and newsletters to convey relevant information. He also recommends organizing workshops and bringing in educational speakers who can convey information related to the challenges of various life events.

“The advisor becomes the coach, motivator and provider of wisdom to clients,” LaValley says, “rather than a person whose role is restricted to talking about financial markets and portfolio performance.”



> Surveys As Planning Tools

Littlechild’s survey helps advisors identify clients’ individual areas of interest. “That leads to deeper and better conversations because they’re based on the client’s specific needs,” she says. “The process itself engages the client because it shows the advisor cares enough to ask for feedback.”

Once the survey has been completed, you can identify which of your client’s responses should be followed up on. You can then set up a “relationship review” meeting with the client to discuss his or her needs. Sometimes client needs will lead to the sale of additional products such as insurance; sometimes they will result in a referral to another professional, such as an accountant, estate lawyer or insurance expert. “Even if the opportunity is not an immediate revenue generator for the advisor,” Littlechild says, “the goodwill created is invaluable.”

RBC Wealth Management Inc. has devised a data-gathering process called Family Snapshot, in which clients fill out a questionnaire that covers topics such as family, work and estate plans. From the responses, advisors can create a customized list of opportunities available. For example, if the answers reveal that your client is the owner of an incorporated business or a professional with high income, you would be prompted to investigate whether your client could benefit by having an individual pension plan instead of an RRSP. Or, if your client is donating large amounts to charity, he or she may benefit from opening a donor-advised charitable fund or by forming his or her own charitable foundation. In other cases, a spousal loan may make sense for income-splitting opportunities and tax minimization.

“Clients are appreciative of our services, and their satisfaction is leading to additional money coming into accounts, referrals and often meeting the next generation in the family,” says Tony Maiorino, vice president of high net-worth strategy and services with RBC Wealth Management. “There’s a feeling of ‘Wow, we didn’t know you offered that!’ It absolutely strengthens and deepens the
relationship.” IE