I’ve been thinking a lot about how we as professionals can provide more timely and relevant services to more people. Personally, I know that I don’t have all of the answers and solutions to everyone’s problems or opportunities. But I do know that in our area of True Wealth stewardship services and Wyoming’s unique advantages, we have much to offer.
Then I came across the following article from Forbes. The article describes a typical approach that I’ve seen for years: advisors focus on minimizing taxes, maximizing returns, and mitigating risk through legal and insurance strategies. As the article suggests, most advisors believe they should communicate with other advisors. But here’s the challenge that I see: they’re communicating in order to save the maximum amount in taxes, seize investment opportunities, and address financial risks ONLY. To me, this perspective, while common, is short-sighted, self-serving, and misses the mark when it comes to what people really want and need.
Forbes Article “Why Your Financial Planner, Lawyer, and Accountant Should Talk”
I am far from a legal or tax expert. But I can say one thing: advisors would be well-served to ask their clients what they value more than money. In so doing, they may discover that their clients have values, concerns, aspirations, and unfulfilled dreams that saving taxes, maximizing returns, or mitigating financial risks don’t address.
Recently, I attended the The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) Conference here in Jackson. STEP is a large international organization focused on the trust and estate planning issues of families from all over the world who have significant financial wealth. Here again, my sense is that most of the advisors in attendance concentrate on minimizing taxes, maximizing returns, and mitigating risk through legal and insurance strategies. They generally are not thinking about what really matters most to their clients.
I also noticed while attending the STEP conference that collaboration is the new industry buzz word. Just as in the Forbes article above, most advisors seem to view collaboration as talking to each other, cooperating amiably with each other, or being agreeable and tolerant with each other.
I would juxtapose this “business as usual” approach with Avi Kantor’s panel presentation at the recent Empowered Wealth Summit.
Avi knows that if we truly collaborate with our professional colleagues and hold each other accountable for serving our client families well, we can provide more timely and relevant services than what the world has experienced historically.
