While many financial advisors report wanting to be very successful and personally wealthy, only a small percentage of them are taking the actions required to achieve these goals.
The definition of successful used here is creating a financial advisory practice that does an excellent job for its clients and generates significant profits which translate into personal wealth for the owners. Taking the first criteria as a given, it’s clear that there are relatively few financial advisors who are taking the steps required to create and build an extremely successful practice. Moreover, fewer still are likely to become personally wealthy.
Multi-year surveys of financial advisors consistently show that generally more than four out of five of them are very or extremely interested in building an accomplished practice. The research also shows that a larger percentage of financial advisors are motivated to become wealthy in their own right. Unobtrusive measures such as the solid and growing interest in business coaching and consulting services is additional evidence that many financial advisors are seriously interested in improving their practices.
The irony is that a very large percentage of these financial advisors can indeed build very successful practices and consequently become affluent. According to Brett Van Bortel, director of Invesco Consulting, “We find that financial and investment professionals who are highly motivated and willing to put in the hard work required are able to use the programs we’ve developed to fast-track their practices to incredible new levels of success.” His observations are strongly supported by the extensive research with financial advisors.
A lot of the problem for the lack of pecuniary achievements falls on the shoulders of the financial advisors. There is a tendency for many of them to do the same things and get the same – often unsatisfying – results. “There are so many financial advisors who are overlooking enormous opportunities in their own book of business, and a percentage of them are ignoring proven effective ways of creating a steady stream of new affluent investors,” explains Van Bortel. “Still, generally speaking, unless financial advisors are willing to move beyond their comfort zone and are willing to put in the effort required, they’re not going reach their potential.”
The methodologies that can enable financial advisors to build significant practices and become personally wealthy are not secrets. On the contrary, they are all easily available provided the financial advisors conduct their due diligence. This makes the issue not one of knowledge, but one of commitment.
(The opinions expressed are those of the author, and are subject to change without notice. These opinions may differ from those of other
