IA Poll Results Are In!

If your practice is evolving toward wealth management, you are not alone. Advisors are managing wealth, both at independent firms as well as at large banks and brokerage firms. There has been such a trend toward wealth management that the College for Financial Planning has created a course and professional designation for wealth managers, the Accredited Wealth Management Advisor, (AWMA). IA thought it would be useful to find out what topics advisors who are moving to a wealth management practice want to learn more about.

The November IA Poll asked advisors, “Is your practice evolving toward wealth management? If so, which wealth management issues do you need to know more about?” The results are in, and the number one subject advisors say they want to know more about is “Marketing for a wealth management practice,” selected by 27% of advisors who took the Poll. Close behind, at 23%, is “How to create alliances with related professionals (CPA, estate or tax attorney, etc.).” Of course, wealth management is both art and science, so can technology be far behind? No, say advisors, 18% of whom picked “Wealth management technology,” as their most important issue. Many advisors apparently feel that “Making the transition to wealth manager,” is something they have a handle on, though 9% say that this is their most important theme, with 2% of advisors voting for “Other,” without specifying what that should be. IA will respond to these results with articles on these wealth management topics in coming months.