How LPL Is Giving Advisors the ‘Muscle’ to Grow: Executive

As advisory firms look to overcome challenges as they grow, three main factors largely determine how successful their businesses can become, according to Aneri Jambusaria, managing director of LPL Financial’s Services Group.

The group’s 800 staff members — now working with over 3,200 of LPL’s affiliated financial advisors and institutions — is introducing new programs that zoom in on these factors so advisors can both improve and grow their businesses, Jambusaria says.

Jambusaria joined LPL over three years ago, after working at Fidelity Investments for about eight years. She also serves as a judge for ThinkAdvisor’s LUMINARIES industry awards program.

The executive recently discussed what advisors should be doing today to position their practices for tomorrow via email.

THINKADVISOR: What is LPL research telling you, and how does it influence what LPL does for advisors? 

ANERI JAMBUSARIA: In our latest advisor research about top-performing practices, we found three primary drivers of extraordinary businesses: growth, efficiency and resiliency. As an industry, we talk a lot about growth and an advisor’s ability to capitalize on the increasing demand for independent advice.

With the advisor-centered wealth management space expected to grow from $27 trillion [in assets] to $35 trillion over this decade, that secular trend is showing no signs of slowing.

We see those advisors with strong marketing capabilities who are investing in building [their] client service capacity are best positioned to attract and retain more than their share.

Efficiency and resiliency don’t get as much airtime as growth, but we see them as being equally important to driving success. From an efficiency perspective, it’s thinking about how an advisor wants to spend their time and how the people in the office spend their time.

Where can they get more leverage and drive scale? That’s where some of our services, like Administrative Solutions and Paraplanning Services, can help free up time to spend on high-value work.

Resiliency is also top of mind, especially in the current market environment. Advisors want to ensure their business is set up for all kinds of market conditions.

This is where the comprehensive advice conversation comes in. We found that successful advisors have diverse revenue streams, like charging for financial planning to weather the ups and downs.

In addition, resilient advisor businesses are planning ahead and have a long-term succession plan in place. This allows them to be intentional about their team and growth plans, and ensure they are protected in case of an unforeseen event.

What do advisors most need to be doing for their investor clients, and how is LPL helping them?

Many firms focus on providing financial advisors with ideas and insights to drive their success, leaving it up to the advisor to manage the execution. We found that while insights can be an incredible catalyst, you also need an accelerant to execute on those insights and drive impact.

That’s the idea behind our services portfolio at LPL. We’re focused on delivering the insights as well as the execution muscle to drive success in areas like client administration, marketing, finance and accounting, and financial planning. More than 3,000 advisors affiliated with LPL are currently using these types of services to enhance their businesses.

We see opportunities for advisors to continue to lean into this type of support. LPL advisors are spending over $2 billion annually on practice support, often relying on local providers who may not be skilled in working with wealth business or may have competing priorities.

Our goal is to provide high-quality alternatives that take work off advisors’ plates so that they can focus on what matters to their clients. Early signs are that this strategy is working. Advisors who use one of our services are growing on average 28% faster than peers.

What industry trend is most affecting your advisors, and what is LPL doing to help them?

The past decade has seen a fintech boom and an influx of software-as-a-service companies offering technology services to financial advisors. This technology promises to be transformative to the advisor and client experience. As a result, there has been a big push for advisors to try out software like CRM, financial planning and reporting tools.

We now see advisors waking up and asking themselves if they’re getting the value out of their third-party technology.

It can be challenging (and costly) to familiarize yourself with all of the features and functionality, or to set up your tech stack in a way that works with how work gets done in your practice.

That’s why we’re piloting new services at LPL focused on the advisor tech stack. We see this as a way to help advisors unlock more value from their technology and, ultimately, drive more successful wealth businesses.

What are investor clients most concerned about today, and how is LPL addressing this concern?

In today’s landscape, clients are most interested in working with advisors who are well positioned to thrive in challenging economic situations. That means those advisors need strong and stable partners to stand behind them and provide confidence that their clients’ money is safe.

This played out during the recent regional bank failures and banking sector volatility. LPL was positioned well to instill confidence with advisors and their clients, given that we are not a bank and have a strong balance sheet.

We also saw increased interest in our cash management programs, including the expanded FDIC insurance protections offered through LPL’s multi-bank cash sweep program.

When news headlines create uncertainty, we focus on being that trusted partner to support advisors when their clients need peace of mind.

(Pictured: Aneri Jambusaria)