Jared Trexler is senior vice president and chief marketing and strategy officer at The American College of Financial Services.
For advisors, years of experience with retirement planning don't necessarily add up to expertise.
That was among the major findings of The American College of Financial Services' Advisor Expertise Study 2026.
Based on a survey of 478 financial professionals fielded in March, the study found that advisors report offering an average of five out of eight major planning services.
When asked to identify their top three offerings, advisors most often cited general financial planning, 69%; retirement income planning, 66%; and portfolio management, 54%.
New in this year's study is the Advisor Expertise Index. This rating system was inspired by Bloom's Taxonomy, a scale that measures six levels of learning.
The Advisor Expertise Index scores advisors on demonstrated skill level across eight planning categories, with scores ranging from 0 to 60 and segmented into basic, intermediate and advanced expertise.
Experience alone is not a reliable indicator of expertise, according to a statement. The study found no relationship between years in the field and an advisor's level of expertise, and it reveals that 51% of services are being delivered at only basic or intermediate skill levels.
The largest expertise gaps appeared in retirement income planning and tax planning. Nearly 6 in 10 advisors who say that retirement income planning is among their top services demonstrate only a basic or intermediate level of proficiency, and the same is true of tax planning, with 57% of advisors who offer it as a top service not delivering it at an advanced level. This suggests, researchers believe, that many generalist advisors are offering specialized services without demonstrating advanced-level expertise.
Jared Trexler, senior vice president and chief marketing and strategy officer at The American College of Financial Services, told ThinkAdvisor that the new methodology was created because many consumers say they can't "vet out whether an advisor knows their stuff."
"It's hard in just a few meetings," he said.
Many times, Trexler said, consumers are picking based on years of experience, thinking that they're getting a higher-level advisor.
"That's not always the case," he said.
The study found a strong relationship between expertise and the types of clients that advisors serve.
Across categories, advisors with higher expertise scores were more likely to have clients with at least $500,000 in investable assets.
Advisors with advanced tax planning expertise were estimated to have 75% of clients in that range, compared with 35% for those delivering tax planning at a basic level.
Advisors with designations from The American College of Financial Services scored higher on the Advisor Expertise Index than those without, and advisors with multiple designations demonstrated an even stronger advantage. The study also highlighted retirement income planning as a critical specialization area, noting that only 43% of advisors who offer retirement income planning as one of their top services are delivering at an advanced level. Advisors who hold the Retirement Income Certified Professional designation were 16 percentage points more likely to demonstrate advanced expertise in retirement income planning than those who do not, 56% versus 40%.
Jared Trexler. Courtesy photo
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