Why advice-client relationship is key in a volatile market

Charter Hall state manager, distribution (private wealth) Mark Weingarth said ahead of the ifa Future Forum 2022 next week that advisers who understand their clients’ intrinsic and extrinsic needs and become their chief financial officer (CFO) will thrive in their practices.

“The best advisers in the market don’t just focus on the investment outcomes,” he told ifa.

“The portfolio is just a fait accompli of how you manage money. Being a good adviser is about how you unearth and understand your clients’ needs and help them achieve their life goals.

“The portfolio construction is a step which can help them with that in their journey. So, the less advisers have to talk about investments, the better.”

It is the investment manager’s role to assist advisers with portfolio construction and investments by sending “bite-sized chunks” of information throughout the year to track progress, Mr Weingarth said.

Advisers can send this content in various digestible formats to their clients (such as articles or videos) on a regular basis to update them on original and relevant topics that could impact their financial goals or outcomes, he added.

“When advisers conduct annual or quarterly face-to-face reviews with clients, they don't have to go through every fund in the portfolio and explain what happened in all of them,” Mr Weingarth said.

“Instead, they can talk about clients’ needs and what’s changed in the last year, and what their needs are going forward rather than what’s happened in the portfolio.”

Mr Weingarth will join a panel of speakers at the ifa Future Forum 2022 next week to provide a cross-industry perspective on how advisers can unlock efficiencies and build relationships with investment managers in a volatile market, and why robust client relationships are key to a prospering practice.

He will also outline how to find an investment manager that can support advisers through tough client conversations.

Mr Weingarth recommended choosing an investment partner that caters to an adviser’s requirements, including being available for face-to-face meetings, providing access to senior leadership or treasury teams, or creating customised videos and articles for advisers to consume when it suits them.

“Advisers might want the latest quarterly fund updates from the investment manager so they can forward it to their clients to keep them on the front foot,” he suggested.

For advisers navigating tough conversations with clients who are facing intense cost pressures as inflation and interest rates rise, Mr Weingarth recommended simplifying complicated information and “breaking it down into small chunks”.

“We're very good in our industry at using jargon and the world of superannuation, investments, and financial services can be very complicated,” Mr Weingarth acknowledged.

“But we always encourage advisers to simplify hard conversations so you get there little by little. Investment managers have to help advisers become their clients’ central CFO so clients go to them to understand everything.”

To hear more from Mark Weingarth and others about how advisers can strengthen industry partnerships and develop new skills to ensure their quality of advice remains high during challenging economic times, come along to the ifa Future Forum 2022.

It will be held on Wednesday, 16 November, at Montage in Sydney.

Click here to register for free and don’t miss out!

For more information, including agenda and speakers, click here.