A survey found that most women prioritize planning for retirement and their family's future, but more than seven in 10 believe they are not doing a very good job. Running out of money in retirement is a big worry for 70% of women, but only 20% of them have come up with a plan to deal with this challenge. The Women's Resource Center, found in Broadridge Advisor, contains dozens of client articles, illustrati ...

Financial advisors spend a significant portion of their time on back-office tasks and the search for new clients. New technology does not necessarily allow advisors to add more clients but may instead enable them to provide deeper services to their existing clients. To read the full article in Nerd’s Eye View, click: What Advisors do with their Time. ...

One of our most popular resources is ready to go with a fresh new look! Use the Analysis of a Tax Return for Financial Planning Opportunities piece alongside a client's 1040 to identify their needs and places to add value, and to open the door for deeper conversations. To read the full article in Smart Brief, click: Fresh New Look: The Analysis of a Tax Return for Financial Planning Opportunities. ...

One of my favorite mantras for support advisors is this, “Details are your responsibility.” In the financial planning field, great plans live and die in the finer points. But, most practices just don't have the time and resources to check complex calculations. That’s where you come in. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: New to Planning? How to Add Value at Your Firm. ...

One purpose of artificial intelligence (AI) is to capture, manage, and analyze amounts of data too large for less advanced technology to handle, and to produce insights faster and more accurately than people can. While AI promises to help businesses prepare better for potential opportunities and risks, the technology presents a challenge for management accountants in financial planning and analysis (FP& ...

Five years ago, I made the biggest mistake of my career.  I gave some untimely advice to a new client and quickly realized the full impact our work can have on our clients’ lives—not just on their wallets. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: The Worst Retirement Advice I Ever Gave. ...

As the financial planning industry nears a fee-only, fiduciary world, we are finally outgrowing our profession’s roots—and for the better.  In the process, though, independent broker-dealers will face some important choices about their future business models. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: As Planners Outgrow Their Roots, Hard Choices Lie Ahead. ...

Alexa, can you be my financial planner?  Artificial intelligence is getting more sophisticated, but where does that leave the professionals?  I asked that question of my new device, a birthday present from my son.  The answer?  “I don’t know that.”  But for how long?  Just as other industries have been disrupted by technological advancement, so, too, will the financial industry. To read the full article in ...

How Personal Financial Planning Complements CPA Practices Adding personal financial planning services can help CPA firms build stronger bonds with clients and open up opportunities for referrals, writes Stuart Kessler, CPA, PFS.  He shares several techniques that can help your PFP practice, beginning with helping clients feel relaxed and comfortable during initial meetings.  CPAs who are interested in addin ...

When Amy Sonstein, CPA, PFS, started her first job in financial planning 12 years ago, she was the only woman in her training group.  Some progress has been made in the past decade, but many financial planning firms still don't have a large number of female advisers on staff.  In this blog post, Sonstein shares how a woman's perspective can help firms provide better service and value to their clients. To re ...

Start Your Succession Plan Decades in Advance Engaging in a decades-long succession-planning process can ensure that clients are taken care of and a practice continues to thrive after its founder retires.  Recruiting young advisers can bring new ideas to your practice and help keep it going.  Mike Lockwood, representative of Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp., explains. To read the full article in Wealth ...

No matter what your fees are, there’s always the worry that you’re either too expensive and giving up work, or too cheap and leaving money on the table. Ingrid Case explains how these four questions can help you determine whether to give yourself a cut—or a raise. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: Should I…Raise my Fees? ...

Couples Face Many Challenges in Retirement Planning A lot can go wrong when couples plan for retirement.  Updating important documents and communicating about retirement goals and plans can help couples overcome challenges.  Rodney Brooks, columnist for The Washington Post, discusses some tips to help couples become more prepared. To read the full article in The Washington Post, click: When it Takes Two to ...

Are you looking for new ways to evolve your own financial planning business?  Michael Kitces, Partner and Director of Research for Pinnacle Advisory Group, discusses the innovative and inspiring ideas found in Chris Anderson’s book, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price”. To find out more on the Nerd’s Eye View article, click: Freemium Pricing Models For Financial Advisors | Kitces.com. ...

High account balances is an often overlooked risk related to sequence of returns especially for investors within five years of their retirement.  Ron Surz, target-date fund expert and ThinkAdvisor contributor, warns that most target-date investors are in grave peril. Read more about why sequence of returns is so risky in this article at ThinkAdvisor. ...

Firms Need to Update Technology, Use Social Media, and Hire Younger Advisors, Says Tom Nally of TD Ameritrade Institutional Rachel F. Elson at reports at Financial Planning:  Advisory firms need to start hiring young financial advisers to attract and keep the business of Generation X and Y investors, who will have accumulated $28 trillion of personal wealth by 2018, up from $2 trillion in 2011, said Tom Nal ...

Nerd's Eye View, which provides commentary on financial planning news and developments,  points out that a growing body of research shows our brains are not quite the logical, rational decision-making machines we think they are – or at least, wish they could be.   Instead, our brains take shortcuts; we substitute easier questions for difficult ones, often without realizing it, and respond accordingly with o ...