Your LifeTalk Insider #42

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Welcome back…

From LifeTalk and LifeTalk Plus this week:

Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to LifeTalk Insider - we have had a big increase in numbers this week.

Let’s tuck in…

Kevin and 39 others: So no more PFS Quarterly Conferences then? Looking forward to hearing about the reduction in my subscription fee. Click to comment…

Tom and 25 others: Been reading a lot of Nick Murray recently after some great book recommendations in this group, so thanks to all!

Would love to hear from anyone who adopts his philosophy with clients (100% in equities and 2 years in cash for decumulation clients), particularly around how you frame this from an ATR perspective with clients who come out as cautious on a risk profiler? Click…

Ricky and 8 others: My tax year end addled brain is faltering! Relevant earnings for pension contributions for an employed personal paying into their WPS is the post-pension figure rather than their actual gross salary isn’t it? Ie £5k gross monthly salary with £500 deducted for WPS (net pay) contribution means their relevant UK earnings are £4.5k x 12? Click…

Jacob and 21 others: Just looking at something for personal uses. The Holiday Property Bond… has anyone got experience of this, does it work well, pros/cons etc. Click…

Brian and 18 others: Which of these legends is a bad idea for face to face client meetings? Click…

LifeTalk and 12 others: AI financial adviser has new team image for their website. Give it a caption. Click…

Brian and 45 others: Quote from the CEO of True Potential. Thoughts? Click…

Vulnerable Clients

New tool helps financial advisers to recognise vulnerable clients - take a look here…

Thomas and 24 others: How does everyone assess risk of a clients existing investment portfolio?

I've been searching the forum but cant see that anyone has asked this before. I'm not talking about ATR questionnaires and assessing the clients level of risk and CFL. What I'm interested in is if a new client comes to you with a mix of funds with a provider, how do you assess the overall level of risk they are currently taking in their existing portfolio?

I've seen it done a few ways in the past in other firms, but with the increased volatility in bonds over the last few years its raised questions around the levels of volatility we have now seen in a mainly fixed interest portfolios. Thanks everyone and intrigued to hear everyone's views on this. Click…

Posts from LifeTalk Plus this week:

It’s amazing how Meaningful Money is going from strength to strength. Click…

How much money will make you happy? Click…

Lovely to see so much positivity over the weekend from advisers/planners included in the VouchedFor Top Rated guide. Its publication truly has become a key date in the financial services calendar. Click…

Do you charge for the initial Zoom (or other) meeting?

A friend was telling me the other day that she is having an initial consultation with a consultant rhinoplasty surgeon today for a potential 'nose job' later in the year. She has researched in detail as to which surgeons to approach and narrowed it down to one. The surgeon asked her to complete an initial questionnaire prior to a first meeting over Zoom, which may or may not lead to the next step.

Either way, the Zoom meeting is chargeable (I think she said it was around £145), and not refundable in the event of the patient or surgeon deciding not to proceed further.

Question - as a financial adviser/planner, do you charge for the initial meeting (online or face to face), regardless of whether the relationship proceeds further? Click…

How the words we use can change clients' behaviour

I think there's quite a lot to think about in this, but it's probably worth the effort because the words we use can really shape how we see ourselves and act. By using more inspiring terms - perhaps 'wealth builder' instead of just 'investing', advisers can really connect with clients and make their services stand out.

This slight twist in how we talk about things not only makes advisers look good but also gets clients more involved by linking their money goals to what they really care about in life.

See this simple but thought-provoking post from Dr Mark DeVolder:  Click…

Many advisers still don't value their website as an asset of their business

Once a week we send our email newsletter to the adviser community, but once a quarter we send another newsletter to another list of advisers that we have. Today is the day for our quarterly email.

It's a Friday and some advisers are also on holiday, so unsurprisingly this morning we received forty-seven Out of Office emails.

Seven just said "We are currently out of the office" and literally nothing else. There wasn't even an email signature or phone number included.

Eleven gave a named contact in the office in their absence, and curiously only ONE of the forty-seven suggested that the recipient might want to visit their website as they might find some useful information there.

The fact that quite so many IFAs never mention their website in their Out of Office or answerphone message still suggests that we aren't yet taking websites seriously enough as assets of the business. And it's been like this for years.

Sure, different people will be contacting you for different reasons, but you could potentially miss out on a great client if you simply blank them with "We're on holiday at the moment and will reply on our return.".

Here's a screen shot from one of the emails I received… Click…

By Phil Bray, founder of The Yardstick Agency:  

Client videos - a story of two firms

It's fascinating to see the different attitudes some advisers/planners have towards client videos. Earlier this week I pitched the idea to a planning firm to be greeted with folded arms, a distinct chill in the room and the words: "Our clients wouldn't do that."

"Tell me more" I tentatively ventured.

"Our clients are different, they wouldn't do that." (their clients are no different to those of other advice/planning firms).

Contrast that to a message I received yesterday from a planner: "I have a client who has said they would like to do a client video for us as he has been so impressed with our service."

PS. The story has a happy ending, after a conversation about why the first firms might like to reconsider, they signed a contract for 10 client videos 😅 Click…

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