How Can You Differentiate Your Business Model From The Competition?

How Can You Differentiate Your Business Model From The Competition?

Nov 9, 2017 | aging investor

If you see how firms market themselves these days, you often see them pitching how much they care about their clients, and how much client relationships matter to them. Really? How about your senior clients? And how do you demonstrate that you care about them, now that they're retired and drawing out money, not contributing earnings?

Our aging population is growing and you are more likely than ever to see aging clients in your book of business. One way to differentiate yourself from those firms around you is to focus specifically on the senior market. When seniors can depend on you through the journey of aging, you will likely have loyalty for life from them.

But what does that mean, being able to depend on you? Of course, you are going to do what every financial professional is supposed to do and competently manage their portfolios. That alone does not set you apart. What will make you a standout is to focus on the unique needs seniors have and help your clients prepare for and handle them over time? That strategy is innovative because few firms have policies in place to guide, reassure and protect their oldest clients.

Longevity is on your side in going after this marketing opportunity. People are living longer than ever and the needs of our aging population are proliferating. If you want to be there to capture those older clients and do right by them, you have to get yourself ready. And you need a strategy.

Learning the ropes about the most likely things seniors need does not have to be difficult. We make it easy for you here at AgingInvestor.com with a plethora of resources to beef up your skills so you can best serve aging clients with confidence. You'll find books written just for financial professionals, online courses, videos and articles going into every aspect you are likely to encounter.

Your main tactic is to have enhanced knowledge about senior-specific needs and know how to implement that knowledge. They'll love you for it! Our society so often dismisses seniors and discriminates against them. Aging people can so readily feel marginalized. Wouldn't it be great to be welcoming and understanding of what they are going through as age takes its toll on them. They feel vulnerable in many ways and you can be a hero.

How to start

For anyone focusing on a new direction or wanting to acquire new expertise, you start by diving into some reading or online coursework. An hour at a time would do it. You take in information that expands your awareness of what seniors need, what problems they are most likely to have and what you and their families need to do about them. Here at AgingInvestor.com, where we combine nursing, legal and psychological expertise on aging, we suggest six one-hour courses and two books to make you extra knowledgeable. If you've done that, you will already be a standout.

What's next

After that, you create a clear senior-specific written policy in your firm or office. That policy articulates the ways in which you are proactive and prepared to calmly address things like diminished capacity, dementia, physical impairment, and preventing financial abuse. The bedrock of any senior policy is a legally sufficient document that gives you permission to contact third parties (one of which is not a family member) in the event that your client suffers cognitive decline and can't make decisions any longer. It can be done. (Learn more here).

Any savvy financial professional who wants to expand your practice to include an intentional focus on aging clients needs preparation. With it, you are sure to have a unique opportunity to serve an underserved market. Unlike many of your colleagues, you will know just what to do and you will attract many grateful clients.

With 73 million Baby Boomers, there is no doubt that they are going to need expert help from those financial professionals who do more than just manage the money.

 

Dr. Mikol Davis and Carolyn Rosenblatt, co-founders of AgingInvestor.com

Carolyn Rosenblatt, RN, Elder Law Attorney offers a wealth of experience with aging to help you create tools so you can skillfully manage your aging clients. You will understand your rights and theirs so you can stay safe and keep them safe too.

Dr. Mikol Davis, Psychologist, Gerontologist offers in depth of knowledge about diminished financial capacity in older adults to help you strategize best practices so you can protect your vulnerable aging clients.

They are the authors of "Succeed With Senior Clients: A Financial Advisors Guide To Best Practice," and "Hidden Truths About Retirement And Long Term Care," available at AgingInvestor.com offers accredited cutting edge on-line continuing education courses for financial professionals wanting to expand their expertise in best practices for their aging clients. To learn more about our courses click HERE
The White House Conference on Aging: Little Mention of the Need for Financial Advice

The White House Conference on Aging: Little Mention of the Need for Financial Advice

Mar 25, 2016 | aging, aging investor, diminished cognition, elder investor, elderly, finances for elders, financial capacity, finra, senior citizen investor, senior investor, seniors finances

U.S. Senator Patty Murray, U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, and WHCOA Executive Director Nora Super discuss aging issues at WHCOA Seattle Regional Forum – Credit: white houseconferenceonaging. gov 

What Is This Conference and Why Is It Important?

Every ten years the Federal government sponsors a Conference on Aging.
The relevance of this conference to financial professionals is that it identifies the most common problems aging Americans face and it provides direction for planning for seniors’ needs.  It is worth reading the final report.  You likely have some boomer age clients and perhaps some aging clients as well.  Be aware of what is important to them and you’re likely to keep them as clients.

Who Attended the Conference?

Beginning in February 2015, WHCOA held a series 
of regional forums for its Conference on Aging to engage with older Americans, their families, caregivers, leaders in the aging field, and others on the key
issues affecting older Americans.
  The concept was to hear about seniors’ issues and plan accordingly. The series of discussions was co-sponsored by AARP and planned 
in coordination with the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations, a coalition of more than 70 groups,

Each forum included 200 invited guests — older Americans, family and professional caregivers, aging experts and others. These discussions took place across the country.
Reading about the subjects they discussed and the conclusions reached in the conference Final Report was not a surprise to us at AgingInvestor.com, as we are in the field. But one thing did surprise me completely:  no one gave much mention to the need for thorough financial education and planning
with professional help.

There was mention of the Department of Labor’s initiative to facilitate State creation of retirement savings programs.  There was also discussion of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s recently issued guidance clarifying that employers sponsoring defined benefit pension plans generally may not offer lump
sum payments to retirees to replace their regular monthly pensions. As noted in a recent Government Accountability Office report, such lump sum payments transfer longevity risk and investment risk from employers to individual retirees, putting retirees at risk of being unable to maintain their standard
of living or outliving their assets in retirement.  Wouldn’t financial advice help?  No mention was made of the value of at least seeking advice from financial professionals to maintain income while investing responsibly for those who did get a lump sum payment.

The report emphasizes the need for providing lifetime income and seems to favor employers offering annuities as part of retirement planning. The Treasury and Labor Departments previously have issued
a series of guidance documents encouraging plan sponsors to offer responsible annuity options to help protect retirees from outliving their savings.

The Gap

That may work for some, but I found myself at a loss as to why mention was not made of the importance of professional guidance in financial planning, which may be the best way to ensure that an individual
does not, in fact outlive his savings.  That’s your job.

Opportunity for Financial Advisors

An obvious opportunity for financial advisors is to offer financial education to members of the public. Some attendees will not have enough to make new investments, but others will.  With 10,000 people turning 65 every day and the oldest boomers turning 70 now, financial advisors can play a key role in helping aging members of society do better with managing their money as they age. Advisors can improve the sometimes negative public perception of the industry by stepping up, putting on few seminars with the basics of saving and investing and capturing some new clients in the process.

Need to update your information about long term care? Get a short book that tells you how to best work with your aging clients, including planning for the costs they may worry about the most. Working With Aging Clients is a sure bet, available at AgingInvestor.com.