HNW individuals have complex and ever-evolving financial challenges and opportunities that require specialized attention and expertise. By providing tailored investment management services and solutions, advisors can demonstrate their value and build stronger, long-lasting relationships with HNW clients. This approach positions financial advisors as trusted experts capable of navigating a complex financial landscape.

Meeting the Investment Expectations of HNW Clients

What are client with sophisticated wealth management needs looking for in an advisor? Let’s use the example of Alice. Aged 55, Alice has $6M in investable assets, which she has grown from $800,000 over 10 years through savings and inheritance. As an investor, Alice is a passive follower who lacks interest and initiative in investing, instead relying on her advisor to make recommendations and manage her investments.

Alice has multiple near- and longer-term goals that impact her investment decisions, including retirement planning, a second home purchase, and providing for her elderly parents' care. Her current advisor, Larry, is focused on recommending individual stocks/MF/ETF without connecting those investments to Alice’s specific financial goals and core values. Dissatisfied with this misalignment, Alice seeks an advisor who can provide more comprehensive, sophisticated, and personalized wealth management.

Building the Right Investment Management Approach

Alice has a $6M portfolio and would like a financial planning approach that aligns with her near/long-term goals and meets multiple wealth planning needs beyond basic investment recommendations. This approach should entail:

• Goal-based asset allocation strategy

• Financial statement of purpose

• Comprehensive retirement planning strategy

• Second home purchase

• Eldercare funding requirements

As such, Alice needs a wealth management team that can provide these as well as estate planning wealth advice. She’s also open to learning about solutions, that may have the potential for a deeper advisory relationship. As she transitions from accumulation to pre-retirement planning, Alice is looking for a team of experts she can confidently rely on to meet her comprehensive needs. In her search for the right advisor, Alice meets with two types of professionals.

Larry, a financial advisor who works alone. Her current advisor, Larry, takes a cookie-cutter approach to all clients. He has Alice fill out a standard 10-question profile and assigns her a score. Based on that score, he configures a set of mutual funds, EFTs, and model accounts into a 60-40 equity/fixed income allocation. His recommendations rely on a 6% historical performance and a balanced allocation. 

Kathleen, the financial advisor who leads a team of wealth management subject-matter experts. Collaborating with this team, who has extensive HNW client experience, Kathleen completes a comprehensive discovery process to understand Alice’s broader financial needs, goals, core values, and preferences. Based on her findings, Kathleen brings in specific experts best suited to Alice’s needs and goals. Together, Kathleen and the team establish a strategic asset allocation aligned with Alice’s goals and values. She offers a sophisticated level of customized solutions Larry can’t, and even initiates a conversation with Alice about estate planning.

Which advisor does Alice choose? Which one would you choose?

Better Client Experience, More Opportunity for the Financial Advisor

Partnering with a wealth management team that employs a sophisticated and curated investment management approach, Kathleen offers Alice what other financial advisors like Larry can’t, including:

• Highly customized portfolio construction driven by Alice’s specific needs.

• Access to specialized investment expertise including private market investments.

• Integration of all financial objectives into a cohesive goal-based strategy.

• Assistance with mortgages for a second home purchase.

• Advanced estate planning scenarios.

Leading the team, Kathleen develops a deeper, stronger relationship with Alice through multiple planning sessions and enhanced collaboration between advisor, client, specialized investment manager, and other subject-matter experts. This approach allows Kathleen to provide Alice with a personalized strategic allocation plan that has a clear connection to each financial goal. The result is ongoing engagement, ensuring client understanding, buy-in, and retention.

Not surprisingly, Alice chooses Kathleen and her team for her investment portfolio management and estate planning. As a result, Kathleen successfully transitions Alice’s $6M portfolio to a comprehensive wealth management relationship and achieves an estimated lifetime revenue is $250K+. 

Sophisticated Investment Planning Requires a Specialized Expertise 

At Sandro Wealth Management, we partner with financial advisors to extend their capabilities and bring their clients comprehensive, sophisticated, and curated investment management services and solutions. Serving as an extension of the financial advisor’s team, our investment management expertise help advisors:

• Differentiate their practices from the typical financial advisor approach and demonstrate a clear value proposition.

• Conduct a deep discovery process beyond risk tolerance questionnaires.

• Educate their clients about sophisticated investment management strategies with supporting materials and resources.

• Provide access to sophisticated investment strategies through private market investment expertise.

• Consistently focus on the relationship and provide advice that aligns with the client’s personal goals and values.

Add Client Confidence in Your Investment Management Approach.

Contact Sandro Wealth Management to discuss sophisticated and customized investment management for your HNW clients.