In Practice November 30, 2017

Millennial Advisers Offer More Financial Planning Services Than Others

Cerulli says they are more receptive to comprehensive financial planning than Gen X or Boomer advisers.

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Millennial advisers, on average, offer 5.1 financial planning services to their clients, whereas Gen X and Boomer advisers each offer only an average of 4.6, according to Cerulli Associates.

Cerulli also found that Millennial advisers offer financial planning services to 83% of their clients, whereas Gen X advisers offer them to only 66% of their clients.

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“The rising trend of comprehensive planning has swept up Millennial advisers who entered the workforce during its growing popularity,” says Marina Shtrkov, a research analyst at Cerulli. “They have calibrated their practices, including pricing and service models, to fit a comprehensive planning structure—and many provide expansive planning offerings. As these advisers gain experience, broker/dealers and support providers can expect these practices to become sophisticated consumers of financial planning content and resources.” One area providers should concentrate on with respect to Millennial advisers, Shtrkov says, is digital communications.

Cerulli has found that among advice-consuming Millennial households that do not currently have access to their financial plan online, 56% are interested in that service, compared to only 28% of Boomer households.

“Millennials want to be able to access their planning tools online,” says Kenton Shirk, director of Cerulli’s intermediary practice. “Firms need to build out their digital capabilities to sustain younger investors’ thirst for digital consumption. As planning evolves, Cerulli believes enhanced digital tools and interactive, collaborative meetings will become more important.”

Today, only 14% of communication materials from financial planners are digitally based documents, and only 9% of financial planners use interactive digitally based discussions. Cerulli expects those to rise to 19% and 11%, respectively, by 2019.

Information on how to purchase Cerulli’s report, “U.S. Advisor Metrics 2017: The Next Generation of Planning,” is available here.

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