There’s a perception that all advisors offer the exact same service (or, for that matter, all asset managers, plumbers, architects, etc.). Changing perception for your practice requires building a reputation, a brand, a marketing program.

Toward that end, our firm hosted a webinar earlier this year with our friends at MCo Advisors, a consulting and outsourced marketing department for financial advisors. It was a lively event that generated a spirted Q&A, and I think the video responses to several of the questions will be of interest to advisors who weren’t able to attend the live event (most are under 2 minutes).

For the modern-day financial advisor, it’s all about keeping clients on a straighter path toward the long-term goals they have agreed upon with you. Right?

And there’s piles of research showing that advisors who demonstrate a high degree of behavioral friendliness tend to have clients who are more solidly anchored to their financial plans. The benefits of commitment to the plan for the client is obvious, but there is also a knock-on benefit for advisors in that they usually see less client attrition.

How do you measure up in this regard? A new quiz will give you a score in just a few minutes.

It’s been 12 years since the last prolonged market decline, a reality that propagates complacency.

Having spent many years in the investment world, it sometimes makes me want to flail my arms and scream, “We’ve got to wake up people!”...but the living, breathing, human being in me also empathizes with advisors, who have been caught in a tough spot.

Do they hold onto positions designed to protect against the eventual market decline, even though many of those instruments have dragged a bit on performance (and we all know how quickly many clients will point this out) during this prolonged rising uptrend in stock prices?

It took some painful contortions in the markets this year for many advisors to realize robo-advisors may not be as diversified and risk-managed as they claim.

At Blueprint, we believe there is a “sweet spot” between the rudimentary machinations of a robo-advisor and a more traditional asset allocation method. In fact, we’ve bet our business on it. But, this briefing isn’t meant to say, “I told you so,” rather to articulate a solution to a problem that many well-intentioned advisors are contemplating.

A confession: Without CliffsNotes, I may not have made it through high school…or college. In fact, until just recently, I actually thought it was “CliffNotes” (no “s”) – but I digress.

If you’re like me, these very valuable summaries are extremely helpful and efficient. With that in mind, I wanted to share three takeaways from a financial services virtual event last week, all of which struck me as highly relevant for elite financial advisors.