eMoney Advisor (eMoney), a leading provider of technology solutions and services that help people talk about money, today kicked off Day 1 of the 2019 eMoney Summit, the industry’s premier event for planning-led financial advisory professionals, at the Fairmount Hotel in Austin, Texas. The three-day event is being held through Wednesday, Oct. 16.
This year’s theme, “The Heart of Advice,” was inspired by eMoney research that captures opinions of nearly 1,000 advisors and end-clients. eMoney CEO Ed O’Brien revealed highlights of the findings during his opening keynote, which summarized how critical it is for advisors to marry the emotional and psychological elements of behavioral finance with the scientific, data-driven aspects of wealth management.
The research identified the various elements of an exceptional client experience, along with end-clients’ preferences for which attributes are most important in an advisor. When asked to rank which trait was most important to them:
- 66% of end-clients prefer advisors who are knowledgeable about investing, financial products and the market and apply that knowledge to develop solid financial strategies and keep clients grounded.
- 23% of end-clients favor advisors who are relational, prioritize being available and responsive to clients and have values-based conversations to produce mutual understanding.
- 11% of end-clients prefer advisors who use technology to provide a personalized experience and model the impact of decisions.
The research also found that external events, such as market volatility or a negative life event, can cause end-clients’ preferences to change. For instance, during an unplanned, negative life event, those end-clients who typically preferred their advisors be more relational and emotionally available cited a preference toward advisors who are grounded in the facts to help them through the event. The opposite was true of those end-clients who initially sought out more analytical advisors. These end-clients preferred a more relational and compassionate approach from their advisor during times of uncertainty.
“Advisors have to continually assess their clients’ preferences to know what resonates most. Being at the heart of advice is about truly understanding your clients and adjusting your style to deliver an experience that is personalized and tailored to their needs and expectations,” said O’Brien.
Following O’Brien’s presentation, Jess Liberi, eMoney’s Head of Product, previewed eMoney’s product roadmap by first sharing the phases of a successful, long-term relationship – listening and understanding, learning and action, and surprising and delighting. She then explained how eMoney products and features – both current and forthcoming – help advisors facilitate these phases.
New products and services include:
- eMoney Access for Enterprises: An API solution that provides access to planning, client fact data, document storage and other features found within the eMoney platform through a developer storefront.
- eMoney Accelerate: An in-depth, practice management and consulting program with Certified Financial Planners (CFP ®) from eMoney’s Financial Planning Group. eMoney Accelerate is ideal for firms looking to push their business to the next level.
Highly anticipated roadmap items coming in 2020 include:
- Salesforce Plugin: New integration between eMoney and Salesforce – accessible via the Salesforce App Exchange — allows for single sign-on, streamlines workflow, and provides a unified view of client data across financial planning and CRM platforms.
- Automated Marketing Campaigns: With this new, simplified campaign workflow and automation in Advisor Branded Marketing, users will be able to schedule and launch targeted content campaigns to generate and nurture leads through digital channels in just a few clicks.
- Advanced Planning: Enhancements to eMoney’s leading comprehensive financial planning solution include a unified experience in the Decision Center with access to plan details and reports. Through a single interface, advisors gain the flexibility to engage in interactive conversations with their clients on any topic, over any period, to any level of granularity.
- Client Experience: The next generation of eMoney’s award-winning Client Portal will be more personalized than ever before with a customizable and guided onboarding experience that’s tailored to clients’ unique needs and financial situations.
- Performance Measurement: This product provides investors with greater peace of mind and a better understanding of their investment portfolio by introducing financial goals as the new benchmark for investment performance.
- Advanced Analytics: An update to eMoney’s current offering, this enhanced solution will harness the power of analytics to spot business opportunities, track client progress, and take proactive steps to improve efficiency across all aspects of the advisor experience.
- Proposal Generation: Advisors gain the ability to incorporate proposals into the plan with a tool that brings financial planning and investment proposals together onto a single, seamless platform experience.
- Fee Billing: This intelligent and flexible tool offers a streamlined and user-friendly interface developed to support traditional asset-based billing as well as subscription billing.
- Project Avocado: A to-be-named client-led financial wellness app that will help users understand their overall financial health and encourage them to make small behavioral changes over time that can materially impact their financial situations.
“Exceeding expectations and providing a gold standard client experience will mean that there will be times when you provide sound financial advice, and there will be times when you must act as your clients’ coach, motivator, guide, problem-solver or even therapist,” Liberi said to the audience of 1,300 during her presentation.
“And through the highs or the lows, the good times or the bad, you will be there for your clients to both surprise and delight. As your technology partner, eMoney is committed to helping you do just that,” she added.
Throughout the Summit, attendees will collectively participate in more than 1,000 one-on-one training sessions with eMoney coaches; 10 hours of CFP ® Continuing Education credits; and more than 70 break-out presentations covering diverse topics, including cyber-security, marketing, client relationships, advanced planning techniques, market volatility, charitable giving, and artificial intelligence, among others. In addition, advisors have an opportunity to offer real-time feedback on four features already included in the product roadmap by participating in the new eMoney Ideation Lab.
The 2019 eMoney Summit is proudly sponsored by Fidelity Investments, United Capital, a Goldman Sachs Company, and 25 industry partners. To view the entire agenda and get more information about the Summit, please visit https://info.emoneyadvisor.com/summit-2019#agenda.
For real-time updates on the Summit, follow eMoney on Twitter (https://twitter.com/eMoneyAdvisor) or search the hashtag #eMoneySummit19.
About eMoney Advisor, LLC
eMoney Advisor, LLC (“eMoney”) provides technology solutions and services that help people talk about money. Rooted in comprehensive financial planning, eMoney’s solutions strengthen client relationships, streamline business operations, enhance business development and drive overall growth. More than 60,000 financial professionals across firms of all sizes use the eMoney platform to serve more than 4 million households throughout the U.S. For more information, please visit: www.emoneyadvisor.com.
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