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Direct indexing is increasingly becoming a core offering for many financial advisors. Maybe the best indication of its growth is that there have been 12 major acquisitions by wealth management firms of direct indexing providers over the past couple of years.

Although its ubiquity and availability to all sorts of investors is a recent development, direct indexing has been around for many years albeit only for high-net-worth investors. In a recent SmartAsset interview of Vestmark’s SVP of Direct Indexing, Dave Gordon, he discussed what financial advisors need to know, and why wealth management firms are so bullish on the trend. 

Gordon cites the growth of direct indexing due to clients demanding more customization and lower tax bills while wanting to retain the benefits of low-cost index investing. Direct indexing is a way for clients to have their cake and eat it as well due to technology which is making it possible for firms to offer these services to all types of clients. 

However, there are some differences in terms of direct indexing offerings and approaches. For instance, some direct indexing providers will rebalance losing positions into sector or index ETFs for a temporary period to maintain factor scores and then re-invest in the same securities while others will choose to invest in different securities with similar factor scores. 

Overall, he believes that direct indexing is more about data and technology than it is about securities and investing. Therefore, he believes in finding the providers with the best platform and resources.

Finsum: Direct indexing is here to stay, and wealth managers are betting big on the trend. Here are some important things for advisors to understand. 

Many advisors have embraced model portfolios as it frees them from a portion of their portfolio management responsibilities. Instead, they are able to focus more time and energy on areas like client relationships, prospecting, and planning which are shown to be more important to building a successful practice, client retention, and helping clients reach their goals.

However as covered by Jeff Benjamin for InvestmentNews, some advisors are rejecting this approach. Instead, they believe that they can add value to their clients by remaining involved in portfolio management. Many of these advisors apply their expertise when it comes to selecting individual stocks for their clients’ portfolios. 

For instance, Ryan Johnson of Buckingham Advisors will manage the large-cap equity portion of clients’ portfolios, but when it comes to small-caps, international, or fixed income he relies on mutual funds and ETFs.  

Many of these advisors cite reasons such as tax management, higher concentration, and greater client involvement in their portfolios. That being said, these advisors acknowledge that it’s more work and comes with greater risk. Yet, they are willing to accept the tradeoff. 

Finsum: Model portfolios are taking a greater share of the industry as it frees advisors up from portfolio management responsibilities. Yet, some are not so eager to embrace the trend. 

For WealthProfessional, Leo Almazora discusses best practices when it comes to succession planning. For one, advisors need to delineate between working in the business and on the business. Many are so wrapped up in helping their clients plan for the future and reach their financial goals that they don’t apply similar principles to the futures of their practice.

However, it’s increasingly accepted that succession planning is an integral part of serving your clients especially if you plan to retire before your clients. Therefore, advisors need to secure a worthy successor for their clients and it’s ‘the last best thing an advisor can do for their clients’.

According to Almazora, advisors should start planning for succession about 5 years before their retirement date. Although there are multiple ways to structure a takeover, some sort of soft transition is ideal, where the new advisor and old advisor both work together for a couple of years to ease the transition. These types of transitions typically result in less client attrition and more client satisfaction. 

In terms of finding the right successor, some considerations are shared values in terms of planning and investing and a similar temperament when it comes to clients. Another important factor is that the successor should be able to identify with the niche that is an advisor’s specialty. 

Finsum: Over the next decade, there is going to be a wave of retirement of financial advisors. WIth this in mind, advisors need to get serious about succession planning.

In an article for SmartAsset, Rebecca Lake CEPF discusses some time management tips for financial advisors. This is especially relevant for advisors in the early stages of their careers as they often have multiple roles such as prospecting for clients, servicing existing clients, portfolio management, operations, marketing, etc. 

Many advisors end up overwhelmed and working inefficiently. Ironically, advisors need to audit their time and efforts to ensure that their daily routine is consistent with their long-term goals which is a similar process with onboarding new clients. 

The first step is to start creating a structure and routine to your day especially in regards to the most important tasks that drive success. Often, advisors can end up in a reactive mode throughout their day which leaves them tired at the end of the day but still unproductive in terms of achieving longer-term goals. 

Another step is to identify tasks that are time-consuming but not productive and find ways to outsource or delegate these. If this is not possible, then you can put some time limit on these tasks. 

Overall, these steps can help advisors be more productive and also have a healthier work-life relationship while ensuring that progress is being made towards longer-term goals. 

Finsum: A big challenge for advisors is time management. This is even more the case for new advisors who have to build their business while they learn the business.

At Morgan Stanley’s US Financials, Payments, & Commercial Real Estate conference, CEO James Gorman shared some thoughts on the bank’s future, and why he’s particularly bullish on its wealth management arm.

According to Gorman, the bank continues to look for opportunities to expand its asset management business through acquisitions. He believes there is more growth opportunity in this area especially compared to investment banking, lending, or sales & trading due to the industry being ‘non-consolidated’ unlike other parts of the financial world. He is also open to making deals in new geographies. 

While Morgan Stanley has traditionally been a Wall Street-based bank, Gorman has sought to increase its presence in wealth management during his 14 year tenure. Some of his most notable acquisitions include Eaton Vance, Calvert Research and Management, and direct indexing provider Parametric Portfolio Associates. 

He was particularly positive on direct indexing, since it has resulted in ‘huge positive flows’, and it has seamlessly fit with the rest of its wealth management division. Overall, wealth management is the fastest-growing part of its business albeit the smallest with $1.3 billion in revenue in the first quarter. 

Finsum: Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman has made a successful bet on wealth management as a key growth driver for the bank. He continues to believe in this strategy and is looking for expansion opportunities.