Displaying items by tag: goals

(New York)

The new year brings many opportunities for advisors. One which is not utilized enough is the implementation of goals-based investing. The new year naturally brings a focus on goals, resolutions, and planning, making it the perfect time to get clients to commit to defining their goals and how their portfolios can get them there. Goals-based investing has been known to help get clients to really commit to their investments and stay in the market for the long haul.

FINSUM: This approach can get help clients get more bought into their own planning and strategies and help give meaning to why they are saving/sacrificing/investing. Just make sure the goals they give are genuine, as many clients will not put enough thought into describing these. There are also a number of funds that directly cater to a goals-based approach.

(New York)

Many wealth management firms find themselves challenged by female clients. The industry has long been dominated by male advisors, and many firms have been slow to adapt to the needs of female clients. The increasing asset controlled by women has created more urgency to rectify this issue, and one approach that might aid in understanding how to better serve women is goals-based investing. According to one firm that has been very successful with female clients, “Women have to understand why they are doing stuff”. According to studies, meeting financial goals is more important to women than to men, and women tend to put more thought and work into defining the goals for their finances. Thus, making sure to deeply understand goals and explaining how certain investing/wealth management approaches will meet them is integral in making women feel comfortable.

FINSUM: Goals-based investing has many utilities in wealth management, and this one applies to a critical industry issue.

(New York)

Any advisor can tell you that while Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) has a lot of strengths, it also has many shortcomings as it relates to investor psychology. For instance, Modern Portfolio Theory asserts that multiple aims can be achieved within the same portfolio, but this does not mesh well with how investors think about money—where each account has its own life purpose. Secondly, risk is an area of major disconnect. Portfolio Theory looks at risk in terms of historical standard deviations of volatility, whereas humans think of risk in more life-relevant terms: what I my portfolio does earn enough to pay for my child’s tuition? This is where goals-based investing comes in, as it focuses on how portfolios can be constructed—and reported on—in such a way as to match investor psychology about the life goals they are trying to achieve.

FINSUM: MPT has been revolutionary for quantifying risk and return profiles, but for many it simply does not resonate on the “human” level needed for some advisors to motivate and connect with their clients.

(New York)

Goals-based investing is an important approach for advisors to consider for their clients. More than just the idea of aligning a portfolio and its reporting with a client’s life goals, goals-based investing has the power to potentially transform the way a client thinks about their money and their portfolio. When it comes to saving and investing, clients constantly struggle with the trade-off of short-term sacrifices for long-term benefits—should I buy this flashy new car or have a better retirement? By focusing their finances and investing on the specific goals they have in mind (e.g. buying a vacation home) it becomes much easier to make that short-term sacrifice.

FINSUM: Goals-based investing makes a lot of sense with basic human psychology. Knowing I am saving for a vacation home makes it a lot easier to forego the new car purchase.