MFDs/advisors crave to hold meaningful conversations with clients. And clients expect advisors to step up from just offering mutual fund services to manage their entire portfolio. This is the finding of IFANow’s 'Practice Management in the New Age Study'.
The survey covered 524 MFDs/advisors in India to get an understanding of advisor sentiments. IFANow is an Indian social networking website for personal finance.
The study shows that 66% of the MFDs/advisors feel that the ability to understand and service the client’s finances holistically will give them an edge over their competitors. The second priority is acting in the client’s best interest, as 63% MFDs/advisors feel this is the key to get better of their competitors. Similarly, 52% feel the level of client servicing is the deciding factor and 47% feel the ability to understand the client’s unique needs is an important factor.
The survey highlights the services that clients expect from their MFDs/advisors. This includes managing their entire financial portfolio, planning their financial goals, advising them on insurance planning, maximising their tax savings, managing their mutual fund portfolio, cash flow planning and budgeting, advising on estate planning and planning their taxes.
Here are some other findings of the survey.
- A surprising 52% of the total respondents would consider becoming an RIA. The challenges that are holding them back is clients’ willingness to pay fees, compliance issues, uncertainty about business model, ability to charge fees, infrastructure cost, paid up capital issues, scaling up risk once you cross 150 clients and lack of quality team
- Clients living in metros are more likely to use laptop or desktop compared to clients in other parts of India. Overall, 51% investors prefer mobile, 35% desktop or laptop, 12% pen and paper and the remaining 2% tablet for their investment
