After several long years of begging, pleading, and threatening, I finally got my father to agree to let me help him coordinate his financial affairs. To lay the groundwork, my father—a product of the Silent Generation (those born between 1925 and 1942) —philosophically doesn’t believe that his children should have intimate knowledge of his personal assets and liabilities.

My motivation to assist him was borne from articles I read about the guy who didn’t buy life insurance, and the others who didn’t contact their financial advisors until it was too late. And honestly, much as I love him, I don’t want my father to spend his retirement living in my guest bedroom.

But what started off as a routine audit of my father’s financial shoebox turned into a larger-scale learning experience about how advisors may need to adjust their approach with certain clients and, consequently, how they may need to rethink their compensation model.

GETTING STARTED ON THE SHOEBOX
As you can imagine, my father’s will was so dated that the tissue paper it was printed on resembled the Magna Carta—not to mention, the executors had passed away in the mid-1970s. Since the will was drafted shortly after I was born, neither my younger brother nor sister was listed, nor were they listed in any other beneficiary information.

He owned multiple life insurance policies, and the companies’ home offices were actually printed on the policies. Of course, those corporate buildings didn’t even exist anymore; they had been torn down and replaced by other buildings. We couldn’t even understand what types of insurance he had!

He owned real estate and other investment products that, as he recalled, were well-thought-out at the time he purchased them but now looked more like a patchwork of a poorly designed quilt.

Believe me, I could go on. The shoebox that was full of his entire life’s financial accomplishments was, from my perspective, a complete mess—and full of planning opportunities. I’m sure you work with clients like this, and you know how emotionally overwhelming this task can be, both for you and for the client. Going through it with my father has given me a newfound respect for financial advisors, wealth managers, and life planners.

It was also a terrifying experience for my father, as we started unwinding his financial puzzle and realized how much effort it was going to take to reprioritize his new goals. Our first step was to recognize that his financial planning issues were significant, and there was no quick fix.

Although my father had investable assets—which he sometimes enjoyed watching and occasionally actively managed—it was all the other issues inside the shoebox that required the greatest amount of ongoing effort. We both felt he would be better served by a local professional, who could put the time and effort into his shoebox. I tagged along with him during the first few interviews. Here are some observations we made.

LESSONS FROM THE ROAD
Each advisor we spoke with consistently focused on the investments and spent little time addressing the financial planning issues my father was looking to solve. To them, the shoebox was either invisible or it was identified as a treasure trove of older products that could be consolidated into investment accounts.

My father and I had envisioned someone removing his emotional stress by coordinating his financial shoebox into a plan that was in line with his short- and long-term goals. Instead, the focus was on investing, which would actually create more stress for my father due to his age and ongoing market risk. Perhaps my father’s shoebox situation was unique because he required financial planning wisdom more than investment guidance. Or, maybe we, as financial advisors, need to adjust how we deal with investors like my father.

Think about it. As our population ages, the story revolves more around net worth than it does investable assets. These aging investors aren’t necessarily looking to accumulate more assets as much as they are looking to manage and protect what they have so that it can be enjoyed by the next generation. And the greater the net worth, the more need there is to coordinate efforts to manage that wealth.

Most important, however, is the realization that my father and investors like him place a significant value on these financial planning services, and they are more likely to gravitate toward the professionals who have the wisdom and the processes and the time to address their needs.

Of course, if you are going to offer such services, you need to price them appropriately. Not only is that the key to reinforcing the significance of those services to your clients, but it also shows that you have made a commitment to address them to the best of your abilities. And let’s face it. If someone is willing to pay me to perform a task, you can expect me to take the time and effort to make sure the job gets done—and done well.

WORKING THE SOLUTION
This is where you can add value to the relationship. And you can do so by jumping on board with our Preferred Portfolio Services^® (PPS) Consulting program. Through PPS Consulting, you can charge existing and prospective clients for financial planning services and projects. You can charge an annual retainer fee, a project fee, or an hourly fee. The choice is yours and largely depends on each client’s needs.

The chart below segments clients into tiers based on their investable assets, net worth, and potential needs. It also offers suggestions for how you may want to charge for your services.