December Lumiant Update
Happy Holidays!
As we close the chapter on 2023, it feels almost surreal how swiftly the year has passed.?
Tom Brady announced his retirement (again), Taylor Swift launched a $1bn world tour, Donald Trump was indicted, King Charles III was crowned, Barbenheimer became a thing, Twitter rebranded, and AI dominated the headlines. And that is barely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to events for 2023.?
It was a big year for Lumiant too. Here is a quick recap of what we got up to in 2023:
- We enhanced and refined some key modules, including Your Life, Your Values, Your Governance, Key Advice Areas, ensuring our platform remains at the forefront of innovation.
- We unveiled new features, including Your Surveys, Client Segmentation, Net Worth, and enhanced security through multi-factor authentication.
- Formed strategic partnerships with Dennis Moseley-Williams, Concourse, and Tru Independence - all fantastic distribution partnerships in America that will help us get Lumiant into the hands of more advisors.
- We successfully raised an additional AU$5M from our strategic partner Savant and new strategic investor Invest Blue, a testament to our team's dedication and the potential of our enterprise-level solutions.
- We acquired Genivity and its innovative HALO Assessment, merging health and wealth in a unique offering to reshape our industry, opening up new avenues for growth and client engagement.
- We launched a new website with insightful whitepapers, a? podcast, and a vodcast series.
- We expanded our team significantly, introducing a dedicated mobile development team and specialized roles in front and backend development, turbocharging Lumiant’s technological advancements.
- Welcomed 26 new firms and expanded our services with existing partners, receiving highly positive feedback for our role in transforming client relationships and advice processes.
- We introduced the Lumiant Academy and our inaugural course, "The Lumiant Advice Experience," equipping advisors with best practices and strategies to elevate the financial advice experience. ?
- We secured a coveted spot among six fintech firms in the Founders Arena from over 70 handpicked applicants, enhancing our brand visibility and helping us to attract new investors, partners, and customers.
- Plus lots more.
We wanted to take this opportunity to thank our stakeholders: our shareholders, board members, employees, and, most importantly, our customers. Without your continued support and belief in Lumiant, we would not have had such an incredible 2023.?
Now we will take some much-needed time to recharge, with our offices closing from 22nd December to 2nd January. If you need to contact us urgently, we will continue to monitor the team@lumiant.io email address. Additionally, you can submit support requests via the ‘Help’ button in the Lumiant platform.
For now, we’ll leave you with some holiday reading, including some of our best stories of 2023 and a few new articles covering the latest thoughts and insights in advice engagement.?
Until next year!
The Lumiant Team
The latest insights from Lumiant
Creating a VIP Advice Engagement Experience
In the latest article on advice engagement on Kitces.com, Meghaan Lurtz offers a framework for how advice engagement tools can be used to create a more dynamic VIP planning experience:
We love a good acronym. And this one is quickly becoming one of our favorites, as it expands the financial plan beyond a comprehensive document outlining a financial strategy to one that defines their best life.?
So, how do you create a VIP experience? According to Lurtz, you build it backward. First, you establish a process, followed by fostering meaningful interaction, and finish with a flourish using impactful visualizations.?
In her article, Lurtz highlights the different advice engagement tools to help you create VIP experiences, with Lumiant fitting into all three categories. So, we thought we’d give you a rundown of how to use Lumiant to design your VIP advice experience.?
You don’t retire on your money. You retire on your memories.
Entrepreneur, hedge fund manager, movie product, and author Bill Perkins wrote an excellent piece for CNN about retirement that gets to the heart of life-first financial planning.?
That is: we spend too much time focusing on the money and too little about what that money will enable us to do in retirement.?
A life well lived is about the memories we create, the relationships we forge, the experiences we share, and the people we help out along the way. And we decided to boil this down into a simple formula:
Let me explain.
Values = Defining what’s most important in life and what you want to achieve
Health = Ensuring you understand your longevity to plan your life appropriately
Wealth = Having the financial capacity to live a life aligned with your values and health
Want to know more? Then read on in our latest article here (4 min read) →
New research continues to stress the importance of defining your best life
This new survey about retirement mindsets comes from Goldman Sachs and Syntoniq, identifying four “optimal†characteristics that help retirement savers turn their intentions into actions.
And we all know how hard it is for clients to be motivated to take action on their financial plans. They couldn’t seem more engaged in the meeting, but their motivation dissipates as soon as they leave the office.?
Well, this research might shine a light on why. It states that financial advisors must develop these four optimal traits for clients to take action:
According to the research, optimism and future orientation are the two most essential traits.
Now, this all sounds lovely, but how on earth do I get clients to open up about what they want to achieve beyond basic financial retirement goals? After all - you are financial planners and not necessarily life coaches. And the hardest part in defining a client's best life is getting them to step back and articulate what it means for them and their household.?
Here’s our 4-step process to personalize your financial plans to improve engagement and deliver more actional advice →
Your favorite articles and podcasts
It wouldn’t be the end of the year without a quick “Top of the Pops†style rundown of your favorites for the year. So, we’ve compiled a list of the top pieces of content that you’ve liked the most.?
Let’s count down to your favourite and see what’s been fascinating you in 2023.
Top 5 Podcasts
At number five comes an all-time classic and one of our first-ever podcasts - The shift from adviser-led conversations to client-led, with James Wortley at Enlightened Financial Solutions. My favorite quote from James is one where he linked clients to an onion → listen now to find out more.
At number four, we have a new entrant for 2023 with Dennis Moseley Williams, founder of DMW Strategic Consulting and an expert in the experience economy chatting with Mark about staging experiences and guiding transformations. This is an episode not to be missed.
Another new entrant for 2023 comes in at number three, with Michelle Smith, CEO of Source Financial Advisors, explaining how she uses Lumiant to empower women to find their identity. For those looking to engage non-financial clients, this is a must-listen!?
Another one from the archives takes out the number two spot, with Mark Ciucci joining Mark to discuss the art of values. These two receive top marks when creating values-based experiences with plenty of frameworks, tools, and advice to help you succeed.
At number one is one of my all-time faves. Published in October 2022 and still topping the charts is Brent Brodeski, CEO of Savant, and his discussion with Mark on building ideal futures. It’s a must-listen, and I can guarantee you’ll come away with something new each time you do!
Top 5 blogs
Coming in at number five is one of our blogs from Brendan Frazier’s 10 Insights to Master the Human Side of Advice - Asking Great Questions is a Superpower. As it happens, this post also includes James Wortley’s quote about onions.?
At number four, we have our Whitepaper: Marketing Strategy - How to get it right. Inside, it includes frameworks, examples, and advice on developing a winning marketing strategy with the client at its heart. It’s long but worth the read if you want to grow your business in 2024 - perfect for the holiday break!
At number three is the blog “I’m not a life coach!†an article inspired by Mark, Dennis, and Tom's discussion in their vodcast Into the Lumiverse. It offers three simple tips that will help you become an advocate for your clients.
At number two is our Star Wars inspired piece - This is not the proposition you’re looking for - penned by Mark for May the 4th. It’s a great read (particularly if you’re a Star Wars fan) and offers tips and advice to bring to life values-based advice. Read you must.
Taking the top spot in 2023 is our whitepaper on The Eight Dimensions of Wellbeing and how they relate to financial advice. This very visual guide highlights how each of these dimensions relate to the different financial strategies your firm offers clients. It’s well worth a read if you want to better understand the proven framework Lumiant is based upon.
Final Thank You
One last big final thank you to all our customers who have been helping us improve our platform throughout the year. We value your continued feedback and support, as it only enhances our platform and empowers clients to live their best possible lives.
We also wanted to send our final heartfelt thanks to Gavin Spitzner, who passed in late January 2023. Gavin has played an important role at Lumiant, helping guide us with his enormous experience in the RIA markets.
His uplifting spirit, enthusiasm and passion for advice is second to none and we were lucky to have him be part of our journey. Our thoughts are with his family at this time.
We hope you enjoyed this newsletter. We’d love to hear what you thought and how we could make it better and support you in creating extraordinary client experiences.
So, what did you think?
Lumiant. Empowering individuals and their families to live their best life confidently.