Oh, they are hungry for more!
Timothy R. Yee, AIF, CPFA?, C(k)P?, CHSA, NQPA, CSRIC?, RI(k)
President at Green Retirement, Inc.
I had the opportunity to give an impromptu talk on retirement plans at my local public speaking club. I did so not in my capacity as a 401k advisor but rather as someone who has learned a little something after 34 years in the industry. I stuck to the basics - how soon should you start saving, the difference between pre-tax and Roth contributions, and the need to keep your beneficiary up to date. What should have been a short talk became a long one as the audience was hungry for more!
This reminded me of a recent Schwab participant survey. To quote, "61% of respondents believe their financial situation warrants advice from a professional, higher than last year’s level of 55%. Additionally, more workers say they would be very confident in making the right 401(k) investment decisions with the help of a financial professional (55%, up from 49%), than they would making those decisions on their own (29%, up from 27%)."
While 61% of respondents said they were happy to ask AI tools (ie, ChatGPT) for help with financial planning, 60% of respondents said they would follow the advice of human professionals versus recommendations from AI.
The public wants help and it is our duty to deliver impartial assistance, unfettered by conflicts of interest. I cannot stress this enough. You must always do right by your client or prospective client. In years gone by, I would keep a running tally of my pro-bono hours spent assisting folks who asked for help. I would rather guide them to a channel that I know will benefit them (ie, a do-it-yourself account) as opposed to bringing on a client where the relationship will not be a good fit.
The questions the audience asked were wide-ranging and reflected a desire to learn. People are happy to do the research but they need to know where to find resources that can help. Nothing I said in my impromptu talk was groundbreaking or earth-shattering. And yet, because they have gotten to know me over the months I have been in the club, they have grown to trust me. And trust is the basis and beginning of any relationship. Perhaps it could be that AI has not mastered the art of relationship building?
Keep on providing impartial advice. Do right always. Act solely in the interest of the client. Educate, don't sell. Build it and they will come. Or maybe, prepare health information and topics and the audience will show up to eat.