Thought Starters: Findings from J.D. Power's Wealth Research

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Thought Starters from J.D. Power's Wealth Research

• Adoption of Digital Channels: Financial Advisors are by necessity embracing digital channels more for interaction with asset management brands whose products they sell, but different segment differ significantly in terms of how much they expect to depend on digital channels relative to human interactions. Perhaps counterintuitively, younger and lower tenured advisors are much more likely to say they will continue to rely more wholesaler interaction relative to more experienced advisors that are more likely to say they can do more through digital only.
  
• Work/Life Balance for Advisors: About one-quarter (23%) of employee/captive financial advisors say they don’t have an appropriate work/life balance, and more than one-third (36%) said they don’t have enough time to spend with all their clients. With remote working not going away any time soon, firms need to ensure they are providing the support and technology needed for advisors to stay connected to their clients and remaining sane.
  

• Wealth Mobile Apps: Most wealth apps “are missing the mark,” said Michael Foy, senior director of wealth & lending intelligence at the research firm. “It’s notable that more than one-third of investors who work with an advisor say they’ve increased their wealth app usage during the pandemic, which is more than double the rate among investors in the do-it-yourself segment. Advisors and their firms need to recognize that the mobile app is not a threat to the advisor’s value—it is an opportunity to increase engagement by meeting investors where they are.”

• Wealth Mobile App Usage: Usage has increased significantly since COVID, but not uniformly among clients. Nearly half (45%) of Millennial users say their wealth mobile app usage has increased since last year, much more than other demographic group, and this group has high user experience expectations set by fintechs and other mobile-first brands they use in large numbers