Why it’s important to have a team around you

September 21, 2020 | Financial Life Planning

While much of the financial advising industry still employs a traditional “solo advisor model,” we at LifeGuide have built our firm around a fundamentally different approach: a team-based advisory approach. (This approach is also sometimes known as an “ensemble practice” or “ensemble advisory model.”)

In fact, we see this as one of the key distinctives of our firm that allows us to better serve our clients both now and—importantly—into the future.

So today we want to explore these two models and why we believe that more heads are better than one.

The traditional model: solo advisory approach

The financial industry’s traditional and most popular advisor model is the solo advisory model. Under this model, a single advisor is responsible for overseeing a large group of clients.

The major downfall of the solo advisory model is that a client’s success is dependent on one person. And this can lead to many negative consequences, such as:

• Frequent transitions
• Loss of continuity and relationship if the advisor retires or moves on
• Singular perspective
• Limited advisor availability
• A lack of ability to serve future generations

Because of the significant downside to this traditional approach, our firm was built with a fundamentally different approach.

“The major downfall of the solo advisory model is that a client’s success is dependent on one person.”

Embracing the team-based approach

Here at LifeGuide, we embrace a team-based model. Under this model, every LifeGuide client is assigned to a three- to four-person advisory team.

Each team consists of a Senior Financial & Life Advisor, a Lead Financial Advisor, a Service Advisor, and an Insurance Advisor:

• Senior Financial & Life Advisor
  • Our Senior Financial & Life Advisors are responsible for clients’ overall relationship with the firm and providing wisdom and guidance at important crossroads. They help their clients discover their lives’ “what?” and “why?”, keep them focused on what’s most important, and collaborate with the Lead Financial Advisor by bringing seasoned perspective to develop and implement clients’ Financial LifePlans.
• Lead Financial Advisor
  • Our Lead Financial Advisors are responsible for actually building and implementing clients’ Financial LifePlan and investment strategy. They serve as clients’ primary day-to-day advisors and help them make wise decisions as life unfolds.
• Service Advisor
  • Our Service Advisors are responsible for supporting the Lead Financial Advisor on their team by performing analyses, executing action items, monitoring progress, and taking care of transactions. They serve as our clients’ technician and “get it done” advisor.
• Insurance Advisor
  • The Insurance Advisor’s role is to help keep the unexpected from derailing a client’s Financial LifePlan by selecting and configuring appropriate insurances to protect the important areas of life (i.e. life insurance, long-term care insurance, Medicare, etc.).

We’ve found over and over again that this team-based advisory approach has many benefits for our clients, including:

1. Four heads are better than one when it comes to planning and managing finances. Leaning on the collective wisdom, expertise, and experience of a team provides a breadth of perspective in helping clients navigate important decisions.
2. Utilizing a team of advisors allows us to be available to our clients, even if a specific advisor is away.
3. We expect our team of advisors to grow with our clients as they journey alongside them and their families. Our goal is that, over the years, our Service Advisors becomes our Lead Advisors, and our Lead Advisors becomes our Senior Advisors. This model allows for our advisors’ roles to be dynamic and flexible as they progress in their careers alongside our clients.
4. If an advisor takes a new role, switches teams, or leaves the firm, the other advisors on a team will still be there for clients, maintaining continuity and avoiding the “relational cliff event” that happens too often in the solo advisor model.

Interested in reading more?

1. Check out this podcast and corresponding blog post by Michael Kitces: #FASuccess Ep 040: Building A True Ensemble Practice Beyond Yourself And Training G2 Successors with Philip Palaveev
2. Read more about and meet our team: https://lifeguidefa.com/about-us/team/
3. Learn more about our Services & Fees: https://lifeguidefa.com/services-fees/