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• Behavioral Finance: An Effective Tool for Assessing Risk Tolerance
  

  Assessing your clients’ risk tolerance is critical to being able to help them construct an investment strategy and portfolio that meets their financial needs. However, assessing client risk tolerance is sometimes more complex than just asking them to describe how comfortable they are with risk. Here are some behavioral finance principles that can help you more accurately gauge your clients’ true risk tolerance, based on a review of common biases, both cognitive and emotional, that affect investors’ ability to reach their goals.

• Managing Risk in Today's Volatile Market: Invesco RIA Research
  

  In this edition of Practice Point, we bring you articles from our fund partners related to "risk management." This article is brought to you by Invesco.

  As the industry moves towards a more independent model, Invesco partnered with Cogent Research to conduct a study to better understand key concerns of RIAs. The study helps you gain a better understanding of concerns, practice management strategies and unmet product and educational support. This first in a series of white papers focused on understanding how RIAs approach and manage risk in client portfolios.

• Your Client's View of Risk: Is Understanding Risk Tolerance Enough?
  

  In this edition of Practice Point, we bring you articles from our fund partners related to risk management. This article is brought to you by BlackRock.

  During the recent downturn, investors' reactions to the market turmoil surprised many advisors. Investors with relatively high risk tolerances fled to "safe" investments, leaving many advisors to wonder — were the original risk tolerances wrong or were the clients' risk tolerances changing?

• Serving Women Investors Was Once Considered a Boutique Business. Today, It is Imperative for Success
  Advisors have long viewed women investors, at best, as a secondary market or, at worst, as a minor niche market to be served by a few specialists. However, significant social and economic trends are gradually putting more women investors in the driver’s seat, and advisors who do not develop successful approaches for serving them may be left in the dust in the coming years. The good news is that most advisors can seize the opportunity to serve this market by leveraging existing advisory relationships.
• An Exodus of Wirehouse Advisors: Your Toolbox to Help You Recruit Wirehouse Advisors
  

  Many firm owners are only a decade or so from retirement. Yet, fewer than 30% of independent registered investment advisors (RIAs) have even created a succession plan1. Without an exit strategy in mind, advisors lack clear goals to guide their planning efforts.

• Advisors Lack Clear Goals to Guide Planning Efforts: Get Your Roadmap Today
  

  Many firm owners are only a decade or so from retirement. Yet, fewer than 30% of independent registered investment advisors (RIAs) have even created a succession plan1. Without an exit strategy in mind, advisors lack clear goals to guide their planning efforts.

• The Benefits and 'How-Tos' of Segmentation
  

  Maintaining an organized and segmented client base is critical to your long-term success. The practice of segmentation has a multitude of benefits and should be an ongoing best practice both throughout the year and during the business planning season.

• Incorporating Media Relations into a Marketing Strategy
  

  Positive press coverage can be a valuable element to the overall marketing plan for an advisory firm. As investment experts, advisors have a wealth of information to share with reporters who continuously need story ideas on investing. Become a regular source, and gain a de facto third-party endorsement that enhances your credibility and your visibility.

  However, working with the press poses a unique challenge because, unlike advertising or Web and e-marketing, the final product is in someone else's hands. That lack of control should not keep your advisory firm from exploring a PR program, but it does deserve the appropriate consideration and planning.

• 50 Insights for 52 Weeks
  

  What is the best way to fast-track business growth?

  Pershing Advisor Solutions has a guidebook that provides 50 easy-to-implement ideas to sustain and strengthen your business in all market conditions. Well-managed firms capitalize on opportunities and shine a light on current practices to find areas for improvement. Now is the time to delve into our 50 key insights and focus on what matters most.

• Winning Over Your Clients: Creating a Client Engagement Strategy
  

  When asked, most advisors identify growth, profitability and client management as their top three challenges. On the surface, these challenges appear to compete, creating a degree of strategic schizophrenia.

  The reality is that these challenges align under the banner of "client engagement." An engaged client is satisfied and loyal and one who manifests those positive feelings in increased share of wallet and referrals. Engaged clients are among your happiest and most profitable. They reflect the connection between the quality of your client relationships and growth.

• Pricing Strategies to Create Growth
  

  An unpredictable operating environment has dramatically challenged advisory firm profitability over recent years. Median operating profits as a share of revenue were down to approximately 11% in 2009¹, six percentage points below 2008.

  Such a dramatic drop in firm financial performance makes for a long and painful recovery for shareholders. A return to better days is believed to be underway, yet several other environmental factors continue to challenge advisory firm performance. Clients are increasingly demanding, compliance costs have gone way up and experienced talent is still scarce. Indeed, the experiences of recent years have left many asking, "How can my firm diffuse the impact of the operating environment on revenue and profitability?"

• From The Desk of Mark Tibergien
  

  Beginning the year with a solid growth plan can build momentum to sustain and strengthen your business. Attracting new assets, breaking into new market segments and finding the right partners to take your firm to the next level are key components in driving growth.

  With most of the year still ahead of us, coupled with continued market uncertainty, how do you manage these concerns to ensure your business remains on a growth trajectory?

• From The Desk of Mark Tibergien
  

  Welcome to the inaugural online-only version of Practice Point! Practice Point is a quarterly newsletter with insights to help you manage and grow your business more effectively.

  The economic recession, followed by a feeble recovery, means you have to maximize your most valuable assets—the people in your organization.

  We often hear, “Where can my firm find the new recruits needed to serve a growing, more demanding client base?” There may be surprising growth opportunities for existing RIA firms. Victory in the Race for Talent: Tuck Ins, Breakaways and Advisor Recruiting Strategies provides information on the current state of the market and the strategic opportunity in recruiting wirehouse-affiliated advisors. It also provides guidance on how to develop a recruiting strategy and effectively onboard and integrate advisors into your business.

• Victory in the Race for Talent: Tuck Ins, Breakaways and Advisor Recruiting Strategies
  Firms seeking to drive economies of scale have a number of different growth strategies at their disposal. Growth can be achieved through traditional means, such as referrals and other client acquisition and marketing activities. A more complex route is the acquisition of another advisory firm. Hiring a veteran professional is a third option.
• Power of Productivity and Profitability: Building High-Performance Teams
  

  A powerful formula that many successful financial services teams use is People + Process = Performance .

  For any business to perform at its highest levels, achieve maximum profitability and avoid hitting a growth plateau, there must be an ongoing commitment to develop both its people and efficient processes. This formula includes three distinct areas of business: Find ? Grind ? Mind.

• Recruiting Top Talent in 2011 and Beyond
  

  On the heels of a tumultuous several years for the financial industry, many firms are finally getting back to seriously considering growth strategies. With growth comes the need to find talent—experienced leaders and professionals that will help advance this growth in a more disciplined (and efficient) manner than ever before.

• Becoming the Employer of Choice: Tips, Techniques and Facts
  

  If you want to be the employer of choice in your particular sector, then you must be serious about retaining key talent. Employee retention is a primary measure of the health of your organization.

  Managers retain staff by communicating clear expectations, providing frequent feedback and making the employee feel valued. They provide clarity about career development and earning potential. Remember: a team that communicates is a team that succeeds.

• Mitigate Risk by Developing a Succession Plan
  

  Developing a well thought out succession plan is a critical element for any advisory firm. Succession plans can be linked to a broader business plan to chart a firm’s vision and provide a roadmap to owners, employees and clients in case of an unforeseen event. They also have a strategic purpose and lay the groundwork for business continuity and the long-term viability of advisory practices.