Expert: William Marshall, CIO, Hymans Robertson Investment Services Facilitator: John Chapman, Catalyst Partners
Headlines:
- The importance of consistent communication, education, and trust-building
- An investment philosophy focused on long-term thinking, predictable outcomes, and robust processes, emphasising the benefits of long-term investing and the use of data and tools to reinforce this message.
- Challenges include overcoming behavioural biases that lead clients to make emotional investment decisions
- The importance of engaging communication tools, training adviser teams, and quantifying the value advisers provide in keeping clients invested
- Emphasis was placed on demonstrating value for money to clients, particularly in light of regulatory requirements and increased transparency
Discussion:
The session delved into strategies for maintaining long-term client investments, overcoming behavioural biases, and demonstrating value for money. Advisers discussed communication challenges, managing client expectations, and ensuring clients stay focused on long-term goals.
An investment philosophy, emphasising robust strategies, consistent communication, and transparent value demonstration was presented, with regulatory requirements and the evolving financial advice landscape also addressed.
A discussion on effective strategies for maintaining long-term client investments in the face of market uncertainties and behavioural biases aimed to provide insights into client communication, value demonstration, and regulatory compliance, fostering stronger client-adviser relationships and enhancing investment outcomes.
Keeping clients invested for the long-term:
The importance of consistent communication, education, and trust-building to ensure clients remain focused on their long-term financial goals was emphasised, along with long-term thinking and robust investment processes.
Overcoming behavioural biases:
The discussion highlighted challenges in overcoming behavioural biases that influence clients' emotional investment decisions. There is a need for engaging communication tools, adviser training, and evidence-based approaches to demonstrate the value of staying invested.
Demonstrating value for money:
The session underscored the significance of demonstrating value for money to clients, especially in light of regulatory requirements. A value for money framework to assess product quality, performance, and fees, emphasising the need for consistent value communication was also presented.
Key Takeaways:
- Develop engaging communication tools - Create materials to reinforce the benefits of long-term investing to help clients stay focused on their financial goals
- Implement consistent value for money communication - Utilise performance reporting, fee transparency, and detailed explanations of investment processes to demonstrate value to clients effectively
- Provide ongoing training - Support adviser teams with training to ensure consistent messaging and effective communication with clients, particularly during market volatility
- Utilise engaging formats - Explore video communication and other engaging formats to enhance client understanding and engagement with investment updates
- Review and update value frameworks - Regularly update value for money frameworks and processes to meet regulatory requirements and industry best practices
