DEAR ADVISORS,

I’ve noticed that sellers often lack the skills, experience, and patience to train their successor to be successful in running their firm and taking over the client relationships. Sellers in internal succession plans usually assume that their successor already knows how to do those things, and if they don’t, the buyer must not be a good candidate to take over the firm and buy them out. That’s simply not true! Structured processes and procedures, like this meeting agenda, can make the difference between your son or daughter sticking it out with you to buy your firm over the long run.

This year I’ve helped several advisors create their own meeting agenda templates. Today I put together the following Portfolio Review Agenda Template based on what has worked for my advisor clients in transition. Even if you’re already using a Portfolio Review Agenda, it’s time to give it a second look!

• What do you want to make sure we cover today? - It’s never fun when clients spring big life changes on you at the end of the meeting, because it can change several recommendations you already covered. Asking this first is a great way to bring up any unexpected questions or concerns a client may have in mind. This allows you to cover those first, or address them later as the conversation flows naturally.

• Account Titles & Beneficiaries - This is a great way to insert some light financial planning topics without doing a full financial plan. Covering more than simply the investments goes a long way to building trust with clients. It’s also necessary to update these when the client goes through a major life change, like getting married, having kids, and creating or amending their estate plan.

• Contributions & Distributions - When a client is saving for retirement, or drawing income in retirement, there are a lot of moving parts. It’s helpful to review the following things annually to make sure the current strategy is still suitable. This is one area of investment management where clients do fire their advisors when mistakes are made. Documenting this level of detail is not only necessary, but it also reassures clients that you’re familiar with their situation (without having to know every little detail by heart!)

  • Federal and State Tax Brackets

  • Cash Flow Expectations - Ask about the amount and timing of any big expenditures or cash inflows, so you are prepared to distribute funds or get new cash invested.

  • Current RMD, if applicable - amount, timing, withholding and destination

  • Last year’s Roth Conversion or Backdoor Roth Contribution, if applicable - amount, timing, withholding

  • Confirm this year’s recommended Roth Conversion or Backdoor Roth Contribution, if applicable - amount, timing, withholding

  • Systematic Contributions or Distributions - amount, timing, withholding and destination

• Investment Review

  • Outside Accounts - Asking about any held-away accounts helps you understand how the client sees your role in their overall financial life. On one hand, you may uncover some reasons why a client may no longer be a good fit to work with you. Alternatively, it could be an opportunity to help them with the practical side of estate planning, by consolidating accounts.

  • Cash Reserve - Verifying the amount and location of a client’s cash reserve tells you how conservative they are, and how they expect you to integrate with their day-to-day financial life.

  • Margin - Clients with large taxable accounts, may find value in adding margin capabilities as a way to quickly and easily access short-term cash in a crunch, or if they are expecting big short-term expenses. It’s better to have it available when needed, than have to sign margin paperwork in a pinch.

  • Managing Capital Gains/Losses - I prefer to always tell clients the anticipated gains/losses when implementing a new allocation. I’ve found the best outcome can be achieved for clients with large accounts, concentrated stock positions, etc. by coordinating with their tax preparer on this.

  • Risk Profile - Before getting into the investment weeds, it’s helpful to clarify if the client’s risk profile is still suitable. This is something most clients will understand, and find helpful to review regularly. It’s also a great opportunity to highlight how the market may fluctuate, but typically the Risk Profile does not change unless the client experiences a major life event. If there has been a big life event, it’s better to talk through that before discussing your prepared recommendations regarding their investment allocation.

  • Asset Allocation - Whether clients like to go deep or stay high-level with the investment recommendations, it’s always helpful to provide their overall ratio of Equities to Fixed Income. Once that’s established, it’s easier to explain why some accounts are more or less aggressive.

• Service Model - The financial lives of most clients need a lot more TLC than just investment management! I make it a point to review the client’s service model at every meeting. This helps them remember what services we provide. It also makes it clear when it’s time to add or change their service model, and why. We remind them about when we last did a plan update. We also talk about anyone else they know who may need financial guidance.

• Summarize Action Items - As you go through your agenda, keep notes here about who is supposed to complete which action items, and by what deadlines. This also makes for a great email follow-up after the meeting!

• Schedule Next Meeting - Set expectations for your client about what happens next, and take scheduling their next meeting off everyone’s to-do list. Seriously, it only takes a few minutes and vastly improves the client experience! Plus, your staff will love you! Instead of spending hours tracking down clients, they can get back to focusing on how to improve your business!

Your Portfolio Review Agenda Template may look slightly different. That’s okay! Being unique attracts unique clients and sets you apart from all the other advisors out there. Now that you have a meeting agenda template, you can better communicate to prospective clients what it looks like to work with your firm. It also helps you demonstrate your firm’s culture and communication style to younger associate advisors, and eventually to your buyer.

Whether you specialize in financial planning or stock-picking, creating a template agenda for your Portfolio Reviews can make transitioning your firm SO much easier! Initially, it provides structure for the incoming advisor to understand what clients expect during meetings. The new advisor will be able to speak and sound like you, which will put clients at ease from Day 1. It also provides background on the client’s financial condition. I take extra time to create and update my meeting agendas because that reduces the time I have to spend training my successor one day. Templates like this, and many others, are a great way to secure the future of your family and financial advisory firm!

Warm regards,

Brooklyn

P.S.

At Ellevate Advisors, we believe that advisors deserve to retire too. What does that look like for you, your family, and your business? Let’s figure it out together! Check out our services here, our new products page here, or get to know me on my bio here!