Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Time is money.” Perhaps if he had been a financial advisor, he might have altered things slightly, saying “Time is other people’s money.” After all, the primary responsibility of the advisor is helping the client attain the type of financial standing, and financial future, that will allow them to accomplish all they’ve set out to do.
But too often, when it comes to time, the story for advisors is one that revolves around time spent on tasks that have little to nothing to do with directly helping the client. Whether it’s evaluating the many components of a tech stack, overseeing document review and retention, handling billing or the dozens of other service provider relationships that require constant attention, the operations side of the financial advisory business can quickly become close to all-consuming, and the operations-focused advisor finds him or herself working in their business, not on what they want their business to be and to be known for.
Juggling the operational side of the business is not a new headache for advisors, but it’s become a much more time-consuming one in recent years, as greater regulatory scrutiny and a host of new rules and policies have been put into place that have exponentially increased the number of hours required; and those are hours that have to come from somewhere. That they come from time that could be dedicated to the client is one of the great frustrations many advisors experience.
In our conversations with advisors across the industry, a desire to spend less time on the operational needs of their respective businesses is at or near the top of almost every “wish list” we encounter. Which is why we have built a full-service team that can manage all of the crucial day-to-day operational tasks on behalf of advisors, tackling key aspects of running a business like document management, keeping filings up to date, planning and managing software updates, and so much more. With decades of experience on the operations side, our team makes this their complete focus so you don’t have to.
What would you do with more time? How many more client meetings would you be able to take? How many calls, meals, graduations, housewarming parties and other major client life events would you be able to attend?
After all, time may be money. But all the money in the world can’t buy you more time.