Content partner Summer 2020

Kiwis are living longer than ever before, with the average life expectancy up from 69 years in 1950, to just over 82 this year.

Medical advances, lifestyle changes, and technological innovations mean people are living longer. The global population has risen dramatically.

Because of this shift in population demographics, financial advice is more necessary than ever before.

As the population continues to grow and age, investors will turn to advice to get more comfortable with their financial situations and to get support for the own investment and retirement goals.

So how can advisers meet the needs of modern investors on a large scale, while ensuring that their fees are accessible for the average Kiwi?

It’s simple – they should start embracing emerging technology to future-proof advice.

Digitising advice

A growing group of mass-market investors offers a huge opportunity for advisers to reach more customers and improve market share.

To be successful, they need to embrace the idea of digitising their knowledge, to make it easily accessible to a wider audience.

We’ll see artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent workflows leading to more automation – and the emergence of client self-service technology, which is essential for advisers to help their clients at low cost and on a large scale.

Women billionaires

At the other end of the scale, emerging high-net-worth individuals are more diverse and demanding than previous generations, and we’re seeing a significant rise in women billionaires.

By the end of 2020, it’s estimated that women will control approximately US$72 trillion, which equates to 32 per cent of global wealth.

Having grown up with technology, wealthy investors expect to have the same level of personalisation and unlimited access to information with their advisers that they have with their other online services.

Technology that delivers speed and efficiency will play a key part in keeping these people engaged.

We’ll see data analytics being combined with artificial intelligence-powered tools, such as interactive client portals.

These will help advisers deliver personalised communication, transparency, and the tailored products these people demand.

Advisers always ‘on’

Thanks to Covid-19, advisers have already had to turn to digital and video approaches rather than face-to-face meetings.

Companies can no longer afford to dictate how customers can access their information.

Wealth advisers need to make themselves readily accessible across a number of platforms, both physical and digital, so they can offer their clients services in a manner that suits the investor best.

We’ll see digital offerings working hand-in-hand with the option for human access, to help improve how advisers are accessed and their transparency.

What makes this 24/7 service possible are automated workflows and intelligent AI-powered tools.

Invsta’s latest report, “Is your business ready?”, shows that robo-advice is fast becoming an essential tool to help advisers reach investors.

Robo-advice or, as I prefer to call it, digital advice, lets advisers offer customised advice to a mass audience across many platforms while keeping costs low.

As trust in AI grows and advisers adopt a more hybrid approach, we’ll start to see it playing a key role in advice.

AI is a key strategy for business growth, from intelligent customer prompts and ‘chat bots’ that pop up to interact with clients online, through to a digital advice process done completely online.

Advisers become mentors

There’s no question that technology will do most of the administrative heavy lifting in the future.

As tasks and manual processes get replaced, I predict that advisers will have a more educational role and coach their customers to achieve financial wellbeing.

They’ll help customers identify what matters most to them and use data analytics and behavioural information to keep them on track.

Clients will start to play an active role in managing how their own investments are administered through self-service portals, such as online investment.

Because of this, advisers will need to adapt their services to stay relevant for the next generation.

This explosion of technology is a great chance for wealth advisers to adapt to match shifting customer dynamics and market influences.

We all need investment advice – and particularly coaching – more than ever, because the next generation of investors is navigating a post-pandemic world at the same time as they’re seeking information to improve their financial wellbeing.

The new battlegrounds for success will be accessibility, transparency both in information and fees, and support that centres around the client.

If you’re a professional adviser, take a look at the Invsta wealth adviser solution on www.invsta.com for ways to help enhance your firm’s advice experience.

JUNO’s content comes from sources that JUNO magazine considers accurate, but we do not guarantee its accuracy. Charts in JUNO are visually indicative, not exact. The content of JUNO is intended as general information only, and you use it at your own risk.