The Top 5 Reasons Clients Fire a Financial Advisor

What drives investors to fire a financial advisor?

From saving for a down payment to planning for retirement, clients turn to advisors to guide them through life’s complex financial decisions. However, many of the key reasons for firing a financial advisor stem from emotional factors, and go beyond purely financial motivations.

We partnered with Morningstar to show the top reasons clients fire an advisor to provide insight on what’s driving investor behavior.

What Drives Firing Decisions?

Here are the top reasons clients terminated their advisor, based on a survey of 184 respondents:

Numbers may not total 100 due to rounding. Respondents could select more than one answer.

Numbers may not total 100 due to rounding. Respondents could select more than one answer.

While firing an advisor is rare, many of the primary drivers behind firing decisions are also emotionally driven.

Often, advisors were fired due to the quality of the relationship. In many cases, this was due to an advisor not dedicating enough time to fully grasp their personal financial goals. Additionally, wealthier, and more financially literate clients are more likely to fire their advisors—highlighting the importance of understanding the client. 

Key Takeaways

Given these driving factors, here are five ways that advisors can build a lasting relationship through recognizing their clients’ emotional needs:

• Understand your clients’ deeper goals
• Reach out proactively
• Act as a financial coach
• Keep clients updated
• Conduct goal-setting exercises on a regular basis

By communicating their value and setting expectations early, advisors can help prevent setbacks in their practice by adeptly recognizing the emotional motivators of their clients.

The Top 5 Reasons Clients Hire a Financial Advisor

What drives investors to hire a financial advisor?

From saving for a down payment to planning for retirement, clients turn to advisors to guide them through life’s complex financial decisions. However, many of the key reasons for hiring a financial advisor stem from emotional factors, and go beyond purely financial motivations.

We partnered with Morningstar to show the top reasons clients hire a financial advisor to provide insight on what’s driving investor behavior.

What Drives Hiring Decisions?

Here are the most common reasons for hiring an advisor, based on a survey of 312 respondents. 

Numbers may not total 100 due to rounding. Respondents could select more than one answer.

While financial factors played an important role in hiring decisions, emotional reasons made up the largest share of total responses. 

This illustrates that clients place a high degree of importance on reaching specific goals or needs, and how an advisor communicates with them. Furthermore, clients seek out advisors for behavioral coaching to help them make informed decisions while staying the course.

Key Takeaways

With this in mind, here are five ways advisors can provide value to their clients and grow their practice:

• Address clients’ emotional needs early on
• Demonstrate how you can offer support
• Use ordinary language
• Provide education to help clients stay on track
• Acknowledge that these are issues we all face

By addressing emotional factors, advisors can more effectively help clients’ navigate intricate financial decisions and avoid common behavioral mistakes.