Could a mind map secure the future of the IFA?

With extreme competition amongst advisers in the high-income earning bracket, mass emigration of clients, and a changing landscape of customers– there is no doubt we are, and continue to be, shaken up by changes and challenges in the financial services sector.

We believe that it’s more crucial than ever to get your house in order – making sure that your practice has the maximum possible efficiency, and that you are working smart with your processes, operations, and resources.

Time is a precious resource that we often discuss in our industry – “time is money”, “time is everything when it comes to investments” and “there is never enough time to see to admin and compliance”. At ICON, one of the ways we want to help you and your practice progress to a healthier state is by giving you clear and replicable methodology, advice philosophy, tools, and technology that can help you clear away the clutter and make sure your practice is efficient, effective, and highly profitable. 

In the MD forum hosted by Brad Toerien (prior ICON CEO, investor and current board member) he chatted to H. Adam Holt – founder and CEO of Asset-Map in the USA.

Adam shared his own financial planning experiences and how Asset-Map was born. He shared with us about how he started out as an insurance agent, and, as he shared honestly - was rather weak at it. He didn’t struggle with the planning part – but the acquiring of leads, sales and communications. He then decided to harness his love for architecture and visual arts by creating a visual map for clients’ financial lives. “Research has shown that visuals can be an effective learning aid, and we believe better learning is the first step toward better financial behavior”, says Adam.

The result after trying this approach? Adam’s sales and client relationships increased dramatically. One year into trying out the concept – his sales tripled, and the year after that – they tripled again! This concept grew into what Asset Map is today. It’s stunningly simple, yet extremely effective in aiding the financial planning process and building understanding with clientele.

Brad and Adam also discussed the future of the IFA in SA and globally, and how emerging technologies will affect client-adviser relationships. We could write about this topic alone for pages and pages – but for the purposes of this article – the discussion stressed the point of time; time with money and productivity. Adam, from his personal learning and experiences, believes that the best way to harness client information and produce better outcomes (for advisers and their clients) is to use the Mapping Process (or Asset-Map’s tool directly). “All the comprehensive data in the world won’t help someone make a decision if they can’t clearly see how it’s all related.” Asset-Map helps advisers connect with clients on a personal yet very practical level. The map turns conversations into very actionable decisions by laying out the finances of an individual, couple, or entire household all on one simple-to-understand page. This then can help you identify key opportunities or gaps in the cover or investment portfolio.

Asset-Map and smart digital tools alike could make or break the future success of advisers. The duo agreed that there will always be a place for (human) independent advisers. Adam made some very interesting points about the complexity in financial planning and the cost of getting it wrong. “As long as we have decisions that are complex and have a high cost of getting it wrong, we need humans to help build confidence, make these decisions and take action.” Technology and smart planning tools are to be utilised to remain competitive, highly relevant – and mostly – save time with the most effective productivity tools where you can.

We highly recommend taking a look at Asset-Map as a way to future proof your practice - find out more here: https://www.asset-map.com/south-africa                   

Note: At ICON we don’t have any formal association with Asset-Map whatsoever. In future we would like to see how we can work together – but for now – we are just two semi-start-up companies looking to change advice in South Africa for the better.