Millennial advisors are weighing in on financial planning services more heavily than their elders in the business, and their reliance on such offerings for their clients will likely make broker-dealers and support providers have to up their game as well.

So says a report from Cerulli, which highlights just how great the difference is between millennial advisors and either GenX or boomer advisors.

While millennials offer their clients an average of 5.1 planning services, boomers and GenXers only provide an average of 4.6 planning services.

And the differences don’t stop there, with millennials providing planning services to 82.5 percent of their clients. That’s more than are provided by either GenX or boomer counterparts—with just two thirds of GenX advisors’ clients currently receiving financial planning services.

And that could stand them in good stead with younger investors, particularly among millennial households: in other words, their contemporaries.

“The rising trend of comprehensive planning has swept up millennial advisors who entered the workforce during its growing popularity,” Marina Shtyrkov, a research analyst at Cerulli, says in the report.

Shtyrkov adds, “In the early stages of their careers, they have already calibrated their practices, including pricing and service models, to fit a comprehensive planning structure and many provide expansive planning offerings. As these advisors gain experience, broker-dealers and support providers can expect these practices to become sophisticated consumers of financial planning content and resources. They will also need support scaling these comprehensive services, as increased volume may pose productivity challenges in the future.”

Millennial advisors will probably have an in with their contemporaries in providing services, since the report also highlights millennial households’ interest in online financial planning features.

According to the report, of millennial households that don’t already do so, 55.7 percent are interested in viewing and updating their financial plan online, while among boomer households only 28.2 percent are interested in doing so.

And here’s where it gets interesting. Shtyrkov says in the report, “As more millennial advisors enter the industry, they may find different ways of building relationships with younger investors. When working with next-generation clients on planning engagements, tandem planning sessions and increased avenues of communication become critical. Digital natives are more likely to expect on-demand interactivity.”

And if millennial advisors are going to provide that, BDs and support providers will have to keep up. “Millennials want to be able to access their planning tools online,” Kenton Shirk, director of Cerulli's intermediary practice, says in the report, adding, “As a result, firms need to build out their digital capabilities to sustain younger investors’ thirst for digital consumption. Cerulli believes enhanced digital tools and interactive, collaborative meetings will become more important as planning evolves.”

Instant Insights /

Millennial advisors heavily adopting financial planning

More From HR Executive

Related Stories

Recommended For You