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

So says a report from Cerulli, which highlights just how greatthe difference is between millennial advisors and either GenX orboomer advisors.

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

And the differences don’t stop there, with millennials providingplanning services to 82.5 percent of their clients. That’s morethan are provided by either GenX or boomer counterparts—with justtwo thirds of GenX advisors’ clients currently receiving financialplanning services.

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

“The rising trend of comprehensive planning has swept upmillennial advisors who entered the workforce during its growingpopularity,” Marina Shtyrkov, a research analyst at Cerulli, saysin the report.

Shtyrkov adds, “In the early stages of their careers, they havealready calibrated their practices, including pricing and servicemodels, to fit a comprehensive planning structure and many provideexpansive planning offerings. As these advisors gain experience,broker-dealers and support providers can expect these practices tobecome sophisticated consumers of financial planning content andresources. They will also need support scaling these comprehensiveservices, as increased volume may pose productivity challenges inthe future.”

Millennial advisors will probably have an in with theircontemporaries in providing services, since the report alsohighlights millennial households’ interest in online financialplanning features.

According to the report, of millennial households that don’talready do so, 55.7 percent are interested in viewing and updatingtheir financial plan online, while among boomer households only28.2 percent are interested in doing so.

And here’s where it gets interesting. Shtyrkov says in thereport, “As more millennial advisors enter the industry, they mayfind different ways of building relationships with youngerinvestors. When working with next-generation clients on planningengagements, tandem planning sessions and increased avenues ofcommunication become critical. Digital natives are more likely toexpect on-demand interactivity.”

And if millennial advisors are going to provide that, BDs andsupport providers will have to keep up. “Millennials want to beable to access their planning tools online,” Kenton Shirk, directorof Cerulli's intermediary practice, says in the report, adding, “Asa result, firms need to build out their digital capabilities tosustain younger investors’ thirst for digital consumption. Cerullibelieves enhanced digital tools and interactive, collaborativemeetings will become more important as planning evolves.”