Clients want at least some virtual engagements with their planners, even post-pandemic.

• More than half of clients expressed a preference for virtual meetings even after pandemic meeting restrictions end, whether used exclusively (29 percent) or with occasional in-person meetings (28 percent).
• Planners also prefer virtual meetings. Before the pandemic, one in five never held a virtual meeting, and just less than half had used them only "sometimes." Now, eight in 10 expect to use virtual engagements at least some of the time going forward, 37.5 percent expect to use virtual meetings most of the time and 7 percent expect to use them exclusively.

Planners need to reevaluate their methods for getting to know and understand their clients.

"Because financial planning is a highly individualized process, a primary goal for financial planners must be conducting a qualitative data gathering process that allows and encourages clients to communicate their values, priorities, hopes and concerns," said Carol Anderson, president of MQ Research & Education.

Financial planners need more training on recognizing and managing client financial anxiety.

• Planners greatly underestimated  their clients' financial anxiety. On average, planners thought financial anxiety affected about half of their clients. However, more than seven in 10 reported experiencing financial anxiety at least half of the time.
• Clients' financial anxiety decreased their rating of planner ability to deliver services related to every communication topic explored in the research and to all but two communication tasks and two communication skills.

Financial planners may be overconfident. Planners consistently gave themselves higher marks than their clients did for every communication topic category. These results were a complete reversal from the original 2006 study, when clients rated their planners higher than planners rated themselves.

Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the financial planning profession are having an impact.

• Financial planners participating in the research were a more diverse group than in 2006. Thirty-eight percent of participants were women, compared with 27 percent in 2006, and nearly 6 percent of planners reported a non-cisgender sexual orientation.
• Thirteen percent identified as non-white, and 15 percent were of Latino Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin.

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