Frequently Asked Questions: Financial Services

Probably the biggest reason you should get into this business is to help your clients.  As your clients’ tax advisor you have a very intimate knowledge of their financial situation and because of your existing relationship they trust you.  By offering financial services to your clients you’re going to be in a position to help them retire in dignity, send their kids to college and protect them against the unexpected.

In addition to the personal satisfaction you will receive, your clients are going to be more satisfied and therefore more loyal and more likely to refer clients to you.  All of this will result in your business growing.  In fact an independent study found that the average financial services client generates $307 per year.  Depending on what your average tax client generates, you might be able to double or more your average revenue per client and at the same time diversify your revenues.

Investment planning services are a natural extension of the services you currently provide.  In fact, you’re probably providing some form of financial advice now.  Clients find it very logical to ask you financial questions because you’re trustworthy and knowledgeable about their tax and financial situations.  Your in depth knowledge of their financial situation and tax issues makes you the best person to provide financial services for them.

Nothing – until you’re successful.  We’re compensated by retaining a portion of the commissions or fees you generate.  Because we’re only successful when you are, we’ve dedicated ourselves to providing our Advisors with the best support, training, technology and solutions in the industry.  This commitment to your success is why you should choose to partner with H.D. Vest.

With over 5,300 Advisors from all 50 states, we’ve helped tax and accounting professionals from large firms and small firms, with varying clientele, and from totally different backgrounds become successful at investment planning services using H.D. Vest's unique, turnkey system.

The support, training, technology and solutions that we offer our Advisors are second to none. While we can’t guarantee your success, we can tell you that with our experience we know what it takes for you to become successful and we’ll do everything we can to make sure you have to support and resources you need.

Your clients may want to use no-load funds if they have the education and experience to create their own financial plan, evaluate the investment alternatives, implement the plan and then monitor it. When you stop to think about it, if your clients are in that position, they probably don’t need your help in making investment decisions.  Generally, those clients who do need your help are prepared to pay for the service.  If you’re not comfortable using loaded products, you can look into getting your Advisory license and utilize the fee based programs we have.

Time is one of the most common obstacles Advisors face. Because we specialize in working with tax and accounting professionals who already have a business to run, we understand the time constraints you face better than anyone. What you will find is that we use that knowledge to make sure you have the support and resources you need to do this business in a timely and efficient manner.

Think about what spending this time on financial services is going to do for you and your clients. Your clients are going to be more satisfied because they’re getting on track for their goals, they’ll refer more clients because of that, you’re going to be more personally satisfied seeing your clients reach their goals and the bottom line is, your business is going to grow because of it. Don’t let time keep you from helping your clients reach their goals or you growing your business.

Absolutely not. Having a financial specialization may cause your practice to expand faster than otherwise possible. In addition, you’ll be establishing your specialization early in your career, which will give your practice a direction in later years.

Many tax professionals, CPAs in particular, have referral networks established to service the financial planning needs of their clients. Theoretically, this is a good way to service your clients’ needs while sticking to a single service. Unfortunately, the data from Tiburon Strategic Advisors (www.taxprobestpractices.com) shows that these reciprocal arrangements are not an even trade.

On average, tax professionals who add financial services and help clients themselves have higher overall revenues than tax professionals who refer business to a professional network in expectation of a tax referral. That means either there is no reciprocal referral, or the referrals received do not add the same amount of revenues to your practice as financial services would produce. The data indicates that the average value of a financial planning client is $308 annually. So when you refer one of your clients to a broker, you should expect to receive $308 or more in revenue from a reciprocal referral.

As a business decision, if you’re interested in growing your practice and increasing your income, adding financial services to your practice is the better decision.