The modern financial advisor’s role has evolved significantly in recent years, moving beyond traditional portfolio management to encompass a more holistic approach to client service. Recent research from Fidelity Investments underscores this shift, finding that nearly two-thirds of Gen YZ investors and half of Gen X investors seek services beyond money management and advice. In other words, as today’s investors grapple with concerns that extend beyond their portfolios—from geopolitical conflicts to family health—they value the ability to discuss these anxieties with their advisors.
To better understand how financial professionals serve their clients in today’s complex environment, CI conducted one-hour in-depth interviews (IDIs) with 11 advisors. Our goal was to understand what advisors see as their clients’ primary needs, how they view their roles in client relationships and what resources are most useful in helping them meet those needs. The findings reveal that advisors clearly recognize their evolving role, prioritizing two fundamental client needs: personalized financial planning and emotional support.
The Core Pillars of Modern Advisory Services
“Financial planning is, I feel, the cornerstone of everything for a client… A real good question that I like to [ask] my clients about investing in general is, ‘Hey, if we beat the market [by] two percent a year for the rest of your life, but you still ran out of money, does it really matter if we beat the market?’”
– David, 40, RIA & Independent B/D
Most advisors see financial planning as central to relationships, helping clients manage all aspects of their finances with the goal of achieving long-term stability, particularly with retirement in mind. However, they emphasized that one size definitely doesn’t fit all when it comes to financial planning. Instead, they focus on crafting plans that fit each client’s unique situation and make sure to adjust when circumstances change. In addition to basic planning efforts—like cash flow management and retirement planning—advisors help clients tackle their more complex needs by developing tax strategies and creating an estate plan. Though our IDI study represents the perspectives of a much smaller group of advisors, IDI participants’ responses reflect those of our 2024 Advisor Survey’s larger respondent pool, which placed a lot of value on digital resources that support advisors’ financial planning and client relationships.
- Our 2024 survey identified Goal Planning as the most useful practice management resource topic, with 84% of respondents saying it was “very useful” or “extremely useful.”
- Planning for Life Events tied with Productivity for the second most useful topic, with 81% top-two box importance, while Client Relationships (79%) followed closely behind as a top area of interest.
Many advisors explained that they balance planning with emotional support, creating a stable and reassuring presence to help clients navigate general financial decisions and focus on their long-term goals during periods of market volatility. As one advisor put it, “What we’re selling is peace of mind.” Many advisors therefore also view themselves as emotional buffers, helping clients maintain perspective during market downturns, navigate complex financial decisions without anxiety, focus on long-term goals despite short-term market noise, and make sound decisions during significant life changes.
While financial planning and emotional support have become crucial elements of the advised relationship, financial professionals still need to manage their clients’ investments. However, our research shows that their perspective on this responsibility is still centered around planning—most advisors feel that their role in portfolio management is to generate the returns necessary to meet clients’ income needs or financial goals. This emphasis on planning represents a significant shift from the industry’s historical focus on investment selection.
“I think (client needs) tend to be higher level portfolio conversations and tax planning, estate planning, those sorts of more nebulous things. When I first started, 90% of our job was just investing. And that’s gotten a lot more commoditized, and you don’t need an advisor as much to just go out there and buy a fund and call it a day. I think it’s getting into the weeds on estate planning, tax management.”
– Benjamin, 43, RIA
Navigating Sensitive Planning Discussions: Resources That Drive Deeper Relationships
Our interviews also sought to understand how advisors meet clients’ needs and identify what they view as the key characteristics of strong relationships. Research highlights how developing strong personal connections helps advisors better understand their clients’ needs and deliver more tailored financial guidance. Ultimately, such personal connections lead to more “sticky” relationships and could even expand advisors’ practices, as most advisors identified referrals from existing clients as their primary source of new business.
Advisors found value in resources that prompt clients to think deeply about their personal priorities and goals beyond finances, such as lifestyle and retirement aspirations. This is not only because such materials can help them get to know clients, but also because they sometimes have difficulty navigating conversations about personal or sensitive topics that ultimately play a role in clients’ financial plans. Resources that support personal planning discussions were therefore particularly valued, especially those addressing longevity, health care costs, retirement lifestyle aspirations, long-term care options and intergenerational wealth transfers.
“[The market] is our end of the puzzle that we solve. We need things, you know, tools to help us get [clients’] side of the puzzle, right? Which is where they’re going and their behaviors and what they’re trying to do.”
– David, 40, RIA
Building Trust Through Education: Resources That Support Portfolio Discussions
Client education also plays a key role in advisors’ ability to provide both financial planning and emotional support. When clients understand core concepts like diversification and inflation, they become more receptive to advice or reassurance during challenging conversations about performance and volatility. Several advisors also believe that understanding these concepts helps clients contribute more meaningfully to planning discussions and builds confidence in their investment strategies.
Our research revealed clear patterns in how advisors prefer to use and interact with support resources. We found that client-facing educational materials were extremely useful to advisors, with most study participants saying they would use such resources as talking points during client meetings rather than send materials directly to clients, allowing them to address questions or misconceptions on the spot. They especially appreciate resources containing historical market data—which they can use to contextualize portfolio performance during market downturns and reassure clients of their long-term strategy—and materials they can use to guide clients through core investment principles like diversification. When it came to these educational resources, advisors consistently emphasized the value of clear, straightforward visualizations for explaining complex concepts to clients.
Looking Ahead
As the industry continues to evolve, advisors are increasingly positioning themselves as holistic financial partners rather than simply investment managers. This shift toward personalized planning and emotional support suggests that tomorrow’s most successful advisors will be those who can effectively blend financial expertise with strong interpersonal skills. Asset managers similarly have an opportunity to offer advisors more than just the investments they need to build client portfolios. Firms that support advisors’ expanding roles through strategic practice management resources will find that their roles evolve too—from fund issuers to essential partners in advisors’ success.
Want to learn more about changing advisor needs and how firms can support them? Download a preview of this report using the form below.
Samantha Fritsch
Samantha Fritsch is the Research Manager on CI's asset management team.