Defining Your Value Advantage as a Financial Advisor

Matthew Riesenweber:

When you think about a financial advisor, somebody thinks about returns, and I think it's so much more than that. I think clients want to know they have a partner, somebody they can trust, somebody they can have confidence in them, somebody that's going to hold their hand through the good times and the bad. You know, everybody looks great and everything is great when the market's doing well, but what about when it's not doing well?

Janet Fox:

I think clients value our expertise differently than maybe the value we brought to them five, 10, 20 years ago. The landscape has changed. Clients are very astute, they're very knowledgeable about investments. However, our value is more than just, what is my portfolio returning today? It's setting the client up for different points in their future and different points in time with regard to retirement goals, education needs, long-term care needs, insurance.

We will have conference calls with their attorneys and CPAs, have individual meetings, whether in-person or via Zoom or phone, that we can bring the different expertise and have a joint discussion with our clients and the other professionals that they may need to work with in order to ensure that all of their questions are being answered and that all of their financial needs and other issues in terms of their wealth management process are being addressed.

Branden Mann:

Citizen Financial Services provides value by doing many things. Our number one thing that we're known for is that we conduct a lot of tax-loss harvesting, which was very important for 2022 with a down market. What I believe in is using a six-foot by four-foot whiteboard and writing everything down and being able to change it and be interactive. Then we take a photo of that, and I erase the board and the next time we meet we can do it again.

Matthew Riesenweber:

Our statement we make to clients all the time is that we try to charge the same or lower fees than our competitors and add more value. Now, how we add that value is somewhat unique. A lot of people say they're financial planners and you hear that as a buzzword these days. We of course have CFPs on the team who do true financial planning. But we also go above and beyond that. We have an attorney on our team. We don't charge extra for their time and their knowledge and their expertise. But the idea behind it is we've always felt like we were experts at planning and investment insurance, retirement, but we only felt like we were okay in estate planning, business planning, and tax planning. So adding an attorney to the team, who not only has his J.D. but a Master's in taxation, allowed us to really be experts in estate planning, business planning and tax planning as well.

Branden Mann:

Clients value for me, my rapid responses to their emails or phone calls, my attention to detail, and my hundred-percent, hands-on approach.

Matthew Riesenweber:

I think they're looking for a robust team of fiduciaries, people that have the client's interest ahead of their own.

Janet Fox:

I think today what a client needs from an advisor is communication. Communicating with the client through good times and bad, making sure that you're available to answer their questions and addressing their needs.

Matthew Riesenweber:

You know, life throws us a lot of curve balls. The market throws us a lot of curve balls, and at the end of the day when you can show a client a financial plan and say, hey, you can retire when you wanted to, or you can stay retired and you can keep drawing the same income you were prior. And that adds a ton of value, a ton of confidence, a ton of great feelings for those clients.