The Financial Planning Association of Australia has launched its Future of the Statement of Advice (SoA) digital interactive guide to help financial advisers develop more accessible, personalised and meaningful client experiences during the advice process.
The FPA says in its pre-Christmas announcement that advancements in technology allow for the more efficient production of SoAs, as well as a more effective communication tool by using icons, symbols, graphics, expandable and linked text, audio and video to better engage and inform clients.
FPA CEO, Dante De Gori, said that earlier in 2019 the association invited a wide and diverse group of financial planning professionals to form a Future of the SoA working group, and set the challenge to create a vision of what the future SoA could look like.
He said the guide includes a series of videos that cover topics relating to digital SoA production and delivery, as well as six sample digital SoAs created by fintech providers which advisers can implement in their practices. The guide can also be accessed in audio or text format.
De Gori sees the guide as representing a starting point for the next decade of financial planning.
De Gori sees the guide as representing a starting point for the next decade of financial planning.
“We must start to ‘break paper’ and utilise the full breadth of digital, tech and communication modes available to allow advice delivery to be more accessible, personalised and meaningful for clients.
“The audience for the SoA must be the client, not the compliance manager of our licensee. Research shows only eight percent of consumers have a preference for the written paper-based documents we produce today. The other 92 percent of clients learn best by watching, listening, engaging and testing to come to their understanding of their financial plan,” he said.
The interactive guide on the Future of the SoA includes the topics:
- The evolution of SoA
- How can we help our clients digest information from an SoA?
- What are the next stages in our evolution?
- What happens when the technology evolves?
- Aims of the example interactive SoA
- Design and layout of the interactive SoA
- Will my compliance team come on board?
Click here for the full list of topics, examples of digital SoAs and access to the Future of the SOA digital interactive guide
Wow! Love this idea of making SoAs more visual and appealing in every way! I am frustrated with having to provide uninspiring SoAs which are impossible for clients to understand, and are full of disclosures of every possible fee just in case something happens and cause us to lose business. As advisers, we need to inspire our clients to take action by showing them how they would benefit from having a financial plan. Let’s stop saying ” Sorry, this table/section/fee is not relevant to you, but I have to put it there for compliance reasons” . Let’s all support this idea with our hearts and souls. “Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.” Laurie Buchanan PhD author of Note To Self.
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