The Preeminent Advisor Audio Podcast

Artificial intelligence isn't the future of wealth management—it's already here, shaking up our industry in ways we've never seen before. Financial advisors who harness AI will create efficiencies and scale, and deliver an elite client experience. Those who don't will be playing catch-up while the competition surges ahead. We see AI as even bigger then the PC and Internet revolutions, due to its potential for financial advisors to greatly amplify their impact on clients and their internal efficiency and productivity. In particular, there are three areas where AI stands to deliver tremendous benefits to wealth management practices. Listen to find out more! Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

The wealth management industry is shifting faster than ever. Demographics are changing, client expectations are rising, and the pace of change with technology is just unbelievable. The next few years will separate the firms that thrive from those that struggle to stay relevant. That's why it is more important than ever that you are on the front edge of the next wave of wealth management. With that in mind, The Preeminent Advisor Podcast recently spoke with Dennis Gallant, managing principal of strategic solutions at CEG Insights. Since the late 1980s, Dennis has been researching the financial services and financial advisory industries. He cites five trends that are driving the evolution of wealth management today. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

The wealth management industry is evolving very rapidly, and client expectations are shifting. Technology is playing a bigger role, and alternative investments are becoming more mainstream. Understanding these trends is crucial for financial advisors who want to stay ahead. With that in mind, CEG Insights surveyed more than 2,500 affluent investors on a range of topics about their investing and their advisor relationships. We identified seven key trends occurring in wealth management that all advisors need to be aware of so they can position themselves for greater success in the coming years. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly become one of the most talked-about and game-changing technologies ever. It's increasingly becoming part of more and more industries—including, of course, wealth management. Like any new, rapidly evolving technology, AI has its pros and cons—and its cheerleaders and detractors. But what do your clients think of it? And how important is it to them that you bring AI-enhanced services and solutions to their financial lives? To answer such questions, CEG Insights surveyed more than 1,300 investors—84% of whom have a net worth exceeding $1 million. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Cybersecurity is a key concern for advisors today—and with good reason, given that it seems there's a new corporate data breach just about every month. But while data security may be a big issue for you, you might not realize how important it also is to your high-net-worth clients—or what they want to see from you in this crucial area of their financial lives. With that in mind, CEG Insights surveyed more than 1,300 investors—84% of whom have a net worth exceeding $1 million. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

It's essentially impossible for financial advisors to build top practices by themselves. You've got to surround yourself with the right people, and put them in the right roles, to truly elevate your business. That goes double if your goal is to build a world-class advisory business and reach the pinnacle of financial advisor success. You surely don't need me to tell you how difficult it can be to hire, train, motivate and retain great people. But it's probably helpful to understand why the process can be so tough—and, more important, how you can take specific action steps to create a “dream team” of talent that can help bring your practice to a higher level of success than you may have ever thought possible. With that in mind, we asked Kirk Hulett for his best advice. For more than three decades, Kirk has guided elite financial professionals to transform their advisory teams into high-performance engines that drive 58% more revenue than traditional solo models. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Between financial advisors and affluent clients social media defies conventional wisdom about digital engagement. Although it's largely viewed by clients as a “nice to have” feature from their advisors rather than a must-have, social media can play an important role in enhancing credibility and positioning. With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the complexities around advisors' and clients' views of social media—and how you might better navigate this landscape. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

We know what financial advisors want for a website in 2025.  Technology has become an essential part of investors' lives across virtually all generations. Whether they're Boomers, Xers, Millennials or Gen Zers, your clients likely expect you to provide them with tech that they can access to make their lives easier. Fail to do so adequately and you face the real risk of losing them to advisors with better capabilities. With that in mind, consider some key steps you consider when it comes to ensuring your website tech and resources are helping—not hurting—your client acquisition and retention efforts. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

One of the smartest moves you can make as a financial advisor is to understand the wants, needs and concerns of ultra-wealthy investors—those with $25 million or more in net worth. One big reason: Advisors with the wealthiest clients tend to generate the highest incomes. Positioning your practice to attract these investors can be a key driver of your success going forward. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

As a focused financial advisor, one of the smartest moves you can make is understanding the wants, needs and concerns of investors with $25 million or more in net worth. CEG Insights surveyed 350 households that had $25 million or more in net worth, not including the value of their primary residence. Some of the key findings include... Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

CEG Insights reveal three more strategies successful financial advisors use to generate amazing results. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

The most successful financial advisors in the industry—those generating a net income of more than $1 million annually—do things differently than their peers. The fact is, we found that the top-earning advisors today are implementing a few key best practices that are empowering them to raise their game and achieve truly exceptional financial results. The good news: You can adopt their strategies and enhance your own results. Here's how to get started. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

There's a perception out there that affluent clients are being well served by their existing financial advisors and that the solutions they need are, by and large, already in place by the time we encounter these investors as potential prospects. Guess what? It's just not the case. In fact, there are some major gaps in wealth planning that exist—even among the wealthiest individuals. That's really good news for you. It means you have tremendous opportunities to demonstrate to HNW prospects that you can add real value to their financial lives and to the lives of the people they care about most. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

What do the affluent really look for in a financial advisor? If you knew the answer to that question, you could focus your prospecting and marketing efforts on the areas that really matter—and attract more than your fair share of new wealthy clients. The good news: We surveyed some 1,500 investors—the majority of whom have at least $1 million dollars of net worth—and they revealed that factors that are most important to them when choosing a new financial advisor. Let's find out! Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

As a financial advisor, you know full well that there's never a shortage of challenges and concerns on your clients' minds. But how up-to-speed are you on the specific issues that are currently top of mind for the affluent? CEG Insights recently interviewed some 1,200 investors—more than 1,100 of whom have at least $1 million dollars of net worth—about what's got them worried. Let's find out! Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

As a financial advisor, you don't need us to tell you that in order to effectively serve high affluent clients, you need to know what those clients are thinking—their outlooks, perspectives and levels of engagement with their financial wealth. If you're not certain where the affluent stand on such issues, you're in luck: We've got some key answers for you, based on CEG Insights' latest survey of more than 1,250 wealthy individuals—roughly 80% of whom have more than $1 million dollars of net worth (excluding the value of their primary residence). Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Here are six essential strategies for financial advisors engaging these next-gen clients and setting yourself up to win their business.  For starters, there are lots of them—as millennials represent the largest age demographic these days. They're also inheriting significant wealth. Even better: They report feeling unprepared to deal with that wealth, and are very interested in working with financial advisors who can help them navigate the process.  Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

It's no secret that financial advisors who want to serve wealthier clients need to go where the money is. Traditionally, that's meant courting baby boomers. Today, however, moving upmarket increasingly means attracting and serving younger generations. For example: Millennials represent the largest age demographic category—they are the clients of the future. Millennials are heading toward their prime earning years, professionally. Millennials and Gen Z-ers are inheriting significant wealth. Millennials and Gen Z-ers are interested in working with financial advisors. CEG Insights recently surveyed more than 700 affluent millennials (along with more than 150 Gen Z-ers) about their wealth. What they told us may have major implications for how advisors manage their practices in the coming years. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Financial advisors today understand the importance of having a great team in place to support them and grow their practice. Unfortunately, many of those advisors don't know how to build such a team. That's because they're essentially “accidental CEOs.” They didn't become advisors to hire and motivate employees, but they find themselves needing to do exactly those things in order to achieve the success they seek. Being an accidental CEO can lead to challenges and problems that hold advisory practices back. The good news: There are steps you can take to transform your team all the way to pinnacle of success—the dream team. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Greatness rarely, if ever, results from the efforts of just one person. As an advisor, the people you surround yourself with—your team—play an enormous role in the outcomes you're currently enjoying (or not enjoying, as the case may be). With that in mind, here's a research-based look at how advisors view the strength and importance of their teams. Spoiler alert: There are many areas of opportunity for advisors to build better teams—and, by doing so, achieve a much higher level of success. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Entrepreneurs are among the largest groups of affluent investors we see—and that alone makes them an ideal niche for many advisors. But as we highlighted in our previous podcast, there are numerous other reasons why you might want to be focused on serving high-net-worth entrepreneurs right now. Many entrepreneurs are seriously considering switching their current primary advisors. These entrepreneurs aren't happy with the overall results they're getting, including poor communication levels from their advisors. Business owners prefer advisors who can address both their professional financial concerns and their personal financial needs and wants. Here's how to take advantage of affluent entrepreneurs' dissatisfaction with their current advisors and their desire to work with professionals who can take a holistic approach with them. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Top research firm, CEG Insights recently surveyed more than 1,600 affluent entrepreneurs in various industries (including professional services, retail and manufacturing). Here's what we learned—and what our findings could mean to the future of your practice. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

We've provided a wealthy of insights on affluent clients' opinions about technology's role in their financial lives—what they want (and don't want) from their advisors in areas such as tech-enabled outreach and communication, information and education on your website, social media outlets, financial planning tech, and emerging tools such as AI.  Taken together, those findings point to 10 key tech strategies that you should seriously consider implementing in your practice. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Financial advisors are continually being encouraged to adopt and leverage emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence. These tools do have the potential to improve advisory practices in important ways—such as more efficient communications, stronger client service and more robust financial analysis. But how aggressively do you need to incorporate leading-edge tech into your practice? Here's what clients are saying about their interest in AI and similar tech when it comes to their financial lives. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Financial technology is a hot-button issue for many advisors as they attempt to offer tech that investors want and value, while also not going overboard with “bells and whistles” that clients are likely to ignore. Given how rapidly the tech landscape changes, that can be a tall order. With that in mind, here's a look at some of the ways today's affluent clients view fin-tech. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Here's a look at affluent affluent investors' latest attitudes about some key technologies—and the potential implications of those attitudes on your financial advisory practice. There's no question that many affluent investors are increasingly turning to technology as an essential part of their investment journey. That means they're looking to you—their advisors—to offer tech-enhanced access to information, insights and communication. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

As an advisor, your expertise and the ability to communicate that expertise to your clients are some of the biggest areas of value you bring to the table. In fact, one CEG Insights survey found that more than 90% of clients say that getting educated on financial topics by their advisor is valuable or beneficial. With that in mind, here's a look at what advisors' affluent clients want to know more about—and how they want those insights delivered. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Bringing technology into your practice these days is easy. Choosing the right tech for your business and using it effectively can be far more challenging propositions, however. Take technology-enabled client communication. There are myriad technologies you can use to deliver information and messaging to clients and prospects. The right ones for you will be those that resonate most with your ideal clients. So here's a question: Do you know how your clients want you to communicate with them? If you do, you can start to make more informed decisions about the tech you want to bring into your practice. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Many of your affluent clients and prospects are thinking more and more about legacy these days—specifically, how they can transfer not just assets but also their values and beliefs to their heirs. For your clients to be able to preserve their wealth and use it purposefully across generations, you should effectively engage them—and, importantly, the next generation—in the area of legacy planning. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

“If you build it, they will come.” No, we're not suggesting you turn a cornfield into a baseball diamond. But if you want to attract ultra-wealthy clients, you might consider building a virtual family office (VFO). Our latest research strongly suggests that offering a VFO experience to the right clients will constitute a major growth engine for advisors in the coming years. Here's what the affluent have to say about family offices—and what it means to implement a VFO business model in your practice. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

The fact is, far too many of these highly affluent investors are not getting—or don't recognize they're getting—important services that could add tremendous value to their lives. Nor are they enjoying the benefits that come when those services work in concert with each other to deliver better, more comprehensive outcomes. Financial advisors today have an extraordinary opportunity to attract, serve and retain ultra-wealthy clients—those with a net worth of $25 million or more. The key to making that happen: Bring additional expertise into these clients' financial lives and coordinate the efforts of the professionals who possess that expertise. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

The wealthiest investors today aren't content to let their advisors fully take the wheel when it comes to making decisions about their assets. To the contrary, they want a hands-on role in investment management—partnering with their advisors in the decision-making process so they feel they're involved in “steering the ship” as they seek to build and protect their wealth. This desire for active involvement has some big implications if you want to move upmarket and attract (and retain) more affluent clients to your practice. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

Some of you reading this—maybe even a lot of you—don't have any clients with a net worth of $25 million or more. Others might have one or two of these ultra-wealthy clients, but they're outliers rather than the focus of your business model. There's no law saying you have to serve the ultra-wealthy, of course. If you're happy and successful serving clients with lower net worths, go right ahead and keep on doing what you're doing. But in our experience, many advisors look at the ultra-wealthy space with a great deal of envy. They want these clients—but they don't think they can serve them well. The result: They spend their careers wishing they could move upmarket, but being too fearful to take action.  Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

As advisors, you're extremely comfortable delving into your clients' financial goals so you can craft plans, portfolios and other solutions aimed at getting them to those desired outcomes. But what if you went beyond the financial issues by also helping your clients build a life of deep personal significance and meaning? It turns out, you stand to gain a lot by providing leadership and guidance in key non-financial areas of your clients' lives. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

In today's world, where it's challenging for investors to differentiate between various financial services providers, standing out requires more than just getting good returns on investments. What makes you different in the eyes of affluent prospects and clients is how well you can help people achieve what truly matters to them in life, beyond reaching their financial goals. To do that, you need to first recognize what your clients want out of life and what “living their best life” means to each of them. Only then can you position yourself to help clients realize what matters most to them. If you can craft a value proposition that empowers them to pursue their key financial and nonfinancial aspirations, you'll move a huge step closer to becoming a preeminent advisor. Are you helping your clients live their best life? Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

We all know that success in life often means different things to different people. Some of your clients may say they'll feel successful when their net worth hits a certain level, while others will measure their success by whether they're able to pursue specific goals without worrying about their financial health. One of the many factors that can play a role in how clients define a meaningful, successful life is gender. Men and women think in different ways, which in turn can take them down divergent paths toward their specific success destinations. Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.

The fact is, “being rich” is no longer enough for most clients. Today, success involves a lot more—including personal and professional achievement, a sense of happiness and a larger purpose. What's more, the definition of a highly successful life can vary greatly depending on whether the client sitting across from you is a baby boomer, a Gen-Xer or a millennial. The upshot: To build strong relationships, you need a deep understanding of each client's view of a successful life. Discovering how your clients see success can potentially help you generate significant organic growth Watch, read or listen to find out more on our website for top financial advisors at CEGWorldwide.Com.  

There is one thing you can start doing right away to ensure that you fully understand what's important to your clients, communicate proactively and build greater trust with them. It's called the discovery process, and it's designed to help advisors develop a very deep and thorough understanding of their clients so they can ultimately create a total client profile. This discovery process involves asking a series of questions in seven key categories—only one of which is about financial assets and “the numbers.”  Watch, read or listen to find out more here.

Advisors who help their clients navigate through today's financial stormy weather will be well positioned for tremendous success. The reason: Your clients—even the extremely affluent ones—are concerned about a number of issues going on in the world today and how those issues might negatively impact their sense of financial security. That means you've got to make sure you're clear on what your clients are worried about—and then take steps to discuss and address those fears so that your clients feel that they're supported and in the hands of a real leader. Here's how to make that happen.

FACE THE FACTS To see just how important wealth management is to affluent clients, consider research by CEG Insights that assessed the impact that offering comprehensive wealth management services has on client loyalty: 77% of clients with $1 million to $5 million in investable assets say that getting wealth management services from their advisor has an impact on their loyalty to that advisor.. Among clients with $5 million to $10 million, 75% said wealth management affected their loyalty to their advisor. Clearly, high-net-worth investors value receiving wealth management services—and they're very likely to reward advisors who deliver it with their loyalty and their assets.

The next 12 to 36 months may very well be the best time that advisors will ever see in their career to really transform their business by taking on a significant number of higher net worth clients. The reason: A truly shocking number of affluent investors are either actively looking to work with new advisors or are highly open to the idea of switching. The good news: You can take steps right now to put yourself out in front of what looks to be an historic opportunity to grow your business and become a preeminent advisor.

“Ask and you shall receive” is one of those lessons that so often ends up being true in life. For financial advisors, it's advice that can go a long way toward building much greater client loyalty and attracting lots of additional assets. Trouble is, most advisors don't ask their clients about important details that could mean a stronger business and a life of real significance. It's time to change that. Watch or listen and find out how.

The levels of confusion and volatility that advisors' clients are experiencing today are off the charts. High inflation that hasn't been seen in decades, rapidly rising interest rates, concerns about the health of the entire banking sector, the ongoing war in Ukraine—the list goes on and on. Many investors—particularly younger ones—have never had to deal with so much uncertainty and how it could impact their financial lives. For advisors, this confusing environment spells opportunity—the opportunity to deepen relationships with existing clients as well as attract new clients in need of advice and leadership. Key Takeaways: Too many advisors aren't reaching out to clients about the confusion and volatility in today's market. Offer reassurance and leadership to clients now, and they'll reward you with loyalty and assets. Attract new prospects by showing you're one of the advisors who proactively helps clients navigate uncertainty. FACE THE FACTS Unfortunately, CEG Insights research reveals that far too many clients of financial advisors say they aren't getting the guidance and help they desperately want from those advisors. For example: Fewer than half of advisors—45%—have recently reached out to clients to get them more involved in the investment process, even though around 65% of investors say they want to be involved on a regular basis. Just 59% of advisors have reached out to clients to discuss market volatility. (In today's environment, that should be close to 100% instead.) The good news: CEG Insights research shows that advisors who do take these steps can see powerful results. 8% of clients whose advisors got them more involved in the investment process gave the advisors additional assets—while 10% said it deepened their relationship with the advisors. 7% of clients whose advisors discussed market volatility with them gave the advisors additional assets—and 12% said it deepened their relationship with the advisors. INSIGHTS INTO ACTION Clearly, it's a great time—a crucial time—to reach out to clients about today's uncertainty and engage with them. Here's how to do it: 1. Give clients the opportunity to be heard. Check in with clients specifically about the recent volatility and uncertainty. When you do, give them permission to express how they feel about it and listen to them. During rough patches, clients might be nervous to share their true underlying feelings. So it's important to give clients some framing when you check in during periods of volatility. Say something like, "Hey, I'm calling because markets have been extremely volatile lately, and inflation is really causing some issues, and that's causing a lot of clients to feel uncertain and anxious. So I wanted to check in and see how are you doing., Do you have any questions?" That helps facilitate an honest conversation and demonstrates that you care about your clients' best interests. 2. Offer reassurance and leadership. In periods of uncertainty, clients want to know how the volatility affects them, how they should behave and the right actions for them to take. They want to know that you've seen this before and you know what to do—and not do. Be clear that volatile or down markets always pass. And, importantly, bring the conversation back to each client's personal situation—their specific plan and goals, and what the current environment means for their lives. 3. Go on offense. The CEG Insights findings above highlight that many investors today aren't getting the guidance they need from their advisors. Ask your top clients, centers of influence and other who are important to your success if they know of anyone who might benefit from meeting with a proactive advisor like yourself who can give them much needed clarity they may be lacking. Asking for introductions or offering a second-opinion service can be especially effectively in today's cloudy environment. Ultimately, high-net-worth clients will gravitate to those advisors who really know how to show leadership and provide the communication that the research says that the affluent want. Take steps today to ensure that you're one of those select advisors. ------------------------------------------------   The Preeminent Financial Advisor Podcast is designed to help you in two highly valuable ways: 1. In each episode, you'll get the latest empirical research on the attitudes, wants and needs of high-net-worth clients as well as the best practices of some of the most successful financial advisors in the business today. So often, advisors are surprised by what their clients are looking for from them. Our research will help give you a crystal-clear view of what the affluent expect from you today so you can set out to meet—and exceed—those expectations. Our research will also reveal what top advisors practicing today are doing to win the hearts, minds and assets of the affluent—so you can take a page from their playbook! 2. Of course, data is nothing if you can't put action behind it. So in each episode, we'll offer action steps for success rooted in the research and insights we uncover. That means you'll discover actionable strategies to implement that can help you move toward becoming the preeminent advisor in your market. SCHEDULE YOUR FREE PLAY TO WIN CONSULTATION NOW  

What if you could serve fewer but wealthier clients, do it faster than you ever thought possible, and build an amazing life of significance for yourself and the people you care about most? We created The Preeminent Financial Advisor Podcast to help you accomplish those key goals. Simply put, preeminent means surpassing all others. We want to help you attain a level of success that you may not have ever considered—or that maybe you've imagined but haven't figured out how to achieve. When high-net-worth investors in your market think of who the top advisor is, it's your name that immediately comes to mind. Key Takeaways: Empirical research into HNW investors and best practices of top financial advisors. Actionable, proven strategies designed to propel advisors to the pinnacle of success. Powerful combination of CEG Worldwide and CEG Insights. To access the Pay to Win Report discussed in this podcast, click here. The Preeminent Financial Advisor Podcast is designed to help you in two highly valuable ways: 1. In each episode, you'll get the latest empirical research on the attitudes, wants and needs of high-net-worth clients as well as the best practices of some of the most successful financial advisors in the business today. So often, advisors are surprised by what their clients are looking for from them. Our research will help give you a crystal-clear view of what the affluent expect from you today so you can set out to meet—and exceed—those expectations. Our research will also reveal what top advisors practicing today are doing to win the hearts, minds and assets of the affluent—so you can take a page from their playbook! 2. Of course, data is nothing if you can't put action behind it. So in each episode, we'll offer action steps for success rooted in the research and insights we uncover. That means you'll discover actionable strategies to implement that can help you move toward becoming the preeminent advisor in your market. SCHEDULE YOUR FREE PLAY TO WIN CONSULTATION NOW