The last couple of months in the wealth management space, and the world in general, have definitely been one for the books. When else in history has so much changed in so short a time?
It seems just yesterday that the markets could do no wrong, as record high after record high was logged and investor expectations were following a similar path. That all stopped in just a few short weeks as COVID-19 made its unstoppable way through the world. However, in every crisis comes opportunity, so in the world of wealth management, what is working for advisors?
Early reports show that advisory firms who had contingency plans in place, including things like video conferencing capabilities and a cloud-based technology stack were positioned to respond to today’s new normal. They were resilient and able to get up and running, working from home and communicating with clients directly through multiple technology channels. In fact, advisors working with the Black Diamond® Wealth Platform showed a dramatic increase in communication traffic and activity for the Black Diamond Relationship Timeline.
Designed to provide a visual, curated stream of a client’s life journey, the Relationship Timeline in Black Diamond’s award-winning Client Experience portal has been a powerful tool to share information, updates, reports, market commentary and other critical information about what is happening during this global health crisis. Relationship Timeline provides a secure, collaborative, advisor-client experience where both advisors and their clients can track the history of the relationship and provide context around portfolio opportunities and changes. This ability to connect and communicate with clients has been invaluable and definitely is working in helping advisors stay in contact and nurture relationships and referrals.
Strategic rebalancing and tax loss harvesting has been another key area of opportunity. Through the powerful Black Diamond Rebalancer, advisors receive automatic notifications informing them of client accounts that can benefit from selling securities at a loss. Simultaneously, the Rebalancer can then replace that security with a similar one to avoid wash sales rules, keep the risk profile of the portfolio, and benefit from the ultimate rebound in markets.
By saving clients what could be tens of thousands of dollars or more in taxes, advisors are sending a powerful message showing that they are continually working on their client’s behalf.
To survive and thrive in volatile times, advisors need to have a comprehensive technology infrastructure that is nimble, cloud-based, and can adapt to varying circumstances—great advice during good times, and even better in times like these.
To learn more about how the Black Diamond Wealth Platform can help you, your clients and your business, check out our many advisor stories.
