Latest news with #Wealthtender
Yahoo
30-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Maintaining Client Relationships During Off-Hours
Surf's up … right after this client call. Whether it's summer vacation, spring break, or even just the weekend, everyone needs time off, and in wealth management, that can lead to conflicts since clients increasingly expect that they should be able to reach their advisor at a moment's notice. With a little bit of planning and boundary-setting, however, advisors and clients can come to a middle ground where no one's water-skiing lesson is interrupted to discuss market moves. READ ALSO: New Stablecoin Bills Are Normalizing Crypto for Advisors and AI Set to Play More of a Role in Investment Selection Ring, Ring Technology helps. Whether it's through emails, phone calls, video chats, or in-person meetings, clients have more ways to access their advisors today than ever before. And that access is key for long-term relationships: Nearly 90% of client reviews about advisors focus on relationship quality and emotional factors, while just 10% focus on investments and portfolio management, according to a recent study from Wealthtender, a platform that helps people find advisors. The report also found that one of the top priorities for clients is having advisors who are easy to reach and responsive to questions. Real-time access to an advisor is common at family offices. 'Those are the people who are like, 'I need the answer yesterday,'' said Chad Maggard, managing director of family office services at Johnson Investment Counsel. His solution? A second-chair advisor who maintains the office while he's away. 'He's a rising star and can respond to our clients just as well as I can,' Maggard told Advisor Upside. That always-available mindset is showing up in smaller, traditional firms too, sometimes at a cost. 'I actually left my job where this was an underlying expectation,' said Omen Quelvog, founder of Formynder Wealth Management. Now solo, he sets clear availability guidelines upfront, which he said clients appreciate. 'While I love being an advisor and I love my clients, I also love my time on holidays,' he told Advisor Upside. Gotta Do What You Gotta Do. Even with boundaries and other colleagues in place, surprises happen. 'I was in Spain when a client called about a market dip and a cash-raise for unexpected expenses,' said Dennis Huergo, an advisor at Wealth Enhancement. 'I stepped away from a wine-tasting to talk them through it and loop in my team stateside. That's just part of the job sometimes.' This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive financial advisor news, market insights, and practice management essentials, subscribe to our free Advisor Upside newsletter.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Retirement Issues That Exist Today but Didn't Exist 20 Years Ago
The oldest baby boomers are turning 80 this year in a country where people are living longer, chronic conditions are becoming more common and retirement seems increasingly out of reach for ordinary seniors — but it wasn't always that way. Be Aware: Try This: Twenty years ago, at the start of the 21st century, the retirement landscape looked much different, largely because of three issues that were out of mind back then but impossible for retirees to ignore in 2025. Fidelity's 2024 Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate report found that today's seniors can expect to spend $165,000 on healthcare and medical costs throughout their retirements — more than double the study's inaugural estimate in 2002. Inflationary pressures make everything more expensive over time — but over the last 20 years, late-life healthcare has been in a class by itself. Wealthtender analyzed historical CPI data to show that healthcare inflation has risen by 3.36% since 2002, compared to 2.53% for overall inflation. That difference might seem negligible for younger adults who spend less, but considering healthcare costs can leap from 15% to 50% of your budget in retirement, what was a costly but largely manageable expense 20 years ago has become a primary nest egg killer today. Consider This: According to the National Council on Aging (NCOA), roughly seven out of 10 people turning 65 today will need some form of long-term care (LTC) in their lifetimes. However, Statista reports that the average annual cost is $26,000 to $127,750, depending on the type of service, which puts LTC out of reach for most ordinary families. Two decades ago, LTC insurance was still widely available — but not anymore. When reporting on the crisis in 2021, CNBC found that insurers had badly mispriced policies in the 1990s and early 2000s, which forced them either to jack up premiums to unaffordable levels or, more commonly, abandon the LTC market altogether. Either way, the result is that today, insurers issue just a 'tiny fraction' of the policies they sold 20 years ago. A 2024 NCOA report found that the COVID-19 pandemic was a watershed moment for financial security among America's retirees. Living on a fixed income was always a challenge, but the COVID-19 crisis forced more retirees to get by with less. In 2020, roughly 50% of adults 60 and older had household incomes below their area's Elder Index, meaning their average income wasn't enough to afford their basic needs. That was a 5% increase over 2018 alone, and the decline in household wealth relative to expenses for seniors has declined even more dramatically when compared to 2016 data — much less data from 20 years ago. More From GOBankingRates 5 Types of Vehicles Retirees Should Stay Away From Buying 7 Tax Loopholes the Rich Use To Pay Less and Build More Wealth 4 Things You Should Do if You Want To Retire Early How Much Money Is Needed To Be Considered Middle Class in Every State? Sources Fidelity, 'Fidelity Investments® Releases 2024 Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate as Americans Seek Clarity Around Medicare Selection.' Wealthtender, 'The Cost of Healthcare in Retirement Keeps Rising. These Tips Will Help You Prepare.' CNBC, 'Aging baby boomers raise the risk of a long-term-care crisis in the U.S.' National Council on Aging, 'Increases in Older Americans' Income and Household Assets Still Cannot Support Most During Financial Hardship.' This article originally appeared on 3 Retirement Issues That Exist Today but Didn't Exist 20 Years Ago Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Retirement Issues That Exist Today but Didn't Exist 20 Years Ago
The oldest baby boomers are turning 80 this year in a country where people are living longer, chronic conditions are becoming more common and retirement seems increasingly out of reach for ordinary seniors — but it wasn't always that way. Be Aware: Try This: Twenty years ago, at the start of the 21st century, the retirement landscape looked much different, largely because of three issues that were out of mind back then but impossible for retirees to ignore in 2025. Fidelity's 2024 Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate report found that today's seniors can expect to spend $165,000 on healthcare and medical costs throughout their retirements — more than double the study's inaugural estimate in 2002. Inflationary pressures make everything more expensive over time — but over the last 20 years, late-life healthcare has been in a class by itself. Wealthtender analyzed historical CPI data to show that healthcare inflation has risen by 3.36% since 2002, compared to 2.53% for overall inflation. That difference might seem negligible for younger adults who spend less, but considering healthcare costs can leap from 15% to 50% of your budget in retirement, what was a costly but largely manageable expense 20 years ago has become a primary nest egg killer today. Consider This: According to the National Council on Aging (NCOA), roughly seven out of 10 people turning 65 today will need some form of long-term care (LTC) in their lifetimes. However, Statista reports that the average annual cost is $26,000 to $127,750, depending on the type of service, which puts LTC out of reach for most ordinary families. Two decades ago, LTC insurance was still widely available — but not anymore. When reporting on the crisis in 2021, CNBC found that insurers had badly mispriced policies in the 1990s and early 2000s, which forced them either to jack up premiums to unaffordable levels or, more commonly, abandon the LTC market altogether. Either way, the result is that today, insurers issue just a 'tiny fraction' of the policies they sold 20 years ago. A 2024 NCOA report found that the COVID-19 pandemic was a watershed moment for financial security among America's retirees. Living on a fixed income was always a challenge, but the COVID-19 crisis forced more retirees to get by with less. In 2020, roughly 50% of adults 60 and older had household incomes below their area's Elder Index, meaning their average income wasn't enough to afford their basic needs. That was a 5% increase over 2018 alone, and the decline in household wealth relative to expenses for seniors has declined even more dramatically when compared to 2016 data — much less data from 20 years ago. More From GOBankingRates 5 Types of Vehicles Retirees Should Stay Away From Buying 7 Tax Loopholes the Rich Use To Pay Less and Build More Wealth 4 Things You Should Do if You Want To Retire Early How Much Money Is Needed To Be Considered Middle Class in Every State? Sources Fidelity, 'Fidelity Investments® Releases 2024 Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate as Americans Seek Clarity Around Medicare Selection.' Wealthtender, 'The Cost of Healthcare in Retirement Keeps Rising. These Tips Will Help You Prepare.' CNBC, 'Aging baby boomers raise the risk of a long-term-care crisis in the U.S.' National Council on Aging, 'Increases in Older Americans' Income and Household Assets Still Cannot Support Most During Financial Hardship.' This article originally appeared on 3 Retirement Issues That Exist Today but Didn't Exist 20 Years Ago Sign in to access your portfolio
