Advisers need to be digital doctors
Financial advisers need to start being digital application doctors to their clients and think about what applications they can use to help clients.
That is the recommendation from University of California professor Shlomo Benartzi, who told the 2014 Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) conference in Melbourne financial advisers who do not keep up with the digital revolution will crumble.
"You want to help your clients manage their money, and it's not just the investment funds," Benartzi said.
"It's really helping them with budgeting. Then there's the question of which apps do you put on the phone. I would argue that designing websites for your members, picking apps, that's where you're going to need to move."
People tend to say things on screen that they otherwise would not allow themselves to say.
This could be a good opportunity for advisers to use thinking apps to collect information on how clients experience loss and gain in investments and design personalised reports and products accordingly, Benartzi said.
"People are a lot more likely to disclose their unhealthy behaviours on screen. The screen doesn't judge you, doesn't look at you in the eye."
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