The Covid-19 pandemic has not only impacted people’s health and livelihoods; it has also had a dramatic impact on clients’ finances, global investment markets and the world economy. South Africans are uncertain of the future and their family’s health. Budgets are tighter and many families have had to make tough trade-offs between adjusting their financial policies and cutting out non-essential expenses from their budgets.
Clients will need practical help from their trusted financial advisors to think through all these factors, needs and trade-offs and decide what’s best for them in their circumstances. On the investments side, we have been here before. 1929. 1987. 2000. 2008. Investors who panicked at the wrong time and switched to cash missed out.
Similar to previous recoveries, the key was and will always be about time in the market, not timing the market. But it is not easy to convince clients of this. Advising your clients with a coaching approach will help your clients reevaluate their priorities and finances sustainably and holistically. It will ensure that they don’t give in to short-term emotional discomfort at the cost of their long-term financial health and growth.
Momentum Intermediary Coaching Programme
With that backdrop in mind, Momentum is launching a 12-month financial coaching programme for independent financial advisors starting in February 2021 that will run over the digital platform Zoom with a total of 18 contact sessions including six practical group coaching sessions.
The Momentum Intermediary Coaching Programme will empower independent financial advisors with the insights, knowledge and power skills to, in turn, have empowering conversations with their clients about their finances, helping them in their journey to success. The programme aims to equip financial advisors with the necessary skills to support, influence and guide their clients to integrate their money and life decisions seamlessly and to stay focused on their long-term financial health and personal growth.
According to the Centre for Applied Research (CAR), the financial services industry faces a “crisis of faith”: clients have a growing distrust in financial advisors, often voicing their dissatisfaction with what they deem to be costly advice, which they could have gotten on the Internet for free. They mistakenly believe they are capable of managing their personal finances better than professionals. On top of this, research indicates that millennial’s prefer digital touchpoints and Robo advice above getting advice from a human advisor. This trend has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent rapid adoption of technology in every aspect of our lives, including our personal finances.
The programme seeks to plug this gap and help financial advisors of the future to remain relevant, not just in terms of helping their clients to navigate their finances but to navigate that critical intersection of where their life and money meet.
Financial advisors that want to remain relevant in a post-Covid-19 world will need to re-imagine their roles by rethinking and inventing themselves to future-proof their client value propositions and to have a better connection with their clients, through coaching their clients.
Simply knowing and understanding the financial services industry and investment landscape no longer suffices in our modern technologically filled world. At Momentum, we believe that there is a science to success and helping your clients to meet their life and money goals by having the ability to speak not only to your clients’ head (rational thoughts), but also to their heart (emotions) and hands (actions).
The programme will help financial advisors adopt a “coaching approach” when engaging with their clients. As a financial advisor of the future, you will understand the “money psyche” of your clients and, with your highly developed interpersonal power skills, you will be able to listen, question, guide, counsel, empathise and, most importantly, coach your clients to financial success.
It is from this need that a new field within financial planning has grown, called “Life Planning” or “Financial Life Planning” and herein lies the future and endless possibilities and value of the advice profession.
Throughout all the programme modules, there will be theoretical and practical input in six key areas, namely:
- Coaching theory and practice
- Behavioural finance and investments
- Communication theory and practice
- Human psychology
- Life planning
- Financial planning
In addition to supporting the overall transition of the financial services industry from a product-led to an advice-led and client-centric industry, the Momentum Intermediary Coaching Programme has also added an enterprise and supplier development (ESD) angle by providing funding support and assistance to qualifying enterprises in terms of applicable ESD legislation.
This funding assistance has been facilitated through our partnership with ASISA as Momentum’s ESD partner in supporting SMEs, while Fundhouse will independently facilitate the virtual delivery of the programme.
We believe this direct funding support and assistance for qualifying and deserving applicants to join the programme will enable and facilitate increased diversity, inclusion and indeed the transformation of the financial services industry for the benefit of all. Over time this intervention aims to support the growth and incubation of a younger, more gender-balanced and racially diverse industry that will be able to reach an equally diverse and growing consumer base.
Momentum has always believed in the power of partnerships and we are excited to launch this
industry transformative Programme in partnership with ASISA and Fundhouse to unlock the value and relevance of independent financial advisors while supporting overall inclusive growth and progressive client outcomes for the end consumer.
Visit www.momentum.co.za for further information.
